In the earlier game the Australian Schools Barbarians stunned the Samoan Schoolboys 66-12 in a Ballymore Stadium massacre this afternoon.
The Barbarians channelled the very best of their famed namesakes in burning Samoa for ten tries, outscoring even the Australian Schoolboys’ side last week against them.
A ruthless first half performance saw the Barbarians cross for six tries, more than enough to seal the win and then some.
One official connected with the team said:
“Our performance was quite good, we moved the ball around in the spirit of Barbarian Rugby, but we just really focused on being direct and punching holes in their defence. We noticed that they often bunched quite heavily, which was our cue to move the football around.“I think all the Barbarians boys stood up over the course of the two games.
“Our lock Lachie Swinton played quite well with an aggressive, abrasive performance from him. From the backs Tony Hunt was quite good and Hamish Stewart led us around really well as a really direct 10.
“We had two really mobile specialist opensides in Charlie Smith and Angus Allen, which is pretty much what the Wallabies are doing at the moment with Pocock and Hooper, so we were able to get on to the Samoan ball and turn it over really early.”
Three yellow cards to Samoa, two of which came within minutes of each other in the second half, crippled the visiting sides ability to compete with the on-song attack of the Barbarians.
Man-bun’d lock Lachlan Swinton was arguably the player of the tournament for the Barbarians, capping off his representative season with two tries against Samoa.
Pint-sized speed merchant Josh Coward was electric from fullback, ducking and weaving under and around Samoa’s big forwards to great effect.
Swinton scored the Barbarians opening try in the midst of a successful driving maul before No.8 Sam Wallis joined him on the scoresheet 10 minutes later.
Samoa didn’t respond for three more Barbarian tries before finally seizing an opportunity when a spilt ball deep in the 22 allowed outside centre Vaifagaloa Asafo Mamoe to swoop in and score, untouched.
Swinton scored his second off another rolling maul to close out the half with a commanding 42-5 lead.
Coach James Turner emptied the bench to start the half, allowing Samoan winger Ausage Ausage to sneak in for his side’s second try three minutes in.
Kris Verevis, Tony Hunt, Angus Allen and Ryan Lonergan were all among the remaining try scorers for the Barbarians in the second half, each pressuring the defence to secure points for the team.
The Samoans never gave up, and continued to fire away Hail Mary after Hail Mary to earn consolations points. Strong defence from the Barbarians closed out the match 66-12 in a fantastic result for Australian Schools Rugby.
All photos by “HJ Nelson”. Thank you
To look at more photos taken by HJN during the day, click on these albums:
Australian Barbarians Schools v Samoa
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