Wallaby legend attempts to take credit for Brad Barritt's huge performance

Australian rugby legend David Campese has sent an interesting message to Saracens captain Brad Barritt after his side won their third Champions Cup on Saturday.

The 32-year-old was monumental in the victory over Leinster in Newcastle, being named Man of the Match in the 20-10 win. After the victory, the Wallaby centurion Campese sent the former England international a message on Twitter saying “glad you did listen to me all those years ago”.

Campese went on to say “[b]asic skills run straight and support”, which is presumably what he told Barritt.

It is not clear when this conversation took place, but the Wallabies’ top try scorer may be taking some credit for Barritt’s performance. The two would have worked alongside each other over a decade ago, as Barritt would have been coached by Campese with the Sharks in South Africa.

The former winger has never been afraid to throw his opinion into the mix and may have shared some pearls of wisdom with Barritt.

The centre was fantastic for Saracens for the full eighty minutes against the former champions, spearheading a defence that Leinster simply could not penetrate. He made 28 tackles and did not miss one, which is a stat that still does not tell the full story, as it is the nature of these tackles which marked his performance.

In attack, he ran hard all day long, which may have something to do with Campese’s “run straight” advice. Perhaps Barritt’s weakness is the attacking side of his game, as he is not knows to burst through too many tackles or be particularly creative. But that does not stop him from always putting his body on the line, and making up for any deficiencies with his defence.

For a team that is built upon and pride themselves on their defence, there is no better player to lead Saracens than the for South Africa under-21 player, and his display on Saturday typified his attitude. Whatever Campese said to him, it has worked.