Be warned... Jordie Barrett has bulked up in the off season

As if Jordie Barrett’s skill set and athletic ability weren’t enough, the twice-capped All Blacks phenom has been ‘bulking up’ ahead of Super Rugby.

According to Liam Napier in the NZ Herald, the 6’5 brother of Beauden and Scott has added nearly a stone in weight, six kilos to be precise.

Formerly listed at 96kg, the truth is at 1.95m he probably needs to gain a bit of weight. Bringing 102kg into contact will leave the soon to be 21-year-old second five-eighth in a better position to both dole out and receive punishment.

According to Hurricanes head coach Chis Boyd, it hasn’t affected his speed, which is good news for fans of the athletic utility back.

“Injuries always have a downside and an upside. The upside for him is that he’s had a really good opportunity to put some conditioning on.”

“He has comeback and he’s looking pretty frisky. I don’t think he’s lost any speed with the size so that bodes well for him.”

“Shall we say something like 115kg that might get punters thinking,” quipped Boyd. “115kg and six foot five, that would rival Don Clarke wouldn’t it?”

He is still some way off secondrow brother Scott at 111kg or the lesser known Barrett brother Kane, who also tips the scales at 111kg.

All Black coach Steven Hansen tipped Jordie to shine during the Lions tour last year, and it is expected he will have a big season in 2018. Speaking last July, Hansen said:

“He’s very good aerial – they’re gonna give us plenty of high ball to catch and he’s a good defender when he gets his positioning right, we’ve worked hard on that with him.”

“He’s a very skilful rugby player, there’s no doubt about that. He played well enough for the Hurricanes against the Lions and we’re excited.

“Do we have confidence? Yeah, we do, we wouldn’t have picked him in the first place if we didn’t. He comes from fairly good stock so I’m picking he will go alright.

“Whatever he does on Saturday is just the beginning, he’s just going to get better and better. But he wouldn’t be put in the position if we didn’t trust him. We do.”