Alfie Barbeary interview: Eddie Jones told me I could be a great hooker

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Alfie Barbeary interview: Eddie Jones told me I could be a great hooker ? or a mediocre back-rower

With England?s tour of New Zealand looming into view, the Premiership play-offs off Bath No 8 chance to stake a final claim for selection
Charles Richardson, Rugby Reporter 31 May 2024 ? 7:48am
Related Topics

    Bath Rugby, England Rugby Union Team, Gallagher Premiership, Steve Borthwick


If anyone began their rugby-playing life as a centre in the Oxfordshire area during the noughties, they have my profoundest sympathies. That is because they would have lined up against Alfie Barbeary: then a centre for Banbury RFC and the nearby Bloxham School, now a brutish No 8 for Premiership side Bath.

With the way Barbeary, 23, plays the game ? carrying the ball with the ferocity of a bull which has sat on a wasp ? the heart bleeds for those Oxfordshire teens. But the journey from junior centre to professional No 8 came alongside a large period at hooker, with the eventual move to the back row spearheaded by then Wasps head coach Lee Blackett ? now Barbeary?s attack coach at Bath ? against the wishes of then England head coach Eddie Jones.

?At the first training session with the academy, they had a counties tournament and picked boys up from there,? Barbeary tells Telegraph Sport. ?I got picked and moved up a year group ? in my first session. I was a flanker/centre at the time and they turned around to me and asked, ?What position are you?? I told them and they just said, ?No, you?re a hooker?. From there I had to learn to scrummage and throw. I got to Wasps and they didn?t trust my throwing. They said they wanted to play me but they didn?t think, if the game was on the line, that they could trust me to throw in. It was a fair point. They moved me to the back row for a few games but I was still training as a hooker. Lee gave me the offer of staying as a back-rower and becoming Wasps? No 8.

?We had a meeting and Eddie said you can either choose hooker ? but you have to want to play there ? and you can be one of the best in the world, or you can be a mediocre back-rower in the Premiership. I didn?t really know what to say to that. I spoke to my dad and we decided what will be, will be. I enjoy playing a lot more at back row than hooker and if I?m going to make something of my career I need to be able to enjoy it.?
?Touring New Zealand is a dream?

As he relaxes at an opulent dining table among the neo-gothic architecture of Bath?s Farleigh House training base, there really does not seem much by way of mediocrity about Barbeary. In a Bath puffer jacket, with signet ring on finger, hoop in ear, Ugg slippers on feet, Barbeary could easily pass as the earl of Farleigh House. Certainly, on the field, the No 8 has developed into rugby royalty; a crucial cog in Bath?s tilt at a first Premiership title of the professional era. Had Barbeary not copped a ban which coincided with Steve Borthwick naming his England squad for the Six Nations, there is a chance that this season could have been yet more regal. The word is that the uncapped Barbeary was to be included but, instead, had to make do with a spot in the England A squad for their match against Portugal. Still, there is a tour to New Zealand on the horizon.

?Before the Six Nations, Steve and I went for a coffee just outside of Combe Down,? says Barbeary. ?He told me what he wanted from me and asked me if I?d be able to do it, and stay fit all season. And then go from there. I told him I?d do my best and then unfortunately I went and shot myself in the foot. But, he was complimentary, told me what he wanted me to work on ? I?d only played a couple of games at that point ? and set me a goal to work towards. It was good to meet him and have some contact with England. At the beginning of the season, I felt like I was out of the picture; I almost felt a bit forgotten about. It was good to get that meeting in and have a good conversation. We?ve stayed in touch; little bits here and there.

?[Touring New Zealand] would be huge, one of the days you dream of. I don?t want to get ahead of myself too much as we still have a semi-final to play. I?m very much still in semi-final mode. I know that if I perform for Bath and we perform well, everything will fall into place.?

Borthwick?s penchant for a super-strength could not lend itself more favourably to Barbeary?s route-one approach. The No 8, unashamedly, likes carrying the ball hard. As well as the medical facilities and Johann van Graan?s vision, it is what attracted him to Bath ? their need for a player to run into other players and go forward. And when Barbeary lists his rugby idols ? ?Ma?a Nonu, Manu Tuilagi and Mathieu Bastareaud? ? it is hardly surprising that he favours the more agricultural side of the sport.

?One of my mates at Wasps told me that I was made out of Play-Doh ? and you can?t break Play-Doh,? says Barbeary. ?That has always stuck in my head. No matter if I get hit, it?s a bit like Play-Doh ? not going to break. I?m a very upright carrier which I?ve had to work on a bit, with more and more boys going in low, fighting that. I?ve always been an upright carrier, squeezing and wriggling out of tackles. I?ve adapted my game a bit and with that you?re getting fewer shots in the ribs.

?I?m always looking to improve and maybe be more agile and drop a bit of weight. But, for me, this season has been about getting back fit, getting a good run of games and starting to enjoy rugby again ? injury-free. As my fitness has come on, I?m starting to get more agile, starting to gain more confidence. At the start of the season, I was hesitant to step off my right knee. It was heavily strapped and I was nervous about it. With that, I just wanted to get back playing and, once you get the wheel?s turning, your game improves.?

That it has; far beyond mediocrity.