* This story has been syndicated from New Zealand Rugby News magazine

The first thing you notice about Jordie Barrett is his height.

At 195cm tall the 20-year-old is a big man, more strapping lock than lanky play maker.

The second thing you notice is his striking resemblance to his older brother Beauden. Up close the siblings aren't identical twins, but on a rugby field they look every bit like two blokes cut from the same Taranaki cloth.

And when they stand side by side it's hard not to smirk at the figurative truth that Jordie will play his first season of Investec Super Rugby in the shadow of a man eight centimetres shorter than him.

It's an inescapable reality for the fifth member of the Barrett family to play Super Rugby that every discussion about one of the Hurricanes big off season signings starts with a comparison to the 2016 World Rugby Player of the Year.

Is he just as fast? Is he as good a goal kicker? Is he as composed? Is he as good?

CAPTION: Jordie Barrett [standing] and his brother Beauden are clearly enjoying being in the same team in 2017. PHOTO: Getty Sport

Comparing new young players to established stars is of course unfair and full of guess work, but it's something of a national pastime among New Zealand rugby fans.

The early evidence suggests Jordie Barret is pretty rapid, a very good ball striker from the kicking tee and, judging by his side-line drop kick conversion against the Highlanders at the Global Brisbane Rugby Tens, a composed young man.

There are differences in the way the Barrett boys play. Jordie is more physical than his brother at the same stage of his career, the product of being smashed by his older, and then bigger siblings, during backyard battles growing up.

And there are similarities on and off the field too.

There's the way they spy and take a gap, the style of the long flat pass and the chip and chase. And there are the mannerisms, phrases and sayings, some likely composed in the boarding house of Francis Douglas Memorial College in New Plymouth, a 30 minute drive from the family farm in Pungarehu.

Both Barrett boys speak with the same genuine fondness for their old school too, but Jordie's not overly interested in being constantly compared to his brother. 

Rightly he'd prefer to carve his own niche and so far he's done a decent job.

CAPTION: Jordie Barrett's quickly settled in and found his place as just one of the guys at the Hurricanes. PHOTO: Getty Sport

The highlight of the preseason for the Barrett boys undoubtedly came during the team's match in Waverley where Jordie, Beauden and older brother Scott, playing lock for the Crusaders, all took the field together.

Jordie celebrated his 20th birthday with a cake in the Hurricanes changing rooms after fulltime, while the club's fan base celebrated the attacking possibilities of having two Barrett brothers in the same backline.

With Beauden pulling the strings from first five, Jordie cut capers out wide.

Young wing Wes Goosen was the beneficiary of two tries in quick succession, first when his fullback freed his arms in a tackle to off load to his wing, then from a perfectly weighted grubber to the in-goal.

Barrett times two is an exciting combination. Both possess the ability to throw long, fast and flat passes to their outsides. Both can kick long or short. Both can take a gap and offload.

CAPTION: Jordie Barrett's ability to off load in the tackle has been a feature of his game during his first season of Suuper Rugby. PHOTO: Getty Sport

What they can't do is play the same position, but the evidence suggests choosing his own pathway has never been an issue for Jordie Barrett.

While Beauden vividly remembers walking around the family home in his dad's baggy Taranaki and Hurricanes jerseys as a young lad and staring at old rugby photos, Jordie was blissfully unaware of the old man's feats on the footy field.

"I wasn't really aware of it as a youngster. It wasn't until I was probably nine or ten when I realised he'd played a couple of representative games. I wasn't growing up thinking dad was a rugby player, dad was just dad. I just knew him as being a farmer pretty much."

So aside from running the kicking tee on a couple of times for Coastal at the back end of his dad's playing days, Jordie's sporting dreams were something of an open book.

"I started rugby when I was five or six, but it was never just rugby all my life. I did athletics, swimming, golf and cricket and mum always encouraged us to be fit and just get stuck into all different sorts of sports."

CAPTION: Jordie, Scott and Beauden Barrett grew up together trying all sorts of sports with Jordie excelling at both cricket and rugby. PHOTO: Getty Sport

In fact, after coming out of Francis Douglas Memorial College as a promising fast bowler Barrett figured cricket was probably his calling.

"I was more so about 70 percent cricket, 30 percent rugby at one point after l left school. One year out of school I was playing age group cricket for Central Districts and I thought that was going to be my pathway in sport.

"I played Central Districts A, Under 19s, and then I was twelfth man for one Stags match. There were guys like Doug Bracewell and Ben Wheeler who were around, but I was more in the Taranaki set up with guys like Will Young and Tom Bruce who were coming through.

"Up until I was 19 and cricket and rugby were going hand in hand summer and winter and then rugby sort of just took over. It was really just one good club season and I just never got to the next summer. Rugby took over that quickly."

And so began a whirlwind couple of years that's seen the talented cricketer embark on a professional rugby career that's showing few signs of slowing down any time soon.

"It's a bit cliché, but I didn't expect it all to happen this quickly. I was down there at Lincoln [University] playing colts and studying.  I did one year of full study, played another year of senior club for Lincoln, then got selected for [New Zealand] Under 20s and everything just flowed from there."

Barrett enjoyed the balance of the Lincoln system which allowed him to study, train and play without too much hassle.

He credits Lincoln club coach John Haggart and Canterbury Mitre 10 Cup coach Scott Robertson for preparing him for the next stage of his career.

But there is no regret about his decision to move north to the Hurricanes where Barrett's taken little time slipping into the routine and rhythm of the defending Super Rugby champions.

Unlike most young players, he received the ultimate induction to the world of professional rugby when All Blacks coach Steve Hansen took him on the team's 2016 end of year tour to Europe as an apprentice.

Barrett doesn't go into any great detail about his All Blacks experience in the same way Ardie Savea, another apprentice tourist a few years ago, shied away from the topic.

It's understandable. Being an apprentice is not the same as being an All Black.

So for now, Barrett's focus is on finding his place at the Hurricanes where he's become a sponge since arriving in the Capital last summer.

"Every single coach here is top notch at what they do. I've learned so much already," he said. "I just try to take things as they come. A lot can change very quickly and you don't know what's around the corner, so I just try to take it week to week.

"It is quite a heavy work load in the preseason and I found that very tough [physically and mentally]. From what I've learned so far you have to have a good balance or you get caught into that rugby mode and you can turn up and not be fresh.

"It's important that you have other things outside of rugby that keep you fresh and keep you excited to come back here every day."