Barbarians too strong for England

England 39 Barbarians 52

England’s new-look line-up failed to match the superior class of the multi-capped, star-studded Barbarians at Twickenham today.

The Baa-Baas cut loose to run in eight tries with Northampton’s New Zealander Bruce Reihana grabbing two and landing six conversions for a 22-point haul.

Wendell Sailor, Australia’s World Cup wing three-quarter, exacted revenge for the 2003 final defeat by England, cruising in for two tries with South African full-back Brent Russell also bagging a brace.

Former All Blacks’ fly-half Carlos Spencer, who will be teaming up with Reihana at Northampton next season, and South Africa centre Trevor Halstead scored the other two Barbarians’ tries.

Despite being forced onto the defensive for long periods, England replied with five tries of their own.

Paul Sackey, the London Wasps’ right-wing, marked his England debut with two and his club-mate Ayoola Erinle also touched down on his first appearance for his country.

Replacement back-row forward James Forrester and skipper Pat Sanderson weighed in with two late consolation tries for England which gave the scoreline a respectable appearance but they could not hide the fact England were outplayed for much of this end-of-season showpiece match.

Leicester Tigers’ fly-half Andy Goode contributed 10 points, with two penalties and two conversions, with his club-mate Sam Vesty adding two late conversions.

But, on the evidence of this performance, England’s shadow team have a lot of improvement to make before they leave for the Churchill Cup tour to Canada on June 9.

They could meet Argentina in the final but, after the spirited display in Monday night’s draw against the British Lions at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, the Pumas will fancy their chances against an England team minus their Lion stars.

Their absence showed up front where England were out-gunned and the distinct lack of early possession forced them into a largely-rearguard action.

Coach Joe Lydon, in charge while head coach Andy Robinson is on British Lions’ duty in New Zealand, will have been heartened for a while by their defensive resolve in the first half as the quick-handed centre consistently released centres Halstead and Thomas Castaignede on the burst.

England dug in to show their defensive resolve after Spencer and Halstead sent Reihana over to touch down next to the left-hand corner flag in the seventh minute.

But the pressure and extra quality of the Barbarians breached the England defence twice more before half-time.

Sailor’s power enable him to spin through two tackles for his 29th minute try and then Spencer burst through and, with two team-mates outside him, feinted and went again to beat England full-back Tom Boyce’s despairing dive.

Sackey single-handedly put England back in contention, leaping high to take a loose ball before embarking on a 60-metre arching run for the line in which he beat four opponents.

A minute into the second half England momentarily went ahead when Erinle also scored on his England debut after Wasps’ club-mate Boyce enterprisingly took a quick line-out throw to himself.

He made 30m before being hauled down and when the ball was recycled Goode cut inside to create the space and send Erinle in.

But the lead lasted less than 60 seconds before a magical burst by Spencer released Reihana for his second try, which he converted to restore the Baa-Baas lead at 24-20.

They effectively put the game out of sight when Sailor and Russell opened up England again for Halstead to touch down and then Sailor left England’s Leicester Tigers’ forward pair George Chuter and Louis Deacon standing as he struck again from close range.

The floodgates had well and truly opened, with Russell scoring his two tries to extend the Barbarians’ lead to 52-20 which left England’s late three-try reply simply too little too late.