It turns out that not everything comes easy on the footy field for the All Blacks' latest captain, Beauden Barrett.

So there's something that Beauden Barrett finds difficult in this game of rugby. Slip the (c) alongside his name and suddenly one of the most gifted All Blacks of all time experiences things just a little discomfort.

It was refreshing to hear Barrett's honesty and humility as he reflected on his first assignment as captain of the All Blacks at the Captain's Run at Twickenham on Friday, where he was joined by the recently arrived senior contingent who had touched down earlier in the day. He has never been the designated leader his entire rugby life, you see, and it would appear that even this supremely gifted individual has a comfort zone outside of which he can occasionally slip.

That he breaks his duck by leading the All Blacks out on Twickenham in their northern tour opener against the Barbarians on Saturday (early Sunday NZT) just makes it all the more special. He becomes the team's 132nd skipper in history, and you suspect that will be a number forever etched in his memory.

DAVID ROGERS/GETTY IMAGES Beauden Barrett has never captained any team, let alone the All Blacks.

"It's been a good week, and something different," he said pitchside. "It is the first ever team I've captained, so for it to be the All Blacks makes it a good challenge. It's a different way to how I usually prepare for a game. The good thing about it is it's a challenge I've been looking forward to."

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He says he has done "a lot of delegating" through this busy week in south-west London. "It's about trying to get the team to run smoothly and how the leadership works together as a unit to get this tram humming come tomorrow. It's been a challenging week on that front, but one I was ready for."

The 26-year-old Taranaki and Hurricanes playmaker says the experience will make him a more effective lieutenant when Kieran Read takes the reins back next week in France, and nominates the various occasions he has been required to address the team as his biggest adjustment.

"I'm used to being up there presenting the attack and running that side of the game. But you've got to look at the big picture. I'm not really a motivational person but that's where my lieutenant Sam Cane will come in handy. If he needs to say something, he says it."

Barrett said having three potential debutants among a generally young squad this week has helped keep excitement levels high, confirmed the captaincy had never been a bucket-list ambition and also that he hadn't spent any time in front of the mirror practising his pre-game pep-talk.

"You don't want to over-think it," he added. "It's just about living in the moment, and like you're preparing for anything – the more you're thinking about it, the more anxious you'll probably get."

The new skip is also just a little energised by the nature of a quite different occasion, with 36 Kiwis running out on to Twickenham (the Baabaas contain 13 of their own, including Barrett's former All Black and Hurricanes team-mate Julian Savea) in front of a, presumably, mostly English crowd expected to get up around the 70,000 mark.

"It is unique turning up here and not playing England. I guess we experienced that in the World Cup, and any occasion you get to play at Twickenham is a great one. We're aware who our opposition are and how familiar we are with them, and that's just going to add to the spectacle. There should be a few words shared out there, no doubt."

And from a personal perspective he is rapt to be back playing footy again after sitting out the Brisbane banana skin defeat to the Wallabies to get a head knock suffered in Cape Town right.

"It was a waiting game early on coming back from my concussion, and as I started to feel good then I could plan. This was a game I targeted and it's just great to be running around again in the black jersey."

Aye-aye, skipper.