In New Zealand, many fathers dream of having a son don the famous All Black jersey, but for most, it remains just that.

Kevin Barrett, or ‘Smiley’ as he was nicknamed many years ago, was one of those fathers, and played 167 times as a lock for provincial side Taranaki.

When he was asked what he was going to do when he hung up his boots, his reply was that he was “going to breed some All Blacks”, and it turns out he did a pretty decent job of it.

Beauden, Jordie, and Scott made history last year against France when they became the first trio of siblings ever to start a test match for the All Blacks.

That means Kevin and his wife Robyn (pictured below with their three All Blacks), a strong runner and talented netball and basketball player in her day, spawned 20% of the starting XV, which should make for decent bragging rights at the local pub.

CNN recently profiled the family, touching on how their upbringing helped shape their careers:

“It certainly helped just having acres and acres of green grass, a back lawn where there’s goal posts and plenty of siblings and cousins around to compete with and play against,” Beauden, who has over 70 All Blacks caps to his name, tells CNN World Rugby.

“I think that the only thing that mum ever forced us into doing something was dropping us off at the top of the road and grabbing our school bag. She’d give us a pair of sneakers and say, ‘Run home.'”

But on the playground that was the family farm, shoes were unnecessary. Barefoot running was usually the way the siblings roamed the pastureland surrounding their home.

“I was more than happy to not wear shoes. The only time we wore shoes was on Sunday when we went to church,” says Beauden. “Our feet were pretty tough back then, I couldn’t do it today.”

I will excuse the Barrett brothers not wearing shoes, but I can’t excuse the faux hippies strolling around the Gardens Centre barefoot.

Do better.

There are actually five Barrett brothers, as well as three sisters. Kane represented Taranaki and Super Rugby side the Blues before retiring due to concussion injuries, and Blake plays for a local club team.

Like most youngsters in New Zealand, the game of rugby was ingrained in them from an early age:

“I just remember, it seemed to be the thing to do to get up a three o’clock in the morning and watch the All Blacks play England or South Africa,” says Beauden. “It was just part of who were, and I imagine it’s the same today.

“I think New Zealand Rugby do an exceptional job, the way it’s set up from the All Blacks, right down to grassroots. There’s a clear path young players can take if they want to be an All Black, if they’re talented, or if they get opportunities.”

There’s a pretty convincing argument that the All Blacks are the most successful sports franchise in history, boasting a better record than Brazil in football or Australia in cricket. Their 125-year win ratio is over 75%, more than any other major national sports team.

Sure, but we’ll always have ’95.

To finish, here’s a quintessentially New Zealand tale:

While they admit time with the whole family together can be difficult to come by, a victory for the All Blacks would no doubt bring them all together.

It did when Beauden, a try-scorer in the 2015 final as New Zealand beat Australia at Twickenham, brought the Web Ellis cup back to the family farm.

Celebrations saw Dad fill the trophy with milk from their cows.

“Creamy white milk looks so good in the gold cup,” says Beauden.

That’s basically the New Zealand version of taking the trophy to Pretoria and filling it with brandy and coke.

Although this video is a little dated, from back in 2016 before the trio had appeared together for the All Blacks, it does offer a great look at how they were raised:

In this video, from last year, Jordan and Beauden also speak of their upbringing:

Imagine being on the neighbouring farm, and taking a beating in every sporting code from the boys in the paddock next door?

Also, hurry up and churn out the children, AB de Villiers.

[source:cnn]