England v BaaBaas 30/5/09
By Kath
May 30 2009
England v Barbarians Twickenham - 30/5/2009 England faced a star studded Barbarian team at Twickenham today in hot sunshine. Good Luck to Martin Corry and Josh Lewsey
England 26 v 33 Barbarians
Twickenham - 30/5/2009
England faced a star studded Barbarian team at Twickenham today in hot sunshine. Some excellent performances by individual Baa Baas and as a team outstanding, they ripped England apart from the start, showing class and defence in spades. The Baa Baas will fly out to take on Australia next week and we wish them all the very best of luck.
As to England, well it is more of here we go again. I must admit I am sick and tired of hearing we will go away and look at the video and learn from this blah, blah, blah. Ok, you could say....... well they did come back from 5 v 26 down to within one converted try......... but hey the didn't, did they. All sports afterwards are largely about if only we had done this etc.,
It is time for England to sort this out now and fast never mind the videos, let's get back to basics (to quote Dewi Morris) as he is always prattling on about the basics but he is right if we can't do the basics right then we might as well give up.
Many have called for a clear out of all the oldies and yet some of the oldies are playing really good rugby even on the Baa Baas team, so in my opinion I am happy to see them there as long as they put in the work.
England appeared hesitant and struggled for fluency, everything looked a bit nervy and headless chickenish at times, the belief has gone from England. The players definitely have the talent, they just need to believe in themselves and as a team. Yes we were missing, players maybe Flutey might have made a big difference if he had not been otherwise engaged. Jamie Noon almost got to the line but was taken down by an excellent tap-tackle. Danny Care looked really good until he went off injured.
Englands Danny Care is tackled by Barbarians Serge Betsen.
Maybe I am being too pessimistic about the match but I saw nothing that really inspired me to think England are on their way again. And my goodness Balshaw the nerve of the man, what a revelation he was again!
"We did some good things in the first half. We made some mistakes that hurt us,"
"Defensively the way we gave away the tries was disappointing. It was poor and our urgency wasn't good enough. "Our kicking game at times wasn't good enough either. But when we started to play with intensity and accuracy we came back into the game.
"We can't make the same sort of mistakes against Argentina. Some of the guys hadn't played for a while and we'll have to be sharper. "We'll be picking our strongest team against Argentina."
Yes Jonno we need a much more convincing performance next week, as England fans are fed up with the same old mantra.
England: Delon Armitage (London
Irish), Ben Foden (Northampton Saints), Jamie Noon (Newcastle Falcons), Jordan
Turner-Hall (Harlequins)*, Matt Banahan (Bath Rugby)*, Andy Goode (CA Brive),
Danny Care (Harlequins); Tim Payne (London Wasps), Dylan Hartley (Northampton
Saints), David Wilson (Newcastle Falcons)*, Steve Borthwick (Saracens, captain),
Louis Deacon (Leicester Tigers), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins)*, Lewis Moody
(Leicester Tigers), Nick Easter (Harlequins)
Replacements: Steve Thompson (CA Brive) for Hartley
61, Nick Wood (Gloucester Rugby)* for Payne 54, Chris Jones (Sale Sharks),
Steffon Armitage (London Irish) for Moody 54, James Haskell (London Wasps) for
Deacon 67, Paul Hodgson (London Irish) for Care 52, Tom May (Newcastle Falcons)*
for Noon 40.
Scorers: Tries - Foden, Turner-Hall, May, Banahan; Cons - Goode 3.
Barbarians: Ben Blair (Cardiff Blues & New Zealand), Doug Howlett
(Munster & New Zealand), Josh Lewsey (London Wasps & England), Gordon
D'Arcy (Leinster & Ireland), Iain Balshaw (Gloucester Rugby & England),
Glen Jackson (Saracens), Justin Marshall (Saracens & New Zealand), Clarke
Dermody (London Irish & New Zealand), Schalk Brits (Stormers & South
Africa), Greg Somerville (Gloucester Rugby & New Zealand)
4 Martin Corry (Leicester Tigers & England, captain), Chris Jack (Saracens
& New Zealand), Jerry Collins (Toulon & New Zealand), Serge Betsen
(London Wasps & France), Rocky Elsom (Leinster & Australia)
Replacements (all used): Sebastien Bruno (Sale Sharks & France), B J
Botha (Ulster & South Africa), Paul Tito (Cardiff Blues), Phil Waugh
(Waratahs & Australia, Chris Whitaker (Leinster & Australia), Mike Catt
(London Irish & England), Ratu Nasiganiyavi (Waratahs).
Sin bin: Waugh (68-78)
Scorers: Tries - Balshaw 2, Jack, Elsom, D'Arcy; Cons - Blair 4