New dad Liam Barry is no old-timer

By CHRIS RATTUE

North Harbour 34 Northland 20

North Harbour loose forward Liam Barry has carried the nickname Dad for the past week.

The birth of Esther, first child of Barry and wife Sarah, led to that.

It also enhanced his reputation as a member of the Dad's Army quartet who have returned to put direction into Harbour, a side now guaranteed a semifinal place in the Air New Zealand-sponsored NPC after beating Northland at Albany.

But Barry is far from being an old footballer, or feeling old, and will carry on for a few more seasons. While the Dad's Army general, Frano Botica, is 38, Barry, Glen Osborne and Mark Mayerhofler are around 30 and hardly over the hill.

Blindside flanker Barry was among North Harbour's best on Saturday, dominant in the lineout and adjusting his game in the wet to help deal with Northland's pack.The win will mean a fifth NPC semifinals appearance for Barry, who split his Harbour career with four seasons in Japan.

A win over Wellington in the capital on Friday night would mean Harbour and Barry would have a home semifinal.

This would be a boost to their hopes of winning their initial first division title as well as make a nice ringing sound on the Albany cash register.

Barry was the first third-generation All Black and played his only test against France in Paris in 1995. He started for Harbour as a 20-year-old in 1991, then headed after the 1996 season to Japan.

But Barry, whose years in Japan put bulk on a lean frame that played so intelligently as an openside flanker, wanted his final football days to be on home fields.

With Matua Parkinson, Craig Newby, Ron Cribb and Blair Urlich in the squad, he was hardly guaranteed game time, but has played in all eight matches so far, starting three.

"I certainly picked the wrong union to come to with us five loose forwards, and I didn't know where Troy Flavell would play," said Barry, who teaches part-time at Rosmini College and coaches for the union.

"North Harbour made no promises about playing, and without playing a club season I was getting in through the back door.

"When the All Blacks played the Pacific Barbarians in Japan last year, we wanted to show we were not just having a cruise over there.

"But Japanese rugby is about the same as club rugby here, and it was a bit difficult to adjust in the first few weeks back."

With Cribb and Parkinson fit again, Barry is not even sure about making the squad to Wellington.

"As when I used to play at North Harbour, there's so much talent in this team. But we used to play like scatterbrains. Sometimes we were shockers. Our public might have enjoyed it for a while but they got tired of it in the end."