REVEALED: Why Alfie Barbeary is leaving Bath and the impact England selection had on choosing Saracens
REVEALED: Why Alfie Barbeary is leaving Bath and the impact England selection had on choosing Saracens
Bath number eight Alfie Barbeary has explained in detail why he’s leaving the club this summer.
The in-form back-rower appeared on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast this week, to discuss his upcoming move to Saracens, his Investec European Player of the Year nomination and his “unique” playing style.
Informed in December that his contract was not being renewed, the 25-year-old found his promising Bath career cut short after just four years with the club.
He had been highly touted as a future international superstar from his early days with Wasps. He arrived at the West Country side, expected to push on and fulfil his mountainous potential.
Sadly, despite his obvious talents, he never quite pushed on to become the key player he once promised to be – at least not until after he had been informed of his release.
“I got injured early in the season, and it was one of those seasons where I’d started well, I had a couple games, but I was coming off the bench in a few,” Barbeary explained, detailing the circumstances of his impending exit.
“As you look at the Bath side, there’s quality all over the back-row, so rotation was a big thing. So to get momentum in a season was hard.
“And then I went into a Prem Cup game and tore my hamstring and was out for six weeks, which took me to about November time, so I didn’t really play much. And then there was a break and stuff, didn’t really play much, and then he [Johann van Graan] said that [his contract wasn’t being renewed].”
Finishing strong with Bath
For any player, being released from a team hurts, but there came a particular sting for Barbeary, who was a part of the infamous Wasps squad that entered administration in 2022.
“I was gutted. I did want to stay, but obviously, you’ve got to see Bath as a business, and I wasn’t pulling my weight with how I was playing at the time, so it was understandable. It was understandable for me.
“I felt like I might have had a bit of credit in the bank, but it’s just one of those things. I still have a great relationship with Johann, and it was still a massive opportunity.”
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After such an impressive start to his professional career, his star has faded slightly. But in recent months, he’s become the superstar that has always been on the horizon.
The powerful number eight believes that his unique skill had been coached out of him, and his return to form was a result of his basal instincts.
“My whole time at Bath and conversations with other coaches, it’s all like, ‘you gotta get your carry height down’, and my big thing was that I was a unique ball carrier, because I carry bolt upright, and that was it.
“So I just went ‘right, I’ll go back to stop trying to like carry low and play the game’.”
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Saracens adventure
Next season, Barbeary will be donning the red, black and white of Saracens, a team he was once forced to hate when playing for Wasps.
The North London club were not the first to approach the giant back-rower, however.
“I was getting a lot of attention from France,” he stated, but admitted that there’s always been that nagging detail of international rugby, saying: “Do I want to go to France at 25 and just completely rule myself out [of England selection]?
“And then, the Sarries thing came up, and it just seemed with how they played, and how good Tom Willis has been. They said what they want, they said they have a very good balance.
“If you look at their back-row, they’ve got a good balance of sort of athletes, and they want someone who’s better at those tighter, harder carries, really. And I think that’s where Willis has thrived, and he’s been like one of the best in the world at it.”