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'Jordie's a psycho because he's been bullied' - Dane Coles' humorous rundown of the Barretts

By Online Editors
Beauden, Scott and Jordie Barrett celebrate with the Bledisloe Cup after New Zealand beat Australia in Auckland in August (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Dane Coles has tongue-in-cheek lifted the lid on what it is like having three Barrett brothers in the New Zealand squad at the World Cup.

The All Blacks face England in the semi-finals on Saturday in Yokohama with Beauden and Scott Barrett in their starting XV and third sibling Jordie named on the replacements bench. 

The Barretts have become the first trio of siblings to play for New Zealand at a World Cup, adding another record by all scoring in the same pool fixture versus Canada. 

But now they are all set for semi-final duty with veteran Coles giving an insight into the family dynamic they are bringing to the All Blacks squad in Japan

"Jordie's a psycho because he's been bullied by Scooter (Scott) and Baz (Beauden). Scooter's the one who's nice and calm, and Baz is like in-between. He does lose it now and again but he does have that calm karma about him.

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"We play a bit of darts in the team room, and Jordie loses the guts if he throws a bad dart. He’s a psycho, an absolute psycho.

"No, it's pretty special having the three boys in there. They're all good people who come from a great family and we have got to know them pretty well, but they're all very different."

The starting hooker for the 2015 World Cup final win over Australia in London, Coles is now a 32-year-old veteran of two tournaments. He started the pool win last month over South Africa but is only the bench back-up behind Codie Taylor for the semi-final versus the English.  

"Everyone would love to be starting and my job's probably changed, and that's all good for me. I've got a job to do off the bench and I'm experienced enough to know how to prepare off the bench. 

“I’m just as excited as ever. I just try to add energy and be as accurate as I can,” he said before paying tribute to positional rival Taylor winning his 50th Test cap this weekend. 

"It's a massive milestone. I've known Codie since we grew up in the same area. It's awesome, I'm really stoked for him. He's worked his arse off to get where he is and he's a really good person and a great leader among this team now. He's taken that hooker game to another level.”

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