 Barnes representing theWaratahs, February 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Berrick Steven Barnes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1986-05-28)28 May 1986 (age 39) Brisbane,Queensland, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 183 cm (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 90 kg (198 lb; 14 st 2 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Five-eighth,Halfback | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby player | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Berrick Steven Barnes (born 28 May 1986) is an Australian rugby union coach and formerdual-code player. His usual position wasfly-half orinside centre. He previously played with JapaneseTop League clubsPanasonic Wild Knights andRicoh Black Rams, as well as in theSuper Rugby withAustralian teams theNew South Wales Waratahs and theQueensland Reds; and theAustralia national team.
Barnes was born inBrisbane[7] but raised inKingaroy, a town in countryQueensland. He attended Kingaroy State School and played juniorrugby league for theKingaroy Red Ants. He also played men's A-grade cricket at 12-years-old.[8][9] In 1999, Barnes took up a scholarship to attendIpswich Grammar School. He switched to playing rugby union and was selected in representative rugby teams including the Queensland U16s. Barnes continued playing rugby league as well, and was picked forBrisbane Broncos development camps.[8]
Barnes was a star wicketkeeper-batsman in juniorcricket[10][11] and was also good enough to win state championship medals inswimming. His sports master at Ipswich, Nigel Greive, described Berrick Barnes as "the most talented all-rounder I've ever been associated with".[8]
By his final year at Ipswich in 2003, Barnes had played in the school's First XI cricket team for five years, and in the First XV rugby union team for four years.[8]
Barnes began his professional sporting career straight out of school. He was scouted by theBrisbane Broncos,Queensland Reds andQueensland Bulls, but decided to join the Broncos.[10]
When Barnes started at the Brisbane Broncos in 2004, he played in theQueensland Cup competition for the Broncos' feeder club,Toowoomba Clydesdales. He played mainly in thefive-eighth orhalfback positions.[12]
Kangaroos Coach John Dixon praised Barnes for his performances in the Queensland Cup, leading to his selection in 2004 for aKangaroos Invitational XIII againstPapua New Guinea inTownsville and for theJunior Kangaroos against thePNG Junior Kumuls inLae.[12][13] His playing position washooker for both matches.[8][13]
Barnes also played forQueensland U-19 againstNSW U-19 in curtain-raiser matches toState of Origin in 2004 and 2005.[14][15]
Barnes made hisNRL debut for Brisbane in 2005 at the age of 18, coming off the bench in round 8 against theManly-Warringah Sea Eagles. He went on to make 9 NRL appearances for the Broncos, scoring one try.[16]
However, shortly after his first run-on start with the Broncos, Barnes signed a two-year deal with theQueensland Reds to switch codes and play rugby union.[9][10]
Barnes played for theQueensland Reds from 2006 to 2009. He made 45 appearances and scored 105 points, including 6 tries, for the Reds in Super Rugby.[17][18] In 2009 he was captain of the Reds side for the first half of the season whileJames Horwill recovered from injury.[citation needed]
In 2010 Barnes joined theNSW Waratahs, and later signed on until the end of 2013.[19][20] He made 43 appearances, and scored 194 points including 4 tries for the Waratahs in Super Rugby.[17] In 2011, he suffered from "Footballer's Migraine" and took three months off from the game, from June 2011.[21][22]
Barnes retired from rugby in April 2020.[23]
Barnes made his international debut aged 21 in Australia's first pool match of the2007 Rugby World Cup, againstJapan. After only three minutes on the field, and with his first touch of the ball, Barnes scored his first Test try. He scored again, five minutes from the end of the game, which Australia won 91–3. After the match, in which he excelled,[24] he said:
The crowd was unbelievable. It felt like aBoxing Day Test. Standing in that tunnel, I've never heard a roar like it. Standing next to the Japanese as we waited to walk out was pretty special. I was giving a few 'yahoos'. The boys gave me a bit about that. I was pumped. I wasn't going to hold it in.[25]
The following week, for Australia's next World Cup match againstWales at theMillennium Stadium, Barnes was originally selected as a replacement.Stephen Larkham injured his knee, however, and Barnes was told on the morning of the game that he would be the starting fly-half.[26] He played the full match and made a significant contribution to Australia's 32–20 victory, setting up a try forMatt Giteau and then scoring afield goal from 32 metres. He added another drop goal in Australia's next pool game, a 55–12 win over Fiji that assured Australia a place in the quarter-finals. Barnes was rested for the final pool game but returned to the starting line-up for the quarter-final match against England inMarseille, where Australia exited the tournament.[7]
By 2008, Barnes had become a key member for the Wallabies. He scored the first try of theRobbie Deans era as coach of the Wallabies, against Ireland in Melbourne.[7] A shoulder injury in the historical victory over the Springboks in the Tri-Nations disrupted his season,[7] but he was selected for the 2008 Spring Tour. Unfortunately, in the first 8 minutes in the game against Italy he tore a posterior cruciate ligament in his knee and was sent home.[27] The following year, Barnes was named vice-captain of the Wallabies for the 2009 Spring Tour but was sent home after he rolled his ankle at a training session in Tokyo, Japan and sustained asyndesmosis injury.[28]
In 2010, Barnes missed selection for the first Test of the season against Fiji but played in the next match against England. He then went on to play the entireTri Nations series, either starting or on the bench.[7] Barnes was named co-captain of theAustralian Barbarians side againstEngland that played in Perth and Gosford.[7] He captained the mid-week Wallabies team on the 2010 Spring Tour for the matches againstLeicester Tigers andMunster, where his standout performance on that tour was againstItaly inFlorence where he scored 22 points in that game. Barnes handled the goal-kicking in Florence, in the absence ofJames O’Connor, kicking eight goals from nine attempts as he showed the benefits of his work with the Wallabies' South African kicking consultant, ex SpringbokBraam van Straaten.[29] In the final Test of the 2010 Spring Tour, Barnes, playing at inside centre, linked with fly-halfQuade Cooper to help orchestrate a spectacular 59-16 demolition ofFrance, in Paris.[7]
Barnes made five appearances at the2011 Rugby World Cup, which included the final 28 minutes of the quarter-final against South Africa, and the last 45 minutes of the semi-final against New Zealand; in both instances coming on at inside centre in the place ofPat McCabe.[7] He stepped into the fly-half role after Quade Cooper was injured 21 minutes into Australia's Bronze medal playoff againstWales, and steered Australia astutely to a 21–18 win.[7]
