Australia fly-half Berrick Barnes has credited newborn son Archie for his blistering recent form after kicking the winning penalty in the 20-19 victory over Wales in Sydney.
Barnes, who only got his chance in the number 10 jersey due to the unavailability of Quade Cooper, Kurtley Beale and James O'Connor, collected his second straight man-of-the-match gong after another assured performance in front of a packed house at Allianz Stadium.
The often-maligned playmaker was impressive in general play and kicked five from six with the boot, including his clutch 32-metres effort from the sideline in the 75th minute.
And the 26-year-old said it is no coincidence his purple patch has coincided with his son's arrival eight days ago.
"That's (becoming a father) definitely helped and given me a spur on," Barnes said after the match.
"It puts a lot of things in perspective, that's for sure. I've probably been freed up a lot, which has been great. I can't fault the blokes around me with the support they've given me.
"I've had a lot of enjoyment in the last three weeks. It's been a big couple, that's for sure (off the field).
"It's been good. I've been fortunate an opportunity presented itself. I didn't think I was playing too bad in the last few rounds of Super 15 so I felt I was building. I was working hard off the field."
Having missed a crucial kick at the death in Melbourne last weekend, Barnes held his nerve to boot the Wallabies home and seal a 3-0 series win.
"It wasn't much different to last week," he said of his winning kick.
"I was hoping I wasn't going to cramp up again. I felt I'd been hitting them well all day, barring that one from the sideline, so it was just a routine trying to keep it straight and fortunately it snuck in."
Asked if he was worried about last week's disappointing miss when skipper David Pocock pointed to the posts in the 75th minute, Barnes replied: "I wasn't really. I heard some Welsh bloke say something. I was trying to pick it out of the crowd but I managed to block it out.
"It didn't worry me so much today. I felt I'd done a lot of work during the week to try to rectify (kicking). In those situations you have to trust what you've been doing.
"I still thought we had a lot of time on the clock and I thought it wouldn't be the last score of the game, to be honest."
