England 35 Barbarians 26:ENGLAND WARMED up for their tour of Australia and New Zealand with a confidence-boosting win against the Barbarians at Twickenham yesterday.
James Haskell, Shontayne Hape, Ben Foden and Mike Tindall all touched down as England made the most of some generous defending to cruise to victory.
Toulon-bound winger Paul Sackey scored a try in each half for the Barbarians and replacements David Smith and Census Johnson rumbled over to give the scoreline an air of respectability.
Charlie Hodgson, back after two years in the international wilderness, made a lively contribution at outhalf and finished with 10 points before a bloody nose forced him off, while the backrow of Nick Easter, Delon Armitage and Haskell were all prominent.
Scrumhalf Danny Care responded well to the gauntlet that Ben Youngs threw down with his performance for Leicester in Saturday’s Premiership final.
Hodgson kicked two penalties before Jamie Haskell showed some clever footwork to skip away from Sackey and Ross Skeate, who collided in pantomime fashion as the Stade Francais flanker touched down.
England extended their lead to 20-0 when Hape stepped through a giant gap between Fritz and Ben Kay to score on his senior debut.
Finally the Barbarians offered something worth cheering as Jean-Baptiste Elissalde brilliantly collected his own chip and sent Sackey over for the try.
Foden went over for England’s third try to earn England a 25-7 half-time lead.
The Barbarians’ saloon-door defending continued after the break as Tindall slipped Fritz’s tackle and sailed untouched through a gaping midfield hole to touch down under the posts.
Both sides began to ring the changes and the Barbarians began to play more direct rugby and profited to the tune of second-half tries from Sackey, Smith and Johnson.
Scorers: England: Tries: Haskell, Hape, Foden, Tindall. Cons: Hodgson 2, Barkley. Pens: Hodgson 2, Barkley. Barbarians: Tries: Sackey 2, D Smith, Johnston. Cons: Elissalde 3.
ENGLAND: Foden; Cueto, Tindall, Hape, Strettle; Hodgson, Care; Golding, Thompson, Doran-Jones, Atwood, Palmer, Haskell, S. Armitage, Easter. Replacements: Barkley for Hodgson (36), Payne for Golding (45), Ward-Smith for Atwood (51), Mears for Thompson (55),Tait for Hape (61), Simpson for Strettle (72), Worsley for S Armitage (65).
Barbarians: Warwick; Sackey, Laulala, Fritz, Heymans; Elissalde, Kelleher; Roncero, August, White, Skeate, Kay, So’oialo, Williams, Rush. Replacements: Mignoni for Elissalde (65), Johnston for Roncero (50), Owens for August (70), Thion for Skeate (42), D. Smith for Kay (51). Not Used: G Smith, Estebanez. Attendance: 41,035.
Referee: Jerome Garces (France).
