Liam John Barry (born 15 March 1971) is a New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

coach and former rugby union player. He is the assistant coach of New Zealand men's sevens team. He has previously been the assistant coach the

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

and head coach of North Harbour's provincial rugby union side. He debuted for North Harbour in 1991 at the age of 20, and racked up 83 games over a decade-long provincial career. He had two spells in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, playing for

NEC is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It prov ...

from 1997 to 2001 and

Kubota Kubota machine is a Japanese multinational corporation based in Osaka. It was established in 1890. The corporation produces many products including tractors and other agricultural machinery, construction equipment, engines, vending machines, p ...

from 2002 to 2004. Barry holds a special place among the long parade of

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

for when he was chosen as a 22-year-old for the tour of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1993 he followed: * his father

Kevin Kevin () is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; mga, Caoimhghín ; sga, Cóemgein ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ). The variant ''Kevan'' is anglicized from , an ...

, All Black #623 and * his grandfather Ned, All Black #397; in wearing the silver fern. That became the first instance of a family providing three generations of All Blacks. In July 2020 the family provided All Black jerseys worn by the three for display at the

New Zealand Rugby Museum The New Zealand Rugby Museum, based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, is a museum dedicated to the sport of Rugby union. Founded by John Sinclair and modeled after the Trophy Room in Cardiff Arms Park in Wales, the museum's collections include eq ...

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

. Other relatives of note in rugby include: * Patrick Barry, son of Edward who played for

Counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

, and * Michael Barry, son of Kevin who played for

North Auckland The Northland Peninsula, called the North Auckland Peninsula in earlier times, is in the far north of the North Island of New Zealand. It is joined to the rest of the island by the Auckland isthmus, a narrow piece of land between the Waitematā ...

and North Harbour. Liam Barry is also a qualified teacher. He is married to Sarah and has four kids Esther, Nathaniel, Isaiah and Nieve. Nathaniel is currently pursuing his Rugby career playing club Rugby in Wellington, New Zealand.

International career

On his first tour with the

Liam Barry became the innocent participant in a major controversy. Coach

Laurie Mains Laurence William Mains (born 16 February 1946) is a former rugby union footballer and coach who represented New Zealand. Mains' representative career started when he first played for Otago in 1967. He made his All Blacks début in 1971, agains ...

brought

Mike Brewer Mike Brewer (born 28 August 1964) is an English car trader turned presenter of Driving, motoring television programmes. He currently presents ''Wheeler Dealers'' on the Discovery Channel (UK and Ireland), Discovery Channel with Marc "Elvis" Pri ...

into his squad for the latter part of the tour although he had been originally unavailable for business reasons and was in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

at the time for that purpose. When Brewer was brought in as a reserve for the international against

and especially when he took the field as a replacement against the

Barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less c ...

in the tour finale it caused a storm of protest, especially in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. This was because he had been preferred to official selections in the team in Barry and also John Mitchell. The aftermath came close to Mains being replaced as All Black coach and, in fact, one of his selection colleagues,

Peter Thorburn Peter Robert Tyler Thorburn (19 March 1939 – 26 January 2021) was a New Zealand rugby union player and coach. He played his entire career as a number eight for from 1965 to 1970. He became a coach after his playing career ended, coachin ...

, was dropped for the 1994 season. Mains, apparently, believed Barry in 1993 had shown a lack of readiness for top international rugby and while he went on the development tour of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in 1994 he was overlooked for the

for the next two seasons. But at the end of the 1995 season Barry toured

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and gained a test cap in the second international against

. That was the end of his All Black career, though. He was affected by injury for much of the 1996 season and was ruled out of the tour of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. At the end of that year he took up a contract in

, returning to

for another NPC season with North Harbour in 2001. But after failing to win a Super 12 contract for 2002 Barry at 31 returned for another stint in Japan.

Coaching career

Barry had spent the six years with the

franchise, as a skills coach from 2006–2009 and assistant coach in 2009–10. In 2010 Barry had been named as the North Harbour rugby head coach for 2011 after former

Craig Dowd Craig Dowd born 26 October 1969 in Auckland, New Zealand is a former rugby union player and ex-coach. He played 60 test matches for New Zealand national rugby union team, New Zealand between 1993 and 2000, spending his entire provincial career ...

and Jeff Wilson who were sacked after two under-achieving seasons in the job. Unfortunately Liam was also unable to find success with the team as they recorded: * 2012 10 games – 1 win, 9 losses, 205 points for & 307 against – last place in the championship. * 2013 10 games – 1 win, 1 draw, 8 losses, 193 points for & 330 against – last place in the championship. * 2014 10 games – 3 wins, 7 losses, 214 points for & 306 against – 5th in the championship. Although the 2014 season brought only 3 Albany wins these were notable as they were: * 29–24 over premiership semi-finalists

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

, * 28–25 over the Ranfurly Shield holders

Hawkes Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

, and * 24–13 over Manawatu who were the championship winners in 2014. Barry left the North Harbour coaching role at the end of the 2014 season to join Japanese club Ricoh Blackrams as an assistant coach. Barry then become the assistant coach of the

New Zealand national rugby sevens team The New Zealand national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. They have won a record twelve World Rugby Sevens Series titles. The team has been of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barry, Liam 1971 births Living people People educated at Rosmini College New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand international rugby union players North Harbour rugby union players Rugby union flankers Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay players Green Rockets Tokatsu players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate rugby union players in Japan New Zealand expatriate rugby union players New Zealand rugby union coaches New Zealand people of Irish descent Rugby union players from Auckland People from Takapuna