Hapless England put to the sword by Galthie's Barbarians
England fell to a third successive defeat as the Barbarians overcame a first-half red card shown to Will Skelton to win 52-21 at Twickenham and secure their biggest victory in the fixture.
Skelton became the first player sent off in Barbarians history when his shoulder to the head of Patrick Schickerling ended the Exeter prop’s afternoon after he failed a head injury assessment.
Forced to play 43 minutes with only 14, Fabien Galthie’s men showed their class by continuing to run in tries with Damian Penaud crossing twice and Baptiste Couilloud, Louis Carbonel, Max Spring and Antoine Hastoy also getting on the scoresheet.
Even the arrival of Danny Care early in the third quarter for his first international appearance in nearly four years failed to inspire disjointed England, who fired only in sporadic bursts.
Eddie Jones had picked the usual mix of youth and experience for the annual uncapped international, but even allowing for the experimental line-up it was a disappointing outing ahead of next month’s three-Test series against Australia.
To rub salt into England’s wounds, their former lock George Kruis kicked three conversions, including an outrageous backheel, to head into retirement with a smile on his face.
England wings Joe Cokanasiga and Jonny May were looking to make big impressions to secure their places to Australia following injury-enforced absences and they experienced mixed fortunes.
Cokanasiga was prominent amid a promising start by the hosts and he brought Twickenham to its feet with a jet-fuelled break out of the 22 only for the defensive cover to collar the supporting Harry Randall.
Marcus Smith drew first blood with a penalty but the Barbarians surged ahead through an 18th-minute penalty try awarded against May for a deliberate knock-on as they sought to exploit an overlap on the right.
England, wearing their red kit, launched a purposeful attack but a loose pass by Randall was picked off by Charles Ollivon who was able to complete the foot race to the whitewash.
At 14-3 down inside the first half-hour, it was looking bleak for Jones’ men with a missed penalty by Smith failing to lift spirits and soon after tighthead prop Will Collier was brought off as a tactical replacement.
The game appeared to turn on its head during a three-minute spell during which Skelton was sent off, Smith kicked a penalty and Cokanasiga scored a try created by Smith and Tommy Freeman, but another twist quickly followed.
Looking to break out of the 22, Mark Atkinson’s pass intended for Cokanasiga instead fell to Penaud and the French wing cantered in for a simple finish.
The Barbarians continued to shrug off the absence of Skelton when a defensive lapse allowed Yoan Tanga to surge through the middle and Couilloud arrived to complete the move.
England sprung into life, with Care’s arrival making a difference as Smith began to weave his magic to create a try scored by May, but Penaud added a second with an acrobatic finish that was examined in great detail by the TMO.
Big carries by Tom Curry and May created the space for Smith to dart over but despite showing encouraging flashes in attack, England just could not pull clear.
Nolann Le Garrec chipped over the defence for Carbonel to touch down but there was better to come from the Barbarians as Spring touched down after a sweeping move before Hastoy completed the rout.
Comments on RugbyPass
The game was changing too much with teams trying to role the dice drawing fouls. Would be better if scrums and the adjudicating problems were resolved but this is a good immediate fix.
37 Go to commentsLike many here I am encouraged by this post. Our forwards are where the real rewards and improvements must come from. With a 50/50 pack against any opposition, our backs could ensure more than 50% of the games will be won. We need Valetini at 6 and Cale at 8 to make the most or a good tight 5, McWright will add to the effectiveness of the pack BUT must get a very good tight 5 out there first.
97 Go to commentsThe key point I think that is missing is that if Joseph wants to guarantee a Lions spot, he really has to play wing in his first year. He is easily going to nail down whatever he wants to do, but with just half a season, how much of a factor he proves to be in the Lions series could be dictated by this initial choice of playing position.
8 Go to commentsthe game was 2 weeks before the challenge cup final. I really don’t believe they needed to rest that many players.
1 Go to commentsI really feel like neither of the Vunipolas is given the respect they deserve. I would have liked to see both of them get a few more caps than they have gotten in the past couple of years, but unfortunately the fact that they both peaked young has meant that for a number of years they have been perceived as disappointments. When they are both retired, in the cold light of day they will be recognised as two of the best players of their generation of any nation.
2 Go to commentsthis generation of saracens players could produce some really incredible coaches. When Farrell retires he could walk into any premiership team as a defence, attack, or kicking coach. Itoje could make it as a defence or a lineout coach, and Jamie George as a lineout or scrum coach. The problem the Vunipolas are going to have is that its not clear what their coaching speciality would be. Neither are great in the set piece, and while they were good in attack and defence, they were never tactical masterminds. Perhaps contact skills would be their ideal brief? Mako perhaps could work in strength & conditioning, but Billy has a bit of a reputation for not taking that side of the game seriously.
2 Go to commentsA very good player.We are finally getting some balance in our team. Plummer..Heem ..Lam a solid..experienced combo who take the sensible options consistently. Clarke was a grt impact of the bench option until Lam moved to 13 to replace an injured Reiko. Cotter is doing a grt job building his team. .
1 Go to commentsSaturday was last straw. Terrible record in Premiership since Jan 23. Capitulation against Bath at home. There are 3 conclusions. Players aren't good enough. Coaching team aren't good enough or combination of both.
2 Go to commentsAs you say in your article Brett, the point was Hamish and his vanity - plain and simple. The crazy bit is that sua’ali’i has to be probably twice the player of mark N, no easy feat, just for RA to get their money's worth!?! And as you say, tahs aren't short of wingers, props on the other hand id like to see $1.6m spent on. I still shake my head at the absolute carry on in the media and comments section around the boon of getting sua’ali’i and the revenue it'd generate. It was all such hogwash imo and short sighted, real sugar hit stuff. And wasnt Waugh (and others) on the board at the time this money was spent? You say silver bullet, I'd say sugar hit but without the flavour.
8 Go to commentsNZR should play hard all a bit with some of these players and make them sign up to the next world cup. If they won’t, offer it to someone who will. Because what happens is the NH (especially France) swoop on a bunch of nz players coming off contract, weakening their depth, and nz scrambles less than 2 years out trying to get replacements up to speed.
1 Go to commentsNo thanks. Savea almost always leaves easy points out there and goes for the corner, no matter how many times it’s not working. He claimed he took “the learnings” from this when he kept making the same mistake against the Boks a few years ago. Then went out the very next week and did the same thing and SA snatched victory because of it. Years later he still does it, right up to and including the world cup final. Great player, not so great rugby nous.
10 Go to commentsIt certainly wasn't a rhetorical masterpiece coming from big E …. (just as a side remark: Eben is the better player, Siya by far the better talker - maybe that's why they don't seem to like each other very much) …. but could we please move on?
63 Go to commentsMan who wasn't there and hasn't held a conversation with those who were present weighs in on dead rubber debate and is presented as representative of the Irish Rugby Union’s spokesperson on subject he has no apparent knowledge of whatsoever.
63 Go to commentsanybody who bends at the waist when they tackle
4 Go to commentsThe evidence is not strong that this is necessary. Mounga choked on clutch kicks in the WRC final and lost the match by not performing his core goal kicking role to the level required. He also choked in the Semi final against England and was targeted as the weak point in the defence allowing them to score. Not a test great frankly. Why bend the rules for a player that is competent but not brilliant at test level?
11 Go to commentsDear Robbie, Please return to the Crusaders next season. Sincerely, Scott
1 Go to commentsDid the big E call the Irish the ‘White Can’ts’? That would’ve been good
63 Go to commentsDalton Papalii will be lucky to be selected on the Matchday 23. Ardie Savea, Ethan Blackadder, Luke Jacobson, and Peter Lauki are all as good or better openside flankers
10 Go to commentsScott Barrett is a lock and they have a much longer shelf life than a loose forward. Far more likely that Barrett will still demand a starting position based on performance at age 33 at RWC 2027 than Savea, whose explosive athleticism will have declined and he will in all likelihood have been surpassed by Hoskins Sotutu, Wallace Siti, Peter Lauki and Brayden Iose.
10 Go to commentsExtremely frustrating to get yet more speculation over whether or not Eben actually counted 12 players or not, but honestly big respect to McCloskey for keeping it classy and not pointing out Etzebeth’s hypocrisy. The Irish are a popular team outside of Ireland because they do their talking on the pitch, and its honestly a PR masterclass that they’re keeping it that way following Etzebeth’s provocation.
63 Go to comments