All Black star Jordie Barrett ready to make an impact at Leinster

The former Hurricanes star joined Leinster on a short-term deal until the end of the season and sat down with leinsterrugby.ie to chat about his new surroundings, his history here and what he's looking forward to in the future.  

Jordie Barrett, you're very welcome to Leinster Rugby. You've been here a few days now. How are you settling in?

It's great to be here. I've had the royal treatment. I got picked up at the airport by Tadhg Furlong. It's great to be welcomed by someone like that. It's nice to be able to rub shoulders with a lot of boys this week. The internationals are away, so I'm seeing plenty of fresh faces around the environment. It's a special time that I'm very much looking forward to.

And you were obviously here a few weeks ago with the All Blacks to play Ireland, was it a strange week of preparation when you know you're going to be facing a lot of your soon-to-be teammates in a city you'll soon be moving to and in a stadium that will soon be your home stadium?

Yeah, it was a special week. It was one I was looking forward to. The minute I signed with Leinster, it was marked in the calendar. It was such a great week. It was different to the times I've been in Dublin before. Plenty of people around Dublin were happy that I was in Dublin and kept saying to me 'welcome to Leinster' and they're glad to have me. So that was pretty special.

It was a funny feeling playing against a few of the Irish boys who are with Leinster and knowing that I'll be hopefully chucking on the jersey beside them in a few weeks time. So it's pretty special.  

You got to pour your own pint as well while you were here. Everyone saw that.

Yeah, it's a funny old story. I popped out for a meal and a pint on a Sunday night and it somehow found its way all over social media. It's great to be in Dublin. The people are amazing, and I'm looking forward to my time here.

Many fans will know you have lived here before. You lived in Oldcastle in County Meath. Could you just tell us a bit of that background for those who don't know?

So in December 2000, my mum and dad made a decision to leave home in New Zealand for a change of scene and travelled over with six kids â” with two to come after that, but yeah, a decent clan of us. I can't remember a thing; I was three and four years old. We lived in Oldcastle, County Meath on a dairy farm. So we've got plenty of family ties here now, which is special, and I look forward to linking up with them in the next few months. As I said, it's nice to be back in Ireland and a place that holds a special place in the heart of Barrett family.

Moving to the other side of the world for a second time, it's never easy. How much of a help is it that to have Tyler Bleyendaal, who you worked with in New Zealand at the Hurricanes? How exciting is that to work with him again?

Yeah, it's massive. I mean, it's probably as good as I could have dreamt for in terms of continuity and my own game and trying to grow as a footy player. He's an outstanding coach. He's a guy I have leant on a lot in the past few years at the Hurricanes. He's well respected there and I'm sure he is here at Leinster, as well. I'm looking forward to the growth and the relationship that we can continue here. He's a great guy, too, so he's going to add a lot of value for Leinster.

How excited are you now to get started in the BKT URC and the Investec Champions Cup? They're two exciting competitions, and have you seen much of them so far this season?

Yeah, I've had one eye on the telly and one eye on things I've been doing in my respective camp, and it's been great. Obviously, Leinster started very well, used a number of players, plenty of depth. And look, normally at this time of the year, I'm on a plane heading home to enjoy some time off in the summer but my body's feeling great. I'm excited, and I can't wait to get stuck into the URC and some of the European Championship games, hopefully. So, it can't come quick enough.

You obviously played in the Aviva this year, but for our first three home games, we had 120,000 people at the games with 80,000 at Croke Park. Does that excite you now, getting ready to run out in front of that crowd?

Yeah, I was blown away. It was hard to fathom sitting at home in New Zealand seeing 80-odd thousand at Croke Park. Unbelievable, the atmosphere there against Munster and even the games at the Aviva - a rainy day with the whole bottom tier sold out against against the Lions. So it'll be amazing to play in front of the loyal Leinster fans and even people throughout Ireland. It's great to be here.

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