Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Beauden Barrett on the Ireland players who were 'targets' for the All Blacks

Hugo Keenan of Ireland and Beauden Barrett of New Zealand shake hands after the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final match between Ireland and New Zealand at the Stade de France in Paris, France. (Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

All Blacks fullback Beauden Barrett has revealed how the haka before the All Blacks and Ireland quarter-final was used to intimidate the Irish ‘targets’ ahead of the knockout game.

ADVERTISEMENT

Ireland were riding a 17 game winning streak into the crunch quarter-final and were riding high after beating South Africa in the pool stages 13-8.

The All Blacks had taken a vengeful mindset towards the game, intent on inflicting pain on Ireland after the 2022 series in New Zealand which saw Ireland claim a 2-1 series victory.

Video Spacer

Video Spacer

Barrett said the faces of the Irish players gave him visions of the 2022 series as he performed the  war dance ritual.

“Looking across at the opponent during the haka you get memories, flashbacks,” Barrett said on the All Blacks: In Their Own Words documentary, “We had a point to prove.”

When asked about who he personally was staring down during the haka, Barrett revealed the number one targets for the All Blacks.

“Johnny [Sexton],” he replied before pausing, “Peter O’Mahony… typically guys with targets on their heads.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Johnny Sexton and Beauden Barrett have their international careers intertwined, with both players adding to the Ireland-New Zealand rivalry that has surfaced since 2016.

In 2018, Sexton stopped Barrett winning three World Player of the Year awards in a row by claiming the award, while the Irish No 10 has been influential in the famous victories over Barrett and the All Blacks.

O’Mahony had famously sledged captain Sam Cane during the New Zealand series during the win in Dunedin, calling him a “sh*t Richie McCaw”.

Jordie Barett said scoring early on Ireland helped shock the crowd who were full of 60,000 Irish supporters.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Beaudy did one of his chip and chases, got the bounce,” he recalled.

“Had a couple of quick boys outside me, I knew it was a three-on-two.”

Barrett freed up Leicester Fainga’anuku who combined with Rieko Ioane for a 1-2 before the left wing crashed over for the opening try.

“The fact we started so well almost shut out their crowd a little bit.”

The All Blacks expected Ireland to bounce back and they did, scoring tries to Bundee Aki and Jamison Gibson-Park, two ex-pat Kiwi players.

“They were dominate for 15-20 minutes and you would feel like ‘here they come’,” Aaron Smith recalled.

“But then Will Jordan’s try happens. Bang.”

At 25-24 the All Blacks were dealt a yellow card to Codie Taylor after a penalty try to Ireland which put pressure on the side to deliver revenge.

“We were facing an uphill battle in that final 15 minutes, it was a matter of who could hang on,” Barrett.

With minutes remaining the younger Barrett had a miraculous one-on-one tackle over the line on Irish hooker Ronan Kelleher which stopped Ireland taking the lead.

“It was just a reaction, instinctive moment where I thought I should just get my body under it,” he said.

Captain Sam Cane revealed the magnitude of Barrett’s play: “The truth is if Jordie doesn’t hold that up we go home.”

 

Watch the exclusive reveal-all episode of Walk the Talk with Ardie Savea as he chats to Jim Hamilton about the RWC 2023 experience, life in Japan, playing for the All Blacks and what the future holds. Watch now for free on RugbyPass TV

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

30 Comments
s
sean 163 days ago

It was Sexton cost Ireland the game and world cup. The most basic rule is take your points. Always very over rated player

d
dave 163 days ago

Great game of footy to watch. Very tense. I particularly loved how the ABs shut down O’Mahony. Not a good match for their spiritual leader to go missing.

T
Troy 163 days ago

I'm afraid I'd be inclined to listen to Sam Canes take on matter rather than a Saders fan tainted opinion as such. If Ireland had been awarded that try and with time running against them, being behind on the scoreboard while still down a man, the All Blacks confidence levels would have been seriously eroded a

S
SadersMan 164 days ago

No, Sam Cane. The Jordie tackle happened 10 mins from time, so it was nowhere near “go home” time for the ABs. A conversion would’ve given Ireland a 3pt lead, hardly a match-winning margin with 8 mins left.

Load More Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

287 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ 'Steve Borthwick hung his troops out to dry - he should take some blame' 'Steve Borthwick hung his troops out to dry - he should take some blame'
Search