Do we like Beauden Barrett?
Our score: 8 out of 10. No harmful words or company turned up, and there's real kindness on the record, but the coverage of his off-field views is thin.
Barrett grew up on a dairy farm in Taranaki, one of eight siblings, kicking a ball around barefoot in the backyard. He says he grew up playing backyard footie in his bare feet, and the farm-kid manners have stuck: profiles from his peak years credit him with good manners and a calm head.
The rugby CV is enormous. He debuted for the All Blacks in 2012, scored the last try of the 2015 World Cup final, and was named World Rugby Player of the Year in 2016 and 2017. He led the Hurricanes to their first Super Rugby title in 2016 and now plays for the Blues.
The harm check came up clean, honestly. We searched for anything he's said or done about LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants, vaccines or the climate, and nothing turned up: no rants, no conspiracy rabbit holes, no dodgy campaigns. The caveat is that he's a quiet sort who doesn't do politics, so the record is thin rather than glowing.
On the good-person front, the best story is from late 2025. When Irish lock Tadhg Beirne was sent off after a collision with him, Barrett gave evidence that he took responsibility for entering contact in a high position, and the panel rescinded the red card. That's a bloke putting the other fella ahead of a tidy narrative.
Away from the field, he backed Special Olympics New Zealand's first Awareness Week in 2015, saying everyone should get the chance to play sport whatever their ability. Other charity work, like fundraising auctions, turned up in search results but we only read the Special Olympics one in full.
The recent stoush is purely rugby. Under Dave Rennie he was overlooked for the first six Tests of 2026, then came off the bench against South Africa and scored a late try. He then started at fullback in a 50-19 Bledisloe Cup win over Australia, and says the setback did challenge him mentally, but there's no beef with the coach.