Johnson warns England players to become smarter
Tries from James Haskell, Shontayne Hape, Ben Foden and Mike Tindall helped England into a 32-7 lead shortly after the interval as they capitalised on some woeful defending.
But the Barbarians struck back with tries from David Smith, Census Johnston and Paul Sackey in the last half hour to set up a tense finish.
“The game became loose at times and there’s a danger that you’ll get sucked into that and loose shape, which is exactly what the Barbarians want,” said Johnson.
“The Barbarians chanced their arm at the breakdown and I’m not sure it would come off in a Test match.
“We have got to be smarter and shouldn’t have gone into some of the areas that we did.”
Barbarians coach Philippe Saint-Andre revealed his side’s social commitments this week contributed to their abysmal display before coming alive in the final half hour.
“It was a very good second half. In the first half we were still in the discotheque.” said Saint-Andre.
“We had a lot of players from European winners Cardiff and Toulouse who have been celebrating and they weren’t quite there in the warm-up.
England scorers: Tries: Haskell, Hape, Foden, Tindall. Cons: Hodgson 2, Barkley. Pens: Hodgson 2, Barkley.
Barbarians scorers: Tries: Sackey 2, D. Smith, Johnston. Cons: Elissalde 3.
ENGLAND: Foden, Cueto, Tindall, Hape, Strettle, Hodgson, Care, Golding, Thompson, Doran-Jones, Atwood, Palmer, Haskell, S. Armitage, Easter.
Replacements: Tait for Hape (61), Simpson for Strettle (72), Barkley for Hodgson (36), Payne for Golding (45), Mears for Thompson (55), Ward-Smith for Atwood (51), Worsley for S. Armitage (65).
BARBARIANS: Warwick, Sackey, Laulala, Fritz, Heymans, Elissalde, Kelleher, Roncero, August, White, Skeate, Kay, So’oialo, Williams, Rush.
Replacements: Mignoni for Elissalde (65), Johnston for Roncero (50), Owens for August (70), Thion for Skeate (42), D. Smith for Kay (51).
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