England vs Barbarians LIVE rugby: Result and reaction as brilliant Baa Baas thump dismal England
Eddie Jones’ men lose 52-21 to the Baa Baas ahead of July’s tour to Australia
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, 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 because of a failed head injury assessment.
Forced to play 43 minutes with only 14 men, 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 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.
Relive all the action from Twickenham below
Is England vs Barbarians on TV? Kick-off time, channel and how to watch international
Eddie Jones keen to see if rookies can stake claim for Australia tour spot
Danny Care’s England recall came after convincing pitch to Eddie JonesGeorge ready to Kruis off into sunset after Barbarians swansong at Twickenham
KICK-OFF! England 0-0 Barbarians
The game is underway at Twickenham. I think we can guarantee more points than yesterday’s Premiership final at Twickenham. Probably by the 20-minute mark!
England vs Barbarians
God Save the Queen is belted out as a half-full Twickenham joins in. George Krusi sings along in his Barbarians colours as well
England vs Barbarians
The teams are out on the pitch and it’s time for the anthems but first a moment’s applause for Wales and Baa Baas legend Phil Bennett, who died this week.
The Barbarians players form a number ten in honour of the icon.
Team line-ups
Here’s how the teams line up at Rugby HQ today.
A late change for England as No 8 Alex Dombrandt has taken a whack to his knee in training. He’ll go for a scan on Monday but Newcastle’s Callum Chick - who wasn’t originally in the 23 - gets the nod to start in his place.
The other big new is the return of Danny Care, who could make his first appearance for the Red Rose since 2018.
England: 15. Tommy Freeman, 14. Joe Cokanasiga, 13. Joe Marchant, 12. Mark Atkinson, 11. Jonny May, 10. Marcus Smith, 9. Harry Randall; 1. Bevan Rodd, 2. Jack Walker, 3. Will Collier, 4. Charlie Ewels, 5. Jonny Hill, 6. Tom Curry (C), 7. Sam Underhill, 8. Callum Chick
Replacements: 16. Jack Singleton, 17. Will Goodrick-Clarke, 18. Patrick Schickerling, 19. Courtney Lawes, 20. Jack Willis, 21. Danny Care, 22. Orlando Bailey, 23. Jack Nowell
Barbarians: 15. Max Spring, 14. Damien Penaud, 13. Virimi Vakatawa, 12. Levani Botia, 11. Davit Niniashvili, 10. Antoine Hastoy, 9. Baptiste Couilloud; 1. Jean-Baptiste Gros, 2. Pierre Bourgarit, 3. Beka Gigashvili, 4. George Kruis, 5. Will Skelton, 6. Dylan Cretin, 7. Charles Ollivon (C), 8. Yoan Tanga
Replacements: 16. Danny Priso, 17. Christopher Tolofua, 18. Sipili Falatea, 19. Thomas Lavault, 20. Nolann Le Garrec, 21. Louis Carbonel, 22. Sekou Macalou, 23, Tani Vili, 24. Thomas Laclayat (travelling reserve)
England in red at Twickenham
England will be in red today at Twickenham. It’s always an interesting challenge playing against the Baa Baas. Half Test rugby, half exhibition rugby. They’ve just got to focus on themselves
Barbarians ready for showtime
Final prep is more or less complete for the Baa Baas.
Shaun Edwards on Barbarians mentality
Shaun Edwards: "We have different personalities, I'm more a northern discipline, we have players with incredible natural talent. Playing out wide too and attacking.
“It’s not [frustrating], Fabien said, ‘when we train, when we’re not training, we’re not training’, it adds balance.
“We had two decent sessions, one in Monaco, one in London. We had a team run, not flat out, but it was different.”
“He [Ollivon] is a leader who sets an example, he scores so many tries as a forward, it really helps when forwards muck in and score tries.
“He [Penaud] is one of my favourite players, everybody loves him off the pitch, he's a bit crazy, off the pitch he has a bit of fun."
Eddie Jones on England, Danny Care and ‘French Barbarians'
“He'll need to have a scan on Monday, that's all we know. We'll have a good idea on Monday after the specialist looks at it. Everything is a step, you want to step in the right direction. Quite a strong, French Barbarians team. It's a nice occasion to show our skills.
“There’ll be a big gap between this game and club games, can the players adapt to it?
“It’s more about ourselves today, we want to play a certain way, show their strengths.
“He [Danny Care] is pretty happy, he’s been great in camp, he’s come back with a great attitude, he’s in good physical conditions, let’s see.
“We just worry about ourselves. They might or might not throw the ball around, kick it a lot, we’re ready for the trickey.”
Fabien Galthié relishing chance to blood French youngsters with Barbarians
Fabien Galthié: “It's funny, British Barbarians with many French men, French flair, maybe?
“We have some very young players. No 3 and No 4 in the ranking, they can benefit from the experience in the future.
“It’s a change of plan, change of team. 1973, we watched the Barbarians, against the All Blacks, we showed the players.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments