Local interest in Rugby World Cup final

Even though Ireland are not involved in tomorrow’s Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham, there is still plenty of local interest, with Meath links to both the New Zealand and Australian teams.
Beauden Barrett, who played underage football in Meath, is playing with New Zealand, while Stephen Moore, whose mother is from Slane, is captain of the Australian team.
Barrett came on at half-time for the All-Blacks against France in the quarter-finals as he replaced Nehe Milner-Skudder, slotting in at full back. He also featured for 32 minutes in the 20-18 semi-final victory over South Africa at Twickenham last weekend, where he scored a try within three minutes of coming on for Milner-Skudder, which was converted by Dan Carter to ensure a crucial 17-12 lead.
As a child, Barrett, along with his brothers Kane and Scott, played Gaelic football with St Brigid’s GAA club, Ballinacree, and also at St Fiach’s National School there. He made a return visit to the school in recent years.
Their parents, Kevin and Robyn, moved to Ballinacree in autumn 1999 where they were managing a dairy farm and Kevin was playing with the Buccaneers in Athlone. He had finished his career with Taranaki at that stage and they came over to experience Ireland and it was an opportunity to play rugby and work in a different country.
Barrett won his first cap for the All-Blacks when he came off the bench to score nine points as New Zealand hammered Ireland 60-0 in 2012.
The 24-year old plays Super 12s with the Hurricanes.
Australian captain Moore played 58 minutes at hooker in the semi-final victory over Argentina, completing a 100 per cent tackle success and breaking the gain line on three occasions. He was also one of the stars in Australia’s quarter-final victory over France,
His mother, nurse Maureen Byrne, from Ardcalf, Slane, worked in Brisbane, Australia, where she met and married medic Tom Moore. They went to work in the Middle East and later Galway, where they opened a regional medical centre opposite University Hospital.
While in Khamis, Saudi Arabia, their first baby, Stephen, arrived in 1983.
In November 2013, when the Australians were in Dublin to play Ireland, Stephen brought eight members of the Australian rugby team to enjoy a game of golf at Killeen Castle in Dunsany. His cousins in Meath include the O’Learys in Kilmessan and the O’Rourkes in Skryne, including Meath GAA goalkeeper Paddy O’Rourke.