England's lackluster victory over the Barbarians

A second-string England side limped to an unconvincing victory over the makeshift Barbarians at Twickenham on Sunday.

Nick Easter's try, and a penalty and conversion from Toby Flood gave England a 10-0 lead at the break after a poor first half.

Seilala Mapusua got the Barbarians back in the game with an interception try.

But Mathew Tait, who had a good game, scored a converted try to ensure England made it across the finishing line, with Gareth Thomas claiming a late Baa-Baas consolation.

Both sides struggled to hold onto the ball and the Barbarians were further undermined by their total inability to win their own line-outs. The only highlights for them being two stand out performers on the day, Mapusua and Pedrie Wannenburg.

Barbarians matches are traditionally open encounters but the first half of Sunday's game was a very scrappy affair. The same could be said for the game against the Irish, which is surely not a great advertisement for Barbarians rugby.

For England, they now have the daunting task of taking on the All Blacks in their own backyard. Hampered by injuries, they'll need to bring in available first choice players and up the intensity if they hope to compete against New Zealand, who also have a point to prove after their disastrous World Cup campaign.


Time: 05:17

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Best punches Visagie, Croft punches Best

On Tuesday night when the Barbarians faced Ireland at Kingsholm, we saw Ireland's flanker Neil Best and Baa Baa's front rower Cobus Visagie get themselves into a real tangle, resulting in Visagie coming off second best, looking battered and bruised and having to leave the field.

It's hard to see why the scuffle broke out. By the looks of it, Visagie was overzealous in his clearing out at the ruck, which turned into a wrestle, and attempted elbow/punch, then Best's dealing with powerful scrummagers face.

Visagie had to go off for treatment, and Best was probably lucky to stay on the field after his short jab connected so obviously. It wasn't the end of it though.

Fast forward 4 minutes, and we see retiring Queensland Red's stalwart David Croft get his own back. Best found himself at the bottom of a ruck, a little push and shove happened somewhere, and next thing you know, Croft unleashed a few well placed shots that mostly, judging by Best’s bleeding nose, were actually missed by the cameras.

We may have seen three yellow cards on another occasion, but somehow all these incidents were overlooked.

Croft taking the law into his own hands was wrong, but it just goes to show that even if the ref does miss it, there’s someone out there who’ll make sure you get your due punishment.

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Ireland beat the Barbarians - All the tries

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Ireland beat the Barbarians - All the tries

Ireland and the Barbarians met last night at Kingsholm for a friendly match that served mainly as a warm up for Ireland ahead of their tour down to Australasia next month.

It wasn't the greatest performance seen by Ireland or the traditional Barbarians, but served up a few nice tries, most notably by Tommy Bowe and Shane Horgan.

The Baa Baa's looked predictably out of sorts and disjointed, and as the commentator quipped, perhaps had a bit too much of a Belgian beer hangover after their match there on the weekend.

Ireland scored 24 points in the first 23 minutes, and that was about the most exciting part of the game bar one or two moments of brilliance from a young backline that at times showed glimpses of real quality.

Ireland came out easily on top in the end, despite some spirited play by the Barbarians. The final score in this one, 39-14 to the Irish.

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The Barbarians down South Africa in 2007
Great Barbarians try vs the Boks - 2000
Barbarians 1973 - Gareth Edwards try

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Tom Shanklin try saving tackle on Juan Smith

In a game the Springboks would like to forget about as soon as possible, the Barbarians put up some tremendous defence and shut out all Springbok attacks showing a passion that made them deserving winners on the day.

A brilliant covering tackle from Welsh center Tom Shanklin on big Juan Smith as he charged for the line epitomised the dedication and spirit of Barbarians rugby. Shanklin got in low to drive the much larger man out with no problem.

Legendary All Black Justin Marshall was on hand to take to inside flick, which if he weren't, would have easily been collected by Bryan Habana. The commentators sing Marshalls praises, but in my opinion the actual tackle is the real try saver.

Well played by both of them though. Juan Smith is a giant of a man and Bryan Habana is a true predator, so Tom Shanklin and Justin Marshall, take a bow.

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The Barbarians down South Africa

A star studded Barbarians side took on the World Champion South Africans at Twickenham on Saturday. For the Barbarians there was a sense of revenge on the cards. The opportunity to claim the scalp of a World Champion side is something every international player dreams of. And, they weren't disappointed.

The Springboks, who featured only 5 of the World Cup Final team, just weren't up for it, and the Baa Baa's came out on top convincingly, winning the game 22-5.
Missing leadership and key players, the Springboks gave coach Jake White a disappointing farewell to his successful four years in charge.

Jason Robinson brought down the curtain on his international career with a fantastic display of attacking fullback play that epitomised his long, distinguished career. Robinson was simply sublime with ball in hand. He received an emotional standing ovation from the large Twickenham crowd, every one of which were applauding the great man and his great career.

For the South Africans, a poor performance from a group of guys who've either played too much rugby of late, or in some cases - too little. A game too far. Second Rower Barend Pieterse starting at number 6 in place of Schalk Burger just about summed up the day.

Well done to the Barbarians though. Good to see that despite talk of certain players not being able to be released, they managed to put together a very strong side and showed that the Barbarian rugby tradition is alive and well.

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Great Barbarians try vs the Boks - 2000

In preparation for the highly anticipated Barbarians vs Springboks clash on Saturday, we've dug up a fantastic try from 2000 which saw stars such as former Wallabies Richard Harry, Daniel Herbert, ex All Black number eight Ron Cribb, and enigmatic Argentinian leader Augustin Pichot playing some great rugby and throwing some classic passes.

Harry got it going, showing good pace for a big guy, but Ron Cribb threw a vital slip pass to Pichot who put the foot down and flew away from the hapless Bok defenders. A classic try by the Barbarians, who are tradtionally famous for this type of crowd friendly flair.

For this years clash between the two sides at Twickenham though, the Baa Baa's unfortunately are missing a lot of mainline players from England, Ireland, and France due to club commitments. Therefore, the side is built up of a familiar bunch of Southern Hemisphere names that the South African's will know well.

The Boks on the other hand are also missing a few of their stars, with players like captain John Smit not being available and others being out because of injury.

Both sides are looking strong though, and in all honesty this Barbarians side could and probably will give the World Champions a really tough challenge.

With the likes of Joe Rokocoko, Mat Giteau, and Jason Robinson, you can expect to see some highly attractive rugby and some tremendous skill on show.

Expect the Boks to play it tight at first though. Although Barbarian clashes are meant to be a festival of running rugby, the World Cup Winners still have a reputation to uphold, and they wont be playing loose rugby to start out with. Tight, hard, and physical, they'll pick up the scraps and then hopefully later in the game throw the ball around and show the precision finishing that they displayed against Wales last week.

It's a mouth watering confrontation for the neutral and Bok supporter alike. With such talented players on both sides, lets hope the game lives up to expectations.

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Barbarians 1973 - Gareth Edwards try

The Barbarians and the All Blacks met at Cardiff in 1973 and the match produced a moment that will never be forgotten.

That moment, one of the most played clips on television, came right at the start, when after just four minutes Gareth Edwards scored one of the best tries ever recorded on film.

Cliff Morgan's famous commentary:
"Kirkpatrick to Williams. This is great stuff. Phil Bennett covering, chased by Alistair Scown. Brilliant! Oh, that's brilliant! John Williams, Pullin, John Dawes. Great dummy! David, Tom David, the half-way line. Brilliant by Quinnell. This is Gareth Edwards. A dramatic start. What a score!"

"The game against the All Blacks is one I will never forget and those of us who played in it will never be allowed to forget"
Gareth Edwards

It was the Welsh half-back pair of Phil Bennett and Gareth Edwards that started and finished the move. Gareth remembers the day vividly. "The game against the All Blacks is one I will never forget and those of us who played in it will never be allowed to forget. It is a match that will live with me forever.

"People tend only to remember the first four minutes of the game because of the try, but what they forgot is the great deal of good rugby played afterwards, much of which came from the All Blacks.

"After the success of the 1971 Lions tour, which captured the imagination of the whole country, it was an opportunity to bring a lot of that side together again."

Final score: 23-11

This try is widely regarded as one of the greatest tries of all time.

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