Steve Hansen: All Blacks got caught up in festival nature of Barbarians game

New Zealand's Nathan Harris on his way to scoring a try against Barbarians during their Autumn International rugby match, at Twickenham. Photo / AP.

As far as first captaincy experiences go, this proved a difficult one.

Beauden Barrett, in his first match of any kind as skipper, left the Twickenham field to get stitches in his thumb with the All Blacks down 10-5. By the time he returned, the Barbarians had scored another try, only increasing pressure on his shoulders.

Talk about a tough introduction to Kieran Read's job. With an inexperienced team feeling the heat and clearly struggling to settle, Barrett had to help them regain composure to right the ship after a seriously scrappy first half.

"It was doing the simple things well and being patient and building pressure. Once we got our kicking game going we put the pressure back onto them," Barrett said after the 31-22 win. "I thought we adapted and adjusted well and that's something we spoke about doing going into this game.

"It was a great learning experience for me. Going into the week I was quite nervous. I just tried to be as present as possible and take it one day at a time."

We didn’t win but the spirit of #rugby was strong today 👏

Happy 125th anniversary @AllBlacks 🙌🥂#rugbyunited 🏉 #BARvNZL 🇳🇿 pic.twitter.com/IgrL89vkpi

— Barbarian FC (@Barbarian_FC) November 4, 2017

Standing at the head of the haka was a unique experience.

"Quite daunting thinking about it but once I was out there I really enjoyed it. Going forward I think I'll be able to assist Kieran much better than I have been."

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen felt his young side got caught up in the festival nature of this game but believed they would learn and improve for the mid-week match in Lyon where many of this squad will be involved again.

In an open, free-flowing spectacle, Hansen quipped Welsh referee Nigel Owens, who could be heard regularly bantering with the players, also didn't have his best match.

The All Blacks appeared to benefit from Owens on one occasion in the second half where he did not use the TMO to check whether replacement Baabaas hooker Akker van der Merwe had grounded the ball.

"He's like the rest of us you fall into the trap of getting caught up in it," Hansen said of Owens. "He did a good job but there's no doubt in my mind he wasn't as focused as he would have been in a test match. The crowd that came here want to see the rugby that was played hence why they clapped and then booed when the try under the post wasn't awarded.

"It's difficult for a player to get their head around it and it's also difficult for the ref."

Waisake Naholo was the best on the park for the All Blacks, setting up two tries with offloads to probably lock in his spot on the right wing next week in Paris.

Hansen singled out Luke Romano, Nathan Harris, Ofa Tu'ungafasi and Tawera Kerr-Barlow for praise and was pleased to give his three rookies - Matt Duffie, Asafo Aumua and Tim Perry - a taste of this arena.

"It's really not how much game-time they get that first one it's about how they fit into the whole week and the experience you get. It's not normally our modus operandi to throw them in the first week so to do what they did I thought they coped well all three of them."

Crusaders playmaker Richie Mo'unga shone for the Baabaas, as did South African flanker Kwagga Smith. And Steven Luatua, with two intercepts, proved just what a loss to New Zealand rugby he is.

"The guys that were out there from New Zealand we were well aware of. The likes of Steven Luatua, well, everyone got a taste of why we didn't want him to go."

As for the future of the Baabaas, a discussion point this week, Hansen, who has coached them twice, lamented the absence of UK players.

"There's definitely a place for it. There's a long history of Barbarians rugby that has inspired people. The hardest problem is getting it to fit into the calendar. We had a national anthem out there and there wasn't one person from England in the team. It would've been nice if we could get some players from this part of the world but because the calendar doesn't allow it doesn't happen. That's the big bugbear I have with it. You want it to be a truly global thing."