All Blacks ready to rise to another challenge, declares Beauden Barrett

In a team chock full of legends, Beauden Barrett may still have junior status but he has been an All Black long enough to know that to retain the World Cup this Saturday, they will have to go back to square one.

Last weekend’s semi-final victory over South Africa may have required a performance of epic proportions to overcome a brilliantly committed Springboks side in a 20-18 nailbiter, but the 24-year-old Barrett, who scored the second try of the match having just come off the bench, has no doubt New Zealand will have to do it all over again back at Twickenham in a final showdown with Australia.

Would it be hard to get up again for the Wallabies, he was asked.

“Not at all,” came Barrett’s reply. “It’s like a wave, you have to come back down to rise up. We started again on Monday and start building again for a huge week.

“We’re all excited... but we know that we have to rebuild all over again. We’re excited to be in the final.”

Barrett’s try against the Springboks had come after a brilliant period of All Blacks pressure just after half-time when South Africa had the momentum on their side, a 12-7 lead, and a numerical advantage with New Zealand flanker Jerome Kaino in the sin-bin.

Having emerged early from the dressing rooms before the restart to run through passing drills in the rain that had begun to fall, fly-half Dan Carter then began the fightback with a well-taken drop goal in the 46th minute. With Kaino back in harness, they took a lead they would not relinquish. Carter started it, ripping the ball from Schalk Burger, then Ma’a Nonu took over, drawing in defenders before feeding the newly arrived Barrett to score in the left corner.

“It was a simple message at half-time, we weren’t getting the reward in the first half but I think our intent was good,” Barrett said.

“We knew that we had to raise the bar even more in the second half and really tire them out and I thought we did that, but then again, we knew it would come down to the wire, to the 80th minute, and it did, so I’m just really looking forward to next week. It’s a little bit of relief, it’s a big week.

“I thought the game swung a few times, momentum swung, but with the scoreboard so tight, it was never clear that we were in front by so much. We just had to keep worrying about the task at hand and keep showing that faith.

“One day when I look back (at his try) I might think it’s pretty cool but I’m just happy that the team won and the boys played well, they got the job done. While it’s nice to dot down, it’s the result that I’m most proud about.

“To play in a World Cup is a career highlight, hopefully we can go one more next week,” Barrett added.

This week is all Carter has left as a New Zealand player before calling it quits on Test rugby at the age of 33 and joining Racing Metro in the French Top 14. As a player who aspires to replace Carter in the All Blacks No 10 jersey, Barrett is soaking up as much about the great man’s play as he can and is fully appreciative of the Paris-bound player’s skillset.

“I loved the drop kick, I thought that was class. He showed a lot of poise with that. I’m learning off him every day still. He’s very valuable to this team, obviously. His goal-kicking, he doesn’t miss many so I think that’s quite outstanding.

“We back our skills, we put ourselves under pressure during the week, during training to play in those conditions. The main thing is to just keep moving forward, keep building phases, kick corners, and apply pressure so, yeah, that was a positive.”