Blake Barrett, brother of three current All Blacks, plays for Harpsden Cricket Club. Photo / Instagram / Jordie Barrett
It is a long way in every sense from Sydney’s Olympic Stadium (capacity: 83,500) to Harpsden Cricket Club, a small but picturesque ground just outside Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire (capacity: a few picnic tables plus a grass bank overlooking the square).
But one thing linked these two venerable sporting destinations at the weekend.
While New Zealand’s celebrated trio of Barrett brothers – captain Scott, vice-captain Jordie, and two-time world player of the year Beauden – were all due to start for the All Blacks against Australia in the penultimate round of the Rugby Championship last weekend (Beauden pulled out after the warm-up), a fourth Barrett brother, Blake, joined his teammates for a beer in Harpsden’s pavilion to toast the season just gone in the Thames Valley Cricket League, Division 2B.
“It’s been a great year,” Barrett said over a beer in nearby Henley. “Harpsden is a great club to be a part of. I’m quite social and whatnot and we really enjoy the family vibe here. We’ve made some friends for life for sure.”
The incongruity of Barrett, who hails from arguably the most talented sporting family on Earth (“Nah,” he says when I put that to him, but really, name a better one), playing village cricket in England, is not lost on him – or anyone to do with Harpsden. But there are absolutely no airs and graces about a player club chairman Ben Hancock says has “got stuck in and embraced the spirit of the club brilliantly”.
From playing to helping out behind the bar with his girlfriend Emily, to the compulsory “team bonding” trips to Henley’s notorious fleshpot Magoos. “No no, I’m done with Magoos!” he says, laughing. “I’ve been done with Magoos for a few weeks to be honest.”
It actually took a few weeks for Barrett’s Harpsden teammates to cotton on to the sporting royalty they had in their midst. “I think Micky [Molloy, the team’s South African wicketkeeper] was first,” Barrett recalls. “He was like: ‘I hate to be that guy, but obviously your last name... you’re a Kiwi... are you by any chance related to the Barrett brothers?’ And I was like: ‘Yeah, I am.’ And he was like: ‘That’s cool. Are they cousins or something?’ And I was like: ‘No, they’re my brothers.’ His jaw hit the floor.”
Blake laughs at the memory. “I mean, I knew it would get out eventually, but I wasn’t going to advertise it. I just don’t want to embarrass them [his brothers], you know?”
You would expect such humility from a Barrett. Men of the soil, reared on a coastal dairy farm not far from New Plymouth, there are actually eight siblings in total; five boys and three girls, in that order.
Their story is well known in rugby circles, but bears repeating. Dad Kevin “Smiley” Barrett played for the Hurricanes for two years and Taranaki 167 times, as well as spending a season with Buccaneers in Ireland during the family’s 16-month stint on a farm in County Meath just after the turn of the millennium. Blake was 4 at the time, just starting primary school. “B***** all!” he says, when asked what he can remember of that period. “I don’t think I went to school much. I kept running away. It must have been the foreign accent or something. Mum used to leave and then I’d run home. I think it was a couple of miles!”
Mum Robyn, meanwhile, had played basketball and netball for New Zealand Under-20s. “Before she started to have children,” Barrett clarifies. “But she still played representative basketball with six children.”
No wonder the children took to sport. Garden kickabouts must have been fearsome. Were there tears? “Always! Cricket balls flying, fists flying. It’s all we did. There was no PlayStation. No TV. Well, we did have a TV but we hardly watched it. If we weren’t in the backyard, we were on the farm helping our parents. Basically we were only allowed to come in once they got off the farm. That would be 6pm or 7pm.”
They had some pretty useful neighbours, too. “Oh yeah, we had the Crowley family who lived right next door. As in Kieran Crowley [the former All Black and coach of Italy]. His brother Alan, or Smurf, lived right next door. He also played for New Zealand Sevens back in the day. And his daughter is a Black Stick [hockey international].
“Anyway, Smurf has two sons. One plays for Taranaki. He’s a halfback, he’s quite handy. He played at Coastal with me. And then Daniel. He’s decent. And so obviously we had them playing with us. And then my two cousins down the road. So we always had enough people to make a game…”
They could probably have beaten a fair few international teams.
Emily, who has joined us in the pub, chimes in. “My first Christmas with your family, I remember we had only been together a few weeks, and you were all outside playing cricket, and I was like: ‘No way am I getting involved.’ You guys are highly competitive.”
No wonder when the five boys were separated by just seven years. Kane, the eldest, is five years to the day older than Blake. A talented rugby player, Kane’s career was sadly cut short by concussion after playing for New Zealand Schools and U20s, and Taranaki and the Blues. Next came Beauden and Scott. Then Blake and Jordie. “Always in pairs,” Blake says. “It was easier that way. I played all my age group rugby with Jordie.”
Blake – a flanker – may not be an All Black, but he has done something his brothers have not managed. He has won over 100 caps for Coastal, the team their father co-founded and for whom they have all played, other than Scott and Jordie. At 29, he is planning on winning many more when he returns to New Zealand.
Why not play while he is over here? “I did play a bit for London Kiwis, an expat team, last season,” he says. “But I didn’t want to commit to too much. I hadn’t had a year off rugby since I started playing and I’m 29 now. I’d never been injured or anything. Plus I want to support my brothers when they’re over.”
What about the sisters, Jenna, Zara and Ella? “Jenna was a really good swimmer. But she snapped her Achilles playing for the Wellington Pulse. It’s like Super Rugby level netball. She was playing her trial game to get into the team and snapped her Achilles. Now she does triathlons and half Ironmans.”
It is clear they share a deep bond. Zara has Down Syndrome, a condition about which her famous brothers have raised awareness in New Zealand. “She’s awesome,” Blake says.
So come on then, who was the sportiest growing up? “I’d probably say Jordie,” Barrett says at length. “He is a scratch golfer and had the option to play cricket or rugby [professionally]. Yeah, I think all-round Jordie would have been the best. Beaudie’s not too far behind. He was okay.”
This Barrett might be the best at darts. He says he got a lot of practice during lockdown when he and Emily were holed up with three “young English lads” who went over to New Zealand to play rugby. They chose Coastal and needed a place to stay. Robyn sorted them out.
What goes around comes around. Blake and Emily are now living with the parents of one of those boys, or at least in an annexe. They actually arrived in the UK just over a year ago. Emily has a UK passport by virtue of an English parent; Blake on a two-year visa. To say they timed their trip to coincide with the international rugby calendar might be overstating things. But it is fair to say it played a part.
They were in France to watch the All Blacks at last autumn’s World Cup and they will be at Twickenham and the Aviva Stadium for this autumn’s Northern Hemisphere tour. Blake is already planning a few trips to Dublin to watch Jordie playing for Leinster when he moves there in December on a short-term deal. “I can’t wait for that,” he says.
And what of his cricket season? Did Barrett carve it up in the Thames Valley Cricket League? Sadly not. It has been a tough season for Harpsden’s 1s. As ever with village cricket teams, which ebb and flow according to the circumstances of the locals who play for them, they go through peaks and troughs. “We’re in a bit of a transitional period I would say,” Harpsden’s Ben Hancock says. “It just happens to coincide with the highest league we’ve ever been in.”
The team recruited an overseas player, Australian opener Nick Amos, who started the season with a bang. But injuries and absences gradually wore Harpsden down. Even the presence of a Barrett brother could not prevent relegation in the end.
How was Barrett’s form? “Mmm, not great,” he admits. “A couple of 30s but other than that...” He laughs good-naturedly when reminded of his golden duck on debut at Binfield CC, nicking behind. “I got a jaffa first up!” he insists. “It’s been great though. I’m looking forward to next season already. My flight home is not until next summer.”
Sadly, the day the Telegraph photographer came to take photos – the final day of the season – the weather did not play ball. The players retired to the pavilion bar instead to watch South Africa’s 18-12 victory over New Zealand on the telly. It was South Africa’s fourth successive win over the All Blacks in all competitions. Barrett let rip with a few choice expletives during a tense second half. “I get very emotionally involved,” he says. “It’s not so much the winning and the losing, it’s the keyboard warriors. I try not to mind. But all it takes is a couple of idiots.”
Happily for him, the Barretts tend to win a lot more than they lose. Maybe Blake can get Jordie to turn up for Harpsden CC once his season with Leinster is over? “Ha. I’ve actually asked him,” Blake says. “He hasn’t replied yet.”
Loosehead prop returns to the All Blacks starting lineup to face Italy this weekend.