Barbarians rally to beat England

Benoit Baby (front left)
12 April 2012

Manager Martin Johnson was left frowning in the Twickenham stands as he watched a shadow England team blow a 17-point lead and lose 38-32 against the Barbarians.

Tries from Henry Trinder, Ugo Monye and James Simpson-Daniel had put England in charge before the Barbarians mounted a comeback either side of the interval. Tim Visser, George Smith and Joe van Niekerk added to the first-half tries from Benoit Baby and Frederic Michalak as the Barbarians took control.

England thought they had escaped with the win with a late try from the Exeter flanker Tom Johnson. But Visser's second try, scored with the last play of the game after a piece of Fijian magic from Joe Tekori, sealed the Barbarians' win.

The England squad was being coached by Stuart Lancaster but Johnson was running the rule over a handful of fringe World Cup squad contenders.

Monye limped off with an ankle injury while Simpson-Daniel, having enhanced his credentials with a sparkling try, blotted his copybook by allowing Visser to score his first.

In fact, the best performance from an England wing came from Paul Sackey, who was playing for the Barbarians in the socks of his new club, Stade Francais.

England also had Harlequins prop Joe Marler, a contender for the World Cup training squad, carried off on a stretcher in the second half as the Barbarians surged into the lead.

Luke Narraway captained the inexperienced England line-up and was impressive in the first-half, having a hand in the tries scored by Trinder and Simpson-Daniel, but tailed off.

Matt Banahan enjoyed a confident trial run at inside centre - his different third position in an England jersey this season - and he seems certain to travel to New Zealand as a utility back.

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