Wearing baggy tracksuit bottoms, a similarly large jumper, leather slippers and a beanie hat, Alfie Barbeary takes a seat on the balcony overlooking a pitch at Saracens’ Old Albanians training ground. His gold earring is just about visible below the headwear.
Barbeary is one of PREM Rugby’s great characters and it will be Sarries who will benefitting from his individuality now not Bath following his summer move to the capital from the west country.
As such, there is much to discuss as he sits down with Daily Mail Sport: His latest boss Brendan Venter’s temporary job title change from director of rugby to ‘wine consultant’ so as to avoid media commitments, a summer of wedding celebrations, battling the London Underground, a fresh haircut and staying true to himself.
There is, though, only one place to start, although Barbeary is not about to question the attitude of his boss to his media commitments.
‘Brendan is the wine consultant,’ No 8 Barbeary says of his eccentric South African boss. ‘We tried a few glasses with him in pre-season, but that’s as far as it’s gone. I will ask him (for advice) if I ever become a wine drinker. I’m more of a lager man!
‘Brendan has been great. We had fitness testing in my first week here and he almost killed me! He called it “the fight test” and it was literally a case of fighting for your life. You had to run until you couldn’t run anymore.’
Alfie Barbeary is one of PREM Rugby’s great characters and it will be Sarries who will benefitting from his individuality now not Bath following his summer move
Barbeary makes his PREM Rugby debut for Saracens as they defeat Leicester in their first game of the new season last weekend
Long seen as one of English rugby’s brightest prospects since he first came through at Wasps, the 25-year-old Barbeary moved to Bath in 2022 when his boyhood team disappeared into administration. He swiftly became a cult hero in the west country due to his impressive displays and unique personality.
It was a surprise, therefore, when Bath revealed they would not extend his contract amid a need to fit their squad’s large wage bill within the league’s salary cap. Bath’s loss has been Saracens’ gain.
‘I knew a few of the boys before I came here and I’m living with Phil Brantingham, who is a great cook, so that definitely made it easier settling in,’ says Barbeary, who like most of his new team’s squad, is based in St Albans.
‘Everything is a lot bigger than Bath here. It’s much closer to London. I’m still trying to work out the Tube. I got most of the way home on it by myself for the first time the other day. Phil was very impressed I didn’t get an Uber. That was a proud moment for me!’
Barbeary loved it at Bath. This summer, he attended six weddings of his former team-mates, going as far afield as Portugal, Cornwall and Scotland to mark milestones for Will Muir, Will Stuart and Finn Russell respectively. Barbeary, as he always does, lived for the moment before joining up with his new team for pre-season.
‘It was carnage. Will Muir, as greedy as he is, decided to have two weddings which really didn’t help,’ Barbeary says. ‘The Bath lads have been asking me if I’ve been missing them. I haven’t at all because I literally spent every weekend of my summer with them! It made it a little bit easier to leave, to be honest.
‘It was definitely tough at the time, but I had so much respect and love for the club that when I was told, I was never going to throw my toys out of the pram and stop trying. I had to crack on and do my job.
‘Rugby is a business. You might have an emotional connection to a club, but you’ve got to be able to see it that way too.’
When Bath won three trophies in 2025, Barbeary famously led the club’s celebrations often wearing nothing but a pair of budgie smugglers – hence the nickname ‘Captain Underpants’
Barbeary in action for his first club Wasps before they collapsed into administration
When Bath won a treble of trophies in 2025, Barbeary famously led the club’s celebrations – first on a bus tour of the city and then onwards to the Glastonbury Festival and across Europe.
He did so often wearing nothing but a pair of budgie smugglers, his then frizzy haircut sticking out wildly. It only served to reinforce his status as one of the English game’s most likeable figures, earning him the nickname of ‘Captain Underpants’. Now sporting a shorter, more business-style trim, Barbeary admits it’s time for work as he looks to impress at Saracens.
‘When I got back from holiday, my hair was just burnt. It was matted, horrible,’ he says. ‘I had to shave it off. There was no going back, so now I’m just starting that vicious cycle again of regrowing it. The big hair will come back at some point.’
Barbeary has previously admitted he might not have yet fulfilled the potential that many people saw in him in his early days at Wasps. He is yet to win an England cap for example. Does he think his off-field persona has held him back on it?
‘It’s just me, being me,’ Barbeary says. ‘I can’t say what could have been if I was maybe a bit more professional or anything like that. It’s just how I am, so I’m not going to sit here and talk about what ifs.
‘With the way rugby is going, no-one should really hide who they are. My personality might come out a bit more here the more my hair grows. I don’t really hold back. If I can make money off that, I’m happy to do so!’
Barbeary is represented by the Stellar Group, whose star rugby clients Henry Pollock and Russell have both signed lucrative deals with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Agency. ‘I haven’t been in that conversation. I think they’re too busy managing Finn and Pollock,’ says Barbeary, laughing. ‘It’s just those two at the moment. He (Hearn) has got his star boys and he’s going with them.’
So what about the unusual choice of clothes? ‘I’m a big fan of comfort,’ he says. ‘You won’t see me wearing anything too tight. I get absolutely ripped to shreds for these slippers, but they’re the most comfortable thing I own. They’re pretty much like skin on me now.
‘I had to buy a new pair because at the first of Will Muir’s weddings, the Bath lads threw one of them into the sea at night. They didn’t like them and I’m terrified of the sea!’
‘Obviously, you want to play for England,’ Barbeary says. ‘I’ve just got to do my best and perform with Saracens. That’s the first step and after that, what will be will be’
‘Rugby’s a business. You might have an emotional connection to a club, but you’ve got to be able to see it that way too,’ Barbeary says of the decision to let him go by Bath where he had become a cult hero
And that Test cap? ‘Obviously, you want to play for England,’ Barbeary says. ‘I’ve just got to do my best and perform with Saracens. That’s the first step and after that, what will be will be.’
Has he spoken to England coach Steve Borthwick? ‘There have been bits and bobs. But there is incredible competition in the back-row. Missing out on squads is tough to take, but there are so many other quality players.’
Impressing with what is now a star-studded Saracens squad, who beat Leicester last weekend, will only serve to help Barbeary’s ambitions. He is one of three big summer arrivals, alongside Tomos Williams and George Martin.
‘When you look at what this club has done and how much talent it has, that’s what drew me here. I’m a bit selfish. I want to be at a club that’s competing in the PREM and in Europe. If you look at the squad we have now, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be in that conversation,’ Barbeary, who has replaced former Wasps team-mate Tom Willis at StoneX Stadium, says.
‘I know Tom well. It’s big shoes to fill, but I’m not trying to replace him,’ Barbeary says. ‘What he did here was unbelievable and I’ve got nothing but respect for that. If I’m half as good as him, I’ll be happy. This group is in a really good spot.’
