Respected coach Jason Ryan has already met up with new assistant Neil Barnes as they discuss their plans for the All Blacks forwards, but revealed that their time together resulted in a rather embarrassing moment.
The set-piece guru is the only survivor from the Scott Robertson regime, with the former Crusaders assistant one of the few to emerge from the 2025 end-of-season review with credit.
Dave Rennie has taken over from Robertson, and he has brought in his trusted lieutenant, Barnes, who is also a renowned forwards coach.
According to Ryan, he visited Barnes on his farm, mainly to talk about rugby and the All Blacks, but he also gave him a helping hand. However, it did not go entirely to plan.
Ryan’s cow milking story
“I spent a couple of days with Barnesy on his farm and stayed the night with him, and milked the cow in the morning which was an absolute shambles – I learned a lesson there,” he told Sport Nation.
“There’s a certain place you should stand and there’s a certain place you shouldn’t stand, and I stood where you shouldn’t and when a cow coughs when it’s milking, it’s not nice!”
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Given that two people will now have responsibility for the forwards, that could cause friction in some coaching circles.
You get the sense that will not be the case for Ryan and Barnes, though, who always had great respect for each other when they were priming their respective packs for the Crusaders v Chiefs clashes in Super Rugby.
Barnes has a ‘sharp mind’
“It was actually a really special couple of days. Barnes and I, we’ve always had a massive mutual respect. We’ve coached a lot against each other for the Chiefs and Crusaders in the Super days, and then he coached Fiji for a few years before I coached Fiji a few years after him,” Ryan said.
“There’s a lot of mutual respect, we had a good conversation about the game in general and went through some clips.
“I sort of said where I think we’re at as a forward pack and he shared a couple of things as well that he’s seen, which was really good. There was some good robust convos.
“Barnesy’s got a big heart and I’m really looking forward to working with him, and I know he is with me. I’m pretty excited about it. He’s got a good sharp mind about the game and I think we will be good for each other.”