Bath’s European player-of-the-year contender on international recognition, the ultimate test in Bordeaux and those budgie smugglers
T
he shortlist for this year’s Champions Cup player of the year award is an eyecatching one. There are five contenders and four of them – Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Finn Russell, Matthieu Jalibert and Caelan Doris – are established world-class operators. So who is the fifth Beatle? An uncapped Englishman who eats only toast on matchdays and is arguably most famous for parading around in his budgie smugglers.
Step forward Alfie Barbeary, the shaggy-haired Bath colossus looking to smash a few holes in Bordeaux Bègles’ title defence at the Stade Atlantique on Sunday. The 25-year-old Barbeary might not yet be a connoisseur of the region’s celebrated wines – “I know there’s red and white but that’s about it” – but he makes up for that in other respects. Some people are born entertainers and the big No 8 is definitely one of them.
Take last year’s exuberant trophy celebrations after Bath’s Premiership and Challenge Cup title double. For better or worse the images of a topless Barbeary, clad in his skimpy blue trunks, cavorting on an open-top bus the next day were beamed around the world. “No one told me I took it too far except for my mother. I got a few texts from her saying: ‘Put your clothes back on now.’ Everyone was waving at their families in the crowd but when I made eye contact with my mother she was just shaking her head.”
