England Lions 54 v 26 SA Barbarians South - Match View

England midweek team had an 8 Try win over the SA Barbarians South today in Kimberley. 

England Lions 54 v 26  SA Barbarians South

13/6/2012

Match Viewpoint

Prior to the start of the match changes were made with a view to offer better selection options for Saturday's 2nd Test. George Lowe (Harlequins) took over from Saracens wing David Strettle for the game, Lowe’s promotion to the right wing saw Phil Dowson come on to the replacements’ bench.

Although England won, Head Coach Stuart Lancaster said to Sky Sports that he had "mixed emotions on the win"

"I think the boys learned a lesson, I think the boys in the stand in particular learned some lessons about how we are going to need to manage it on Saturday.  

"We'll take the positives, but equally there were some areas of technical discipline and obviously our penalty count and work around the breakdown we need to improve and adapt to the referee.  We gave them a start we didn't want to give them. Playing sides like this you want to start well and be technically disciplined and we didn't. 

 "But also equally I'm pleased with a lot of the players and how they worked and put their hands up."

Well this demanding fan is a happy one and pleased with the win regardless of how.  Yes of course we want improvements but hey playing for some in their first game on south African turf, they did well.

Archive Photo - Englands Danny Care scores his sides sixth try during the RBS 6 Nations match - Picture Empics

A few of the stalwarts looked hungry for a place in Saturday's line up, one in particular was Danny Care. He put endless effort in and  played really well in my opinion. Deserved is try and a place next Saturday.

SA Barbarians South: J Jansen; C Hendricks, C Rautenbach, W Stevens, N Nelson; E Watts, B Abrahams; C Fourie, H Franklin, R Geldenhuys, N Clarke, D Bulbring, M Mbiyozo, S Raubenheimer, J Engelbrecht.  Replacements: C Lewis (for Franklin, 51) D Hopp (for Geldenhuys, 60-87, for Fourie), S Fihlani (for Bulbring, 74), Z Jordaan (for Raubenheimer, 60), N Kebe (for Abrahams, 50), R Croy (for Nelson, 66), N Dukisa (for Rautenbach, 45).

England: A Goode; G Lowe, A Allen, J Turner-Hall, C Wade; C Hodgson, D Care; M Mullan, J Gray, P Doran Jones, G Kitchener, G Robson, J Haskell, C Fearns, T Waldrom.                       Replacements: T Youngs (for Fearns, 49), R Harden (for Doran Jones, 59), T Palmer, J Gibson (for Gray, 47), L Dickson (for Lowe, 41), P Dowson (for Waldrom, 66), N Abendanon (for Goode, 40).

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (SA)