Beauden Barrett has been given two solid reminders of the physical environment he's come back to after a season in Japan, thanks to some friendly-fire at All Blacks training.
On social media yesterday Barrett shared a picture of himself sporting two black eyes at All Blacks training ahead of this week's Test against Fiji, cheekily captioning the image, "How dad life is going".
The 30-year-old gave the real explanation behind the damage today, revealing it was rookie Ethan Blackadder - on both occasions.
"I was warned about Ethan Blackadder, when he first came into camp and found out about that pretty quick. Between him and the big man next to me [Brodie Retallick], you've got to stay well clear of them at training," Barrett said.
"They're starting to bleed out a bit and should be good to go on Saturday."
Barrett, who has been named to start at first-five for Saturday's Test against Fiji in Dunedin said despite the big hits, Blackadder has impressed him at trainings.
"For a young guy, he's on top of his game, when it comes to preparation and he asks the right questions.
"He's into everything on the park and it's great to see."
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