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PUB: NT NEWS
DATE: 16-MAY-2012 PAGE: 56 COLOR: C M Y K
All Black dream
RUGBY UNION
By IAN BUTTERWORTH
FORMER Palmerston Crocs
junior rugby player Tawera
Kerr-Barlow has been included in a 35-man All Black
squad to tackle Ireland in a
three-Test series in June.
Melbourne
born,
but
Darwin raised, Kerr-Barlow
missed the text message from
All Blacks manager Darren
Shand telling him he had
made the training group, and
was stunned when his Wai-
56
Territory player gets call up to NZ squad
kato Chiefs manager, Stew
Williams, broke the news to
him. The injured 21-year-old
halfback had travelled to
Brisbane with his Chiefs
teammates but missed the
weekend’s game against
Queensland.
He was on the sidelines at
Suncorp Stadium getting over
the loss to the Reds when he
received the news.
NT NEWS. Wednesday, May 16, 2012.
He had his father, Reimana,
at his side and his mother,
Gail, was on the phone from
Darwin in his other ear.
‘‘They got to find out as
soon as I did, so that was
pretty cool,’’ Kerr-Barlow
said of his place in the All
Blacks first line-up of the new
era. ‘‘I’d changed my phone
Sim card to an Aussie one, so
I missed the text from New
Zealand. Stewy came up and
told me. I was so surprised —
I still am. I’m over the moon.’’
Kerr-Barlow is one of 11 uncapped players in the 35-man
squad and three of his Chiefs
teammates, lock Brodie Rettalick, prop Ben Tameifuna
and flanker Sam Cane fall
into the same category.
The Chiefs also have established All Blacks Sonny Bill
Williams, Aaron Cruden and
Richard Kahui in the squad.
‘‘Tawera was born in Melbourne but we moved to Darwin when he was six months
old,’’ said his mother Gail,
who played halfback for the
Australia women’s team in
1995 and 1996.
‘‘It was fortunate his father
was there to watch him play
against the Reds and share
the moment. He is a Kiwi and
always wanted to be an All
Black, but he still calls Darwin home.’’
Kerr-Barlow is realistic
about his chances of playing,
with the squad still to be
trimmed by five players for
the first Test against Ireland
on June 9.
‘‘I’m going to go hard and
do my best at training. It’s a
great opportunity. I’m going
to keep my head down and
treat it like a Chiefs training
and try to step it up,’’ he said.
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