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Wallabies coach Robbie Deans tried to get Chiefs halfback Tawera Kerr-Barlow to change allegiance
By Jamie Pandaram The Daily Telegraph March 29, 2012 7:37AM
All Blacks dream ... Kerr-Barlow had no interest in changing his allegiance to Australia. Source: AAP
The Wallabies chased him, Western Force wanted him, but Super Rugby's hottest halfback Tawera Kerr-Barlow has had only one dream since the age of three - an All Blacks jersey.
Even his mother Gail Barlow, who represented the Australian women's rugby team in the mid-90s, could not sway him to represent the country of his birth.
"Robbie Deans came to speak at a function in Darwin, where they presented me with my Wallaroos cap retrospectively," Gail said.
"He spoke to me and certainly was very interested in what Tawera was planning for his future. I explained to him, 'Good luck with that'.
"Tawera declared from the age of three he wanted to play for the All Blacks, despite his mother playing for Australia."
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He re-signed with the Chiefs and looms as a candidate for New Zealand.
As any proud parent would, Gail is backing her son to achieve his dream, to the point where she was helping him train over the Christmas holidays when he returned to Darwin.
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"She was up at 6am with the stop-watch. There was no lazing around in the holidays," Kerr-Barlow said.
Gail said: "That time of year is the hottest and most humid in Darwin. You get close to 100 per cent humidity.
"He really felt the heat. He was doing shuttles, sprints and a long run each week.
"To the horror of everyone else, we went out on Christmas day and trained. He didn't take one day off."
It is this dedication to fitness that has helped Kerr-Barlow develop into the form No.9 of the competition.
"I trained really hard in the pre-season, because it was important for me to be able to play the style of game I play for 80 minutes," Kerr-Barlow said. "I would do it for 40 or 50 minutes, but I couldn't sustain it for 80.
"Now I can play that physical, high-pace game for the full 80. I did a lot of roadwork during the holidays."
Kerr-Barlow was born in Melbourne but at six months moved to Darwin, where he lived until age 13. It is a city he still considers home and at the end of the interview he requested a "shout out" to his friends and family in the Territory.
At 13, Kerr-Barlow declared his desire to play rugby in New Zealand and started at his father Rei's old school, Hamilton Boys High, and graduated to the Waikato squad.
When John Mitchell was in charge of the Force, he tried to lure Kerr-Barlow to Perth. And Wallabies high-performance manager David Nucifora also contacted Tawera and Gail to have him change allegiance. But the 21-year-old stuck solid.
"It is my ultimate goal and dream, but I don't go out each week thinking I will make the All Blacks with a good performance. If it happens sooner than later it would be good," Kerr-Barlow said.
This week he confronts an unchanged New South Wales Waratahs side in Hamilton, with Brendan McKibbin holding his place as NSW's halfback.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/su...-1226313078139
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