{"id":69772,"date":"2025-10-10T10:43:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T10:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/69772\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T10:43:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T10:43:10","slug":"ex-all-black-tawera-kerr-barlow-ready-to-face-old-side-la-rochelle-in-top-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/69772\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-All Black Tawera Kerr-Barlow ready to face old side La Rochelle in Top 14"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cOne of the juggernauts of world rugby,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Kerr-Barlow signed for La Rochelle in 2017 after making 27 test appearances for the All Blacks, including winning the 2015 Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n

\"TaweraTawera Kerr Barlow makes a break for the All Blacks against the Barbarians. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

His arrival came barely three campaigns after their promotion to the Top 14, before the Champions Cup double followed swiftly in what was a remarkable rise for the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were obviously two tremendous occasions,\u201d Kerr-Barlow said.<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably what stands out more is how far the club progressed in the time I was allowed to be a part of it, which is really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018The most professional rugby player ‘<\/p>\n

Kerr-Barlow turned 35 this summer but is far from the oldest All Black World Cup winner in the Top 14.<\/p>\n

Former All Blacks centre Ma\u2019a Nonu<\/a>, who lifted the 2015 Webb Ellis trophy alongside Kerr-Barlow, celebrated his 43rd birthday in May, and has scored two tries for Toulon this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ll be going quite as long as Ma\u2019a, but in saying that, I\u2019ve always maintained he\u2019s the most professional rugby player I\u2019ve got to play beside,\u201d Kerr-Barlow said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s much more athletic than myself, and he\u2019s much more professional, but it\u2019s really nice seeing him still doing well at this level into his 40s,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"Ma'aMa’a Nonu and Dan Carter with the Bledisloe Cup in 2015. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

Kerr-Barlow\u2019s Stade Francais head into this weekend\u2019s Top 14 game in a good place, second in the table after three wins from five outings this season.<\/p>\n

La Rochelle, however, have stumbled to just two victories and two losses, including last Saturday\u2019s 37-13 humbling at Montpellier, as they sit 11th.<\/p>\n

Despite their rusty start, Kerr-Barlow\u2019s replacement in the half-back jersey, Le Garrec has started the campaign superbly, having originally come through at Racing 92 as a teenager.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an extremely good player,\u201d Kerr-Barlow said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been a good player ever since he was about 19 years old, so it\u2019s really nice to see his progression.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, he continues to improve throughout his career at La Rochelle,\u201d the veteran added.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s headline clash sees a repeat of last year\u2019s final as Top 14 title-holders Toulouse take on reigning Champions Cup winners Bordeaux-Begles at the Stade Ernest-Wallon.<\/p>\n

Neither side has hit the ground running this campaign with two losses apiece as Bordeaux-Begles sit in fourth, one spot above the hosts.<\/p>\n

Toulouse will be looking for a statement win against their rivals, especially after last weekend\u2019s convincing 40-26 defeat at Bayonne.<\/p>\n

Table-toppers Bayonne make the trip to sixth-placed Pau to open the weekend\u2019s action on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cOne of the juggernauts of world rugby,\u201d he added. Kerr-Barlow signed for La Rochelle in 2017 after making…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[22256,7022,8136,27978,1872,9881,2740,19134,55626,11775,78,55628,55622,55623,19133,111,139,69,48760,9716,34592,55624,3048,55627,6102,213,1557,55625,10809,55621,7187,165,61,3010],"class_list":["post-69772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-22256","tag-black","tag-blacks","tag-exall","tag-face","tag-facing","tag-former","tag-forward","tag-francaiss","tag-french","tag-in","tag-internationalpacked","tag-kerrbarlow","tag-la","tag-looking","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-nzt","tag-old","tag-ready","tag-rochelle","tag-said","tag-scrumhalf","tag-side","tag-sports","tag-squad","tag-stade","tag-sunday","tag-tawera","tag-team","tag-their","tag-to","tag-top"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}