England youngsters fail to impress in BaaBaas game

MotM
By Claire J
May 31 2004

A young England side took on the BaaBaas in a game which should have been delightful end of season running rugby but ended up as delightful as an over-cooked suet pudding. This game should never have been about the result but Sir Clive in his wisdom heaped pressure on his young side who froze.

The Barbarians dominated from start to finish, playing stylish running rugby. Their start was aggressive and my man of the match Mark Robinson put Stuart Barnes’ Man of the Match Sir Jason Leonard in for the first score - he’s scored one try for England and now one try for the BaaBaas!

Anyway, Poitrenaud corner struck again allowing Horgan to score when Horak made a cods of recovering the ball. 12-0.

Paul Sackey’s introduction into international rugby was to be dumped unceremoniously by Bruce Reihana - great tackle Bruce - just two weeks late!! Sorry Saints moment there!

Exceptionally uncreative play enabled Walder to make 12-3 - oh yes, we were taking kicks at goal - very splendid! In fact England were enjoying themselves so much - Walder repeated the experience to make it 12-6 and added icing to the suet pudding by attempting a drop goal.

Thank goodness the Barbarians showed us what aggressive forward and back play was all about, gaining 70 metres for Reihana to score the simplest of tries! That man Robinson in the thick of it again.17-6. No, no thought the English and replied with a penalty to make it 17-9 and then another 17-12. The BaaBaas then caught the disease and went into half time 20-12 up.

Second half and it got worse - Skinstad decided to give England a sporting chance by being binned for some afters on Sorrell. Nope - didn’t help, the lineout was awful - Regan made Leota look reasonable! The back line didn’t create space (Noon did try bless him!) and the forwards rumbled around looking lost in the sunshine. Hazell and Hyde are great tacklers but apart from the odd Hazell break as a back row unit they created nothing - I’ve no idea where Vyvyan was!

Skinstad returned clearly dischuffed that the English hadn’t taken any advantage from his rest - so he scored an interception try from a Walder pass which my Mum could have worked out! Humphries converted 27-12. The Barbarian fowards then rumbled in for an O’Kelly try and then Mark Andrews decided to do a Jos Baxendell impression with the conversion - hopeless! 32-12.

So what did we learn - I think there are a few messageboard arguments settled. Mark Robinson is an outstanding scrum-half and I’m thankful that the All Black system blessed us with his presence in the Premiership. I think we know why Sir hasn’t picked a few players in the past and I’d be surprised if some of those players were ever seen in a white shirt again. Sad but true but that’s what happens when you serve up over-cooked suet pudding!