Every rugby fan knows about New Zealand’s Barrett brothers.
Kevin ‘Smiley’ Barrett was a rugged forward for Taranaki and the Hurricanes before hanging up the boots in 1999 to commit fulltime to the family dairy farm.
“I’m off to breed some All Blacks,” he famously said when asked about his retirement plans.
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Taranaki lock Kevin Barrett celebrates a win against Waikato. Getty
A man of his word, three of Barrett’s five sons have not just donned the famous silver fern – but done it with distinction.
Scott (80 Tests) is now the captain and Jordie (68) a vice-captain while Beauden (134) is a two-time world player of the year.
Kane, the oldest brother, may well have joined them in the Test arena but the talented Blues loose forward’s career was cut short due to concussion.
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The Barrett boys take a photo with family friend Barry Murphy at Principality Stadium in Cardiff. Getty
Much less is known about the women in the family.
Beauden often quips that the athletic prowess actually comes from mother Robyn, a talented netballer and cross-country runner who played basketball for the New Zealand under-18 team.
And then there are the three Barrett sisters – Ella, Jenna and Zara.
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The latter lives with Down syndrome and is an inspiration to all.
“She’s our most fiercely loyal sister,” Beauden told Wide World of Sports.
“She’s always supporting us, always checking in. She knows exactly when our birthdays are, when someone – family, cousins, third cousins – we get a reminder it’s their birthday today, so little things like that.
Beauden Barrett with younger sister Zara. YouTube
“She’s really good at connecting the family which is hard to do when you’ve got seven siblings.”
Like many Hurricanes fans, Zara found it difficult to cope with Beauden’s high profile defection north to the Blues in 2020 – and let him know about it with brutal honesty.
“She’s only just come around to the fact that I play for the Blues – to the point where she wants to become a member. So I’ve got to get on to getting her a membership,” he said.
“I’ve offered her caps and jerseys in the past, but she’s been fairly staunch Hurricanes (Jordie’s team) and even Crusaders (Scott’s team).”
The Barrett brothers have used their profile to raise awareness for ‘UpsideDowns’ – an organisation that provides essential speech and language therapy for children with Down syndrome across New Zealand.
“It’s a fantastic charity… because it’s all about inclusion,” Beauden said.
Beauden Barrett with younger sister Zara. YouTube
“So if we can put them in a position where their speech improves, they can feel far more connected and get involved in various activities and feeling like they’re contributing – because that’s a huge part, rather than feeling isolated.
“They’ve got so much to offer and they bring so much joy to our lives.”
Beauden’s work year kicks off on Saturday with a rematch of last year’s Super Rugby final against the Chiefs at Eden Park.
His little sister is also keeping busy.
“Zara works a couple of days a week at a law firm in New Plymouth, so they take great care of her in there and when she’s not doing that, we’ve got a a few hundred hens that lay eggs and she collects the eggs and we sell them to local businesses,” Beauden says.
“So that keeps her busy, but she’s great around the house and I don’t think mum and dad could do without her. But there may be a day soon where she’ll go flatting. She’s been to a lot of birthday parties recently, 21sts, so she really lives it up.”
