Rugby union is often the most unfussy of sports. Its players revel in unstarry nature, to the extent it becomes their calling card and helps separate them from the rest of the world.
Simple, honest, humble athletes getting on with the game, leaving the histrionics and the drama to everyone else.
If you consider the established legends of game this century – Jonny Wilkinson, Richie McCaw, Dan Carter and Brian O’Driscoll – with the exception of the latter, their ability lay in doing the basics at stratospheric levels of perfection and consistency.
Highlights packages involving Wilkinson, McCaw and Carter don’t exactly stir the blood or wow the mind, unless perhaps you are a genuine purist. As unbelievable as they were on the field, off it, in terms of their public persona, they were remarkable in being unremarkable; just down to earth, good blokes.
Wilkinson had his OCD and meticulous eye for detail, Carter blessed with Hollywood levels of handsomeness while McCaw was a farmer but they weren’t exactly displaying Usain Bolt or Cristiano Ronaldo levels of showmanship.
Beauden Barrett fits very much into this model and, in terms of individuals at the very top of their game, is perhaps the world’s least assuming star right now. The freshly-crowned World Player of the Year is reluctant to talk about himself, always referring to his form within the context of the team.
As he said about his award: “It’s a by-product of a couple of great teams I have been a part of”.
While in the wake of one of his best performance of the year in August, as the All Blacks hammered Australia 40-8 in Sydney, he remarked: “I’d prefer to slip under the radar personally.”
And yet what sets him apart from Wilkinson, McCaw and Carter – the man who’s shirt he has inherited so impressively as an All Black – is how he plays the game. The best No10s – Carter, Wilkinson, Michael Lynagh – were dependable, playing to the percentages and managing the game with efficiency and professionalism.
The unorthodox and unpredictable Quade Cooper, Carlos Spencer or Thomas Castaignede may be great to watch but you can’t trust them with the keys to the kingdom.
Barrett has always had the maverick and generational talent inside him, which had previous led him to being pigeon-holed as an impact substitution at international level.
Yet, somehow this year he’s managed to blend the best attributes from both spectrums and find the consistency many though wasn’t previously possible, and when he’s been good for the Hurricanes and All Blacks – which is more often that not – he’s been unplayable.
His step, turn of pace and ability to break the line puts him alongside the most electric of backs; while his tactical kicking, organisation and composure in high-pressure situations in the biggest games, has enabled the All Blacks to make the seamless transition from the Carter and McCaw era.
There are still doubts over his goal-kicking and defence but these can be developed, and, indeed, Barrett’s performances in both these departments have been a marked improvement from last year. If he continues on this trajectory, it’s fascinating to see what sort of player he will become.
One thing’s for sure, he won’t make a song and dance about it.