Wallabies shine in BaaBaas win
All of the members of the Wallabies World Cup squad that played for the Australian Barbarians against Canada on Friday came throught the match unscathed as they recorded a dominant 38-14 victory.
Wing Drew Mitchell, flyhalf Berrick Barnes, scrumhalf Nick Phipps, lock Nathan Sharpe, hooker Tatafu Polota Nau and prop James Slipper all featured in the win which saw the Barbarians run in six tries to Canada’s two.
Wallabies coach Robbie Deans would have been particularly concerned about the performances of Mitchell, Barnes, Polota Nau and Slipper who were all stepping up to international level after breaks enforced by injury but they acquitted themselves well with Barnes and Mitchell both getting over for tries.
Barnes controlled the game well and slotted four conversions for a match-haul of 13 points, while front row forwards Slipper and Polota Nau each got through around invaluable 70 minutes of rugby which will stand them in good stead ahead of the World Cup.
The Barbarians got out of the blocks quickly and scored four tries to Canada’s two in the first half as they took a commanding 26-14 lead into the half-time break before adding two further five-pointers in the second half to secure an easy victory in the end.
The scorers:
For the Australian Barbarians:
Tries: Horne, Barnes, Davies, Mitchell, Hodgson, Tapuai
Cons: Barnes 4
For Canada:
Tries: Van der Merwe, McKenzie
Cons: Pritchard 2
Australian Barbarians: 15 Lachie Turner, 14 Rod Davies, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Berrick Barnes, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Pat McCutcheon, 7 Matt Hodgson, 6 Dave Dennis, 5 Nathan Sharpe (captain), 4 Sitaleki Timani, 3 James Slipper, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Pekahou Cowan.
Replacements: 16 James Hanson, 17 Greg Holmes, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 Beau Robinson, 20 Ben Lucas, 21 Luke Morahan, 22 Bernard Foley.
Canada: 15 James Pritchard, 14 Ciaran Hearn, 13 DTH van der Merwe, 12 Ryan Smith, 11 Phil Mackenzie, 10 Ander Monro, 9 Ed Fairhurst, 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Chauncey O’Toole, 6 Adam Kleeberger, 5 Jamie Cudmore, 4 Jebb Sinclair, 3 Jason Marshall, 2 Pat Riordan (captain), 1 Hubert Buydens.
Replacements: 16 Ryan Hamilton, 17 Scott Franklin, 18 Tyler Hotson, 19 Nanyak Dala, 20 Sean White, 21 Conor Trainor, 22 Nathan Hirayama.
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
