Lung busting, enthralling and
simply delightful to watch, that is my short and sweet assessment of the
Barbarians taking on Australia at Twickenham Stadium and if the noise in the
stadium was anything to go by the 53,568 strong crowd agreed!
Going into the game the two opponents started in very
different places and head spaces; the Barbarians full of positivity and excitement whilst the Wallabies have been through the mill and back recently. In spite of this both sides had a job to do and boy did we all enjoy watching them do it!!
Prior to the game Australia’s new
Head Coach Michael Cheika outlined that his immediate focus is on clarifying a few things, first regarding the manner in which the Australian National side plays rugby, second, regarding how they wish their opponents to perceive them and finally nailing exactly what their identity is. Today at Twickenham his team started to do that, they weren’t
perfect but the intent and focus was there. Tevita Kuridrani’s lines were
a thing of rugby beauty and when combined with his physicality he really turned heads. The Cooper and Genia partnership that we all expected so much from started to sing again, Quade Cooper in particular
hasn’t had a lot of game time this season and with the amount of talent they
have between them the partnership will only go from strength to strength once more. However in my eyes there was one man in the Gold of Australia that
really shone and that was Sean McMahon who had a absolute stormer. After coming
on for Scott Higginbotham he worked his socks off, he was everywhere in defence
and his lines were ones that Kuridrani would be proud of.
The Barbarians’ Head Coach Sir
John Kirwan was a happy man following the game and rightly so. He hit the nail
on the head in the post match press conference when he said; “It was really important
for us as a group of young players and as Barbarians to deliver today. We are
very conscious that we need to try and protect the BaaBaas as a historical team
and the only way we can do that is by performing like we did today. It was an outstanding
game of rugby and when a Twickenham crowd sings Swing Low for a team like the Barbarians it is a special moment."
From minute one his side’s
intentions were clear their opening exchanges showcased that they were here to
play rugby, to entertain and to do the shirt proud. Colin Slade had an
outstanding day at the office, he steered the men in black and white into all of the right
places and whilst we all know that he has been dropped due to some world class All
Blacks talents; Dan Carter, Aaron Cruden and Beauden Barrett, it is difficult
to see such a superb player left out in the cold. Across the board from one to twenty three the Barbarian spirit shone
through, in spades. In previous fixtures we have seen Barbarians sides 'implode' mid way through the second half and today it looked as if it was about to happen at 40-22 down however instead they dug deep and closed the widening gap on the score board through
sheer guts and determination. Captain Al Kellock was masterful and indeed every
member of the Barbarians squad that came and spoke to the press after the game couldn’t
sing his praises enough.
If you haven’t seen the game yet,
please do watch it, for it is an outstanding advert for the game with two top teams going at each other
with every bit of energy that they have. The match provided a solid platform
for the Wallabies to push on from as they head to Cardiff to take on Warren Gatland's Wales and it reminded us all that just how
special the tradition of Barbarians rugby is. Sir John Kirwan and his side now have
three days to collect their thoughts, re-fuel and head to Welford Road where
the Leicester Tigers will be waiting for them.
