'The bus was deadly silent': Beauden Barrett talks ruthless quarter-final edge
Reflecting on the All Blacks' quarter-final preparations, Beauden Barrett has offered some insight into what contributed to New Zealand's most clinical performance in recent memory.
Following in the footsteps of the great Dan Carter, who famously championed the "walk towards pressure" mantra, Barrett and the All Blacks have a powerful history of mental skills and performing under the brightest lights in the rugby world.
The man who has driven those mental skills for the past 23 years is Gilbert Enoka, with assistance from Ceri Evans since 2010. Now, in his final Rugby World Cup with the team, Enoka's influence is as crucial as ever.
Four years of underwhelming results since a semi-final exit at the 2019 World Cup put huge pressure on the team to perform against the world number one ranked Ireland. Luckily for the All Blacks, pressure is Enoka's bread and butter.
"So much goes into a week in terms of preparation and how well you do that, it's evident on the weekend," Barrett told The Front Row Daily Show.
"But, there's certainly some gold nuggets with Ceri Evans and Gilbert Enoka in the mental space that was right on the money. With that, as well as the physical preparation, the boys were all in a good space going into the game. The bus was deadly silent and Gilbert has a good gauge on whether we're in the house or not, and postgame he said he could feel it.
"That's where we strive to get to every game day but it was win or go home, it's do or die footy, there's something about that as well and we wanted another week. So, here we are."
When Enoka started out with the All Blacks, he was assigned the job title of team masseur, a disguise for his true role which was as the team's sports psychologist. The decoy title was employed because it was thought the use of a mental skills coach would project an inherent weakness in the team.
That stigma has since slowly eroded and sports psychology is now an essential component of any professional team.
Having earned a spot in the next round, the All Blacks are now shifting their focus to a familiar opponent in the semi-final.
"There's still certainly a buzz around the camp. We're kind of in that transition phase now. All eyes on (Argentina).
"We're just so grateful to be here and have another opportunity. It's a final again for us, it's win or pretty much go home so there's a good buzz.
"We put so much into last week, a team that had scarred us in recent times so we felt like we needed to do it for ourselves to prove a point."
Barrett made no secret of his desire for revenge against Ireland after the famous Steinlager Series loss last year, and following the quarter-final win the fullback emphasised the importance of celebrating the achievement before looking ahead.
Having fully digested the win, the All Blacks now find themselves ready to focus on the task at hand.
"It's something we spoke about in the leadership meeting, it's about genuinely resetting and identifying the threat that's in our way this week, Argentina.
"We know what they can do, we felt that particularly in Christchurch last year. We know how passionate they are, we saw that in the Welsh game.
"They're a team that have been under the radar but I think early in the week, we focus a lot on our detail but that's also defensive detail so understanding what they bring, their threats, they are real threats, they're genuine.
"And it's a short turnaround so it's a busy couple of days getting that prep but late on in the week we just want to dump and play footy."
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> It would be best described as an elegant solution to what was potentially going to be a significant problem for new All Blacks coach Scott Robertson. It is a problem the mad population of New Zealand will have to cope with more and more as All Blacks are able to continue their careers in NZ post RWCs. It will not be a problem for coaches, who are always going to start a campaign with the captain for the next WC in mind. > Cane, despite his warrior spirit, his undoubted commitment to every team he played for and unforgettable heroics against Ireland in last year’s World Cup quarter-final, was never unanimously admired or respected within New Zealand while he was in the role. Neither was McCaw, he was considered far too passive a captain and then out of form until his last world cup where everyone opinions changed, just like they would have if Cane had won the WC. > It was never easy to see where Cane, or even if, he would fit into Robertson’s squad given the new coach will want to be building a new-look team with 2027 in mind. > Cane will win his selections on merit and come the end of the year, he’ll sign off, he hopes, with 100 caps and maybe even, at last, universal public appreciation for what was a special career. No, he won’t. Those returning from Japan have already earned the right to retain their jersey, it’s in their contract. Cane would have been playing against England if he was ready, and found it very hard to keep his place. Perform, and they keep it however. Very easy to see where Cane could have fit, very hard to see how he could have accomplished it choosing this year as his sabbatical instead of 2025, and that’s how it played out (though I assume we now know what when NZR said they were allowing him to move his sabbatical forward and return to NZ next year, they had actually agreed to simply select him for the All Blacks from overseas, without any chance he was going to play in NZ again). With a mammoth season of 15 All Black games they might as well get some value out of his years contract, though even with him being of equal character to Richie, I don’t think they should guarantee him his 100 caps. That’s not what the All Blacks should be about. He absolutely has to play winning football.
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