Beauden Barrett: All Blacks First Five previews the clash against England at Twickenham

The All Blacks are adamant they have the juice left as they prepare for England and the cauldron that is Twickenham on Sunday morning. 

The last two weeks they've been forced to dig deep late to come away with wins over Ireland and Scotland. 

All Blacks First Five Beauden Barrett told Mike Hosking England is a powerhouse, one they’ve always had a tough encounter with. 

When England toured last year, he says, each match was a close tussle, and they expect the same at Twickenham. 

“It’s a hell of a fortress.” 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Two from two for the All Blacks Grand Slam Dreamers
Alive and it's Real England this week at Twickers. Of course,
Elliot's call. At ten past four, Bowden Barrett.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Is with us.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Good morning, Good morning, Mike, first time we talked to
you this tour, So just take us through it briefly,
the travelog Barrett's style. How's the tour feel so far?

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Yes, So we started off in Chicago and now it
was a fun week. Really, Chicago has a lot to
offer and we made sure that we had fun off
the field, but probably not as much as we had
in sixteen when we come up against the Irish that time.
It's obviously a place we can get distracted quite easily
with so many sporting events and Sixtus going on and

(00:39):
so on. But we I thought we nailed that week.
And then we flew straight into Edinburgh straight out of
the game actually, and that's a great city. We enjoyed
that also. So it's been a tour of making sure
that we enjoy ourselves off the field, but when it's
time to put the boots on, we make sure we're

(01:00):
tuned in and we do a job.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
What about the psychology of what's going on, So you
get Ireland, so they would you could argue your biggest
hurdle Scotland. They're improving, but they're not England. Do you
sort of worry about becoming complacent as you chase a
Grand Slam in all four winds?

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Look, we were quite weary of Scotland. They were quite
confident amongst themselves and even potentially publicly, and we also
respected them for sure. England are obviously a powerhouse nation
in recent times. In fact history, shows have always had

(01:40):
a tough encounter against them, and they toured last year
so each of those test matches was a close tussle,
and we expect the same at Twickenham, which is a
place they obviously love playing it and you throw their
fans into the mix and it's a hell of a fortress.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yeah, exactly. The yellow cart thing is Is that a thing?
Has it been talked about or not?

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, it's just a little bit of self control or
lack of from individuals. It's not a major thing. It's Yeah,
it's a tough one to put the finger on. Other
than you know, everyone's just got to be aware of
it and everyone can't control it. So the harsh reality
is it affects the team just based on one person's

(02:26):
lack of self control. So yeah, we obviously got put
in a hole and allowed Scotland to come back on
the weekend and we've learned from that so hopefully we
won't be facing that again this week.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
And as a tour, are you getting better or are
you getting tired?

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Probably a bit of both. Hopefully that's what we want
to do each day is get better. But at the
end of these longer or long seasons. Look, I tell
you one thing, we've been managed very well. Our trainer,
Gilly and the coaches. I've been keeping an eye on
our load, training load that is, and making sure that

(03:05):
we're peaking on Saturday rather than flogging us during the week.
So it's something that we're all conscious of.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
How hard are you working off the field, Because there's
been a lot of commentary back here about you know,
the whole corporate thing of the All Blacks and sponsorship
in America and advancing the game, and they're rolling out
the old Barrett magic to you know, shake a few
hands and take a few photos. Are they wearing you
out at that end of the spectrum.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
No, it's managed well and they make sure that everyone's
doing their bit in terms of sharing the load so
to speak. It's a hell of a vehicle and brand
I suppose the All Blacks. But the main thing is performance,
so it always comes back to that. And yeah, like

(03:49):
I say, we've been managed accordingly and ultimately it's all
about us doing our job on Saturday night.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
Where's a Grand Slam sit for you? Four out of four?
And the broader question if you get the Grand Slam,
how does that fit into your season overall?

Speaker 2 (04:04):
Oh, it's one that's clearly. I haven't done it before
and we haven't had the opportunity in my time as
an All Black to do it, so it would set
right up there. Obviously England are in the way right now.
And yeah, look you can I guess the Rugby Championship

(04:26):
wasn't a success because we didn't win it, and South
Africa you know, beat us up in Wellington, which was unfortunate.
And often we're judged by trophies and cups and so on.
But a Grand Slam, if we can achieve that, I
think that would mean we're probably losing two test matches

(04:49):
out of a decent number, which in the scheme of
things is pretty good, but we know that we can't
look or talk too much about there. We've got England
right in front of us and obviously Whales the following week.
So yeah, that's plan.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
Good stuff. Will you go well? Will be watching Buden
Barrett out of London for us this morning.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
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