Barrett: Bok hiding still hurts

The All Blacks’ scars from their record defeat to the Springboks are still fresh.

Flyhalf Beauden Barrett says the memory of the 43-10 humiliation in Wellington continues to hang over the team months later.

“There is a deep feeling of pain, almost like a deathly silence and a look that we [as players] gave each other after what we had experienced,” Barrett said on the Devlin Sports Podcast Network.

“The feeling in the dressing room was one of mourning. We feel those kinds of disappointing defeats more [than the supporters]. There is for every player perhaps a specific match that was more disappointing, but as a player you can clearly remember the heavy feeling in the dressing room from those defeats that hurt the most.”

MORE: Rennie relishes Greatest Rivalry showdown

The defeat eclipsed the Boks’ previous record victory over their greatest rivals – the 35-7 thumping at Twickenham before the 2023 World Cup.

Barrett now hopes the All Blacks will have the chance to respond when the two giants meet again later this year in the Greatest Rivalry tour.

ALSO: ‘Touring SA bigger challenge than Lions series’

The old foes are set to clash in three Tests on South African soil before a fourth meeting in the USA.

The post Barrett: Bok hiding still hurts appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.