The Wallabies kicked off their end of year tour and Cheika’s first game as coach with a nail biting 40 – 36 win over the Barbarians in a see-sawing and often helter-skelter affair. The exciting game saw plenty of all-out attack from both teams, and fans at the stadium definitely got their money’s worth.
The First Half
We had a familiar sight to start of the game, as Ben “The Hinge” Alexander was put under pressure from Stevens, giving up an early scrum penalty. The Barbarians then showed their attacking and innovative intent, with Luatua stepping up to take the lineout in a move reminiscent of third grade high school teams. Luatua threw the ball over 40m, but unfortunately it all came to nought as the Honey Badger couldn’t hold on to the ball.
The Wallabies then built up the phases, with Genia clearing the ball early from the ruck. A sweet offload around the back of a Baabaas defender from Toomua was unfortunately ruled forward, but the Wallabies were showing their attacking intent under new coach Cheika.
The Barbarians again were soon hot on attack, starting from a short kick off the top from Slade, wonderfully fielded by Halai on the fly. From a 5m lineout in the 11 minute, the Barbarians were denied a try by Jaco Peyper from an 11 man lineout and subsequent huge maul. However, they had earnt a penalty, and the Barbarians continued their innovation. Cubelli took a quick tap and turned, but instead of passing, in an outrageous move he kicked the ball back over his head into the Wallabies’ in goal. Unfortunately, Ta’avo couldn’t hold on to the ball and a try went begging.
A ball around the corner offload from Slade set the Honey Badger off down the left wing. From the ensuing ruck the Barbarians went wide, Folau shot up quickly but missed the tackle on Thomson and Halai was able to stroll in out wide. Slade missed the conversion, and the Barbarians had drawn first blood, up 5 to 0 after 15 minutes.
The Barbarians continued to throw the ball around, with the Wallabies having no possession and forced to defend. A grubber from Saili for Halai was just fielded by Folau, and a nice interchange saw Higginbotham release Horne, how showed his best Maori sidestep on a hapless defender before play broke down.
McMahon and Skelton came on early for Hodgson and Higginbotham. Higgers was replaced permanently with a hamstring injury, and Hodgson went straight down the tunnel to get his blood cleaned up before shortly returning to the field.
McMahon made an instant impact, breaking the two tackles and making a break, but Skelton couldn’t hang onto a difficult offload.
Shortly after it was the Wallabies turn to turn down a shot at goal after a Cooper half break and offload to Genia saw Genia not released by the tacklers. The Wallabies built up some time in the Barbarians 22, with Cooper throwing a few cut outs when perhaps going through the hands would’ve been better, until Carter burst over out from an unders line off Genia. Peyper went to the TMO, who must have been the only one that didn’t see Saia Faingaa’s knock on a few rucks earlier and the try was awarded. Cooper duly kicked the conversion, and the Wallabies took the lead 7 – 5 in the 25th minute.
The Barbarians, though, hit back almost instantly thanks to Adam Thomson, who started it and finished it. Thomson earned a turnover off the restart, and Saili gave a sweet offload to Luatua who found Halai wide right. The ball swung back left, and Saili again was the play maker, as he found Thomson, who showed impressive speed to get over in the corner, despite attention from Henry Speight. Slade kicked the wide out conversion, and the Barbarians regained the lead to be up 12 to 7 after 28 minutes and having the better of the play.
The Wallabies, though, kept up their attacking play and hit back quickly to regain the lead. A Cooper wide ball found Speight, who popped inside to McCalman to make a clean break into the 22. Cooper and Genia were starting to run the show, as a Cooper ball allowed Kuridrani to get to just one metre out, and then quick ball from Genia found Benn Robinson running an unders line, and Robinson duly dotted the ball down next to the posts. Cooper added the extras.
The Wallabies now seemed to have woken up, as Folau entered the game. An offload on the inside to Genia allowed the Wallabies to get into the Barbarians’ 22. Hodgson dived for the line and his despairing placement of the ball was just short of the line, just blades of grass separating the captain from meat on his Wallaby captaincy debut. Thomson then again played the disruptor, earning a relieving penalty for the Wallabies not releasing.
The Wallabies had one last shot in the first half, running the ball from within their own 5m line after fielding a Halai grubber. It all game to nought 30m from the Barbarians line, as de Jongh dropped the ball trying to pull off an intercept, and Peyper ended an entertaining first half of rugby.
McMahon stood out for the Wallabies, impressing with his strength in contact. Genia and Cooper started off slowly and initially looked rusty with a few wrong decisions, before starting to control the game in the second stanza of the first half, although Cooper’s passing looked slightly off. Genia’s speed of service was particularly noticeable, as he raced to get the ball clear of the ruck, although often with little protection. Kuridrani continued his good form, being the standout back for the Wallabies.
For the Barbarians, Saili and Halai looked dangerous in the backline, and Thomson was a pest all over the park. The Barbarians put up surprisingly stiff opposition, harassing Genia at the breakdown, and although they were missing tackles, they were scrambling well.
The Second Half
The second half started where the first half left off. McMahon made an early break off a Toomua short ball, before de Jongh rushed up on a flat Cooper wide pass, putting down an intercept that would have otherwise been a try. A short time later, a Quade Cooper run around saw another clean break from the Wallabies, but Nanai-Williams got a hand to the ball to stop the pass and kill the move.
Finally, the Wallabies were not to be denied as Kuridrani ripped the Barbarians apart. Kuridrani dummied, and beat Bird on the inside before breaking Tomson’s tackle and sprinting away for the try. That was the Wallabies’ third clean break of the second half, and the first that was rewarded with points. Cooper kicked the extras, and the Wallabies jumped out 21 – 12 lead after 47 minutes.
The excitement continued in that same minute, as Saia Faingaa was stripped by Luatua. Saili took the pop pass, chipped over the top and just out sprinted a galant McMahon effort to dot the ball down in a photo finish. Slade kicked the conversion, and the Barbarians were suddenly back in touch just a minute after the last Wallabies score.
In the 50th minute, the Barbarians unleashed the biggest shock of the game: they took the only penalty shot at goal. Slade kicked the 49m penalty, and the Barbarians took the lead 22 – 21. Cheika now looked worried in the thankfully open air coach’s box, and he wasn’t helped by Sam Carter putting down an inside ball from Folau 10m from the Barbarians line a few minutes later.
Both teams by now had made significant substitutions, as Slipper, Kepu, Hanson, White and Foley came on for the Wallabies.
A seemingly aimless grubber was turned good by the Wallabies as they counter rucked brilliantly. Toomua made a half break which allowed White, continuing the urgency at the breakdown, to show great vision and throw a wide pass from the ruck to Horne. Horne strolled in untouched to score out wide. Foley missed the extras, and the Wallabies regained the lead 26 – 22 after 57 minutes.
Foley was the next to score, from a helter skelter period of play. The Barbarians counter rucked on the Wallabies’ 40m line, only to pop the ball to a flying Folau. Folau stepped a few would be tacklers, but was dragged down just metres short by Halai. The Barbarians turned over the ball but were quickly forced in touch. Horne took a quick throw to Slipper, who broke a tackle and offloaded allow an unmarked Foley to strolled a few metres for the try. Foley again missed the conversion, and the Wallabies extended their lead to 33 – 28 after 64 minutes.
Cheika rang his final changes, with Skelton and Lealiifano coming on. Lealiifano made an instant impact with a break out wide. The Wallabies kept up the attack, with Horne a strong run setting up McMahon to burst through and dot down under the posts from the ensuing phase. Foley finally landed a conversion, and the Wallabies now had a commanding 40 – 22 lead over the seemingly tiring Barbarians after 68 minutes. However, there was plenty of drama and excitement to play out in the game yet.
The Barbarians had another crack at an 11 man lineout in the 72nd minute, and for the second time in the game the Wallabies stopped it illegally. Off the ensuing penalty, Nick Cummins got one up on his old team mates. Nannai-Williams popped a lovely floating ball that left the Australian defence all at sea, and Cummins hit the ball at pace to pierce the Wallaby defence and score under the posts for the Barbarians to get back to 11 points down.
The play turned loose and helter skelter, with both turns throwing the ball around after repeated turnovers. Horne was stopped just short off another Kuridrani break, but it was the Barbarians who struck next from within their own half. Cummins again turned destroyer, stepping inside of Kepu, breaking Horwill’s despairing dive, and offloading on the inside for Boshoff to streak away for the try. Boshoff kick the conversion to bring the Barbarians back within striking distance with just 2 minutes to go.
Hanson stole the ball in the 40th minute, and the Wallabies ran the ball after the siren. It was adventurous, but dangerous as the Barbarians turned it over just 2m from their own tryline. The Barbarians threw the ball around phase after phase, before some Nanai-Williams magic allowed the Barbarians to break out to their 40m line. Foley gave up the penalty, and the Barbarians had a second chance.
Sarel Pretorius stepped up with a short snipe and pop to Matt Todd, who went deep into Wallaby territory. The Wallabies got a desperate foot to the ball, turning it over before Kepu finally showed some sanity and kicked the ball out to end the game.
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The Game Changer
The Barbarians penalty kick to regain the lead. A very un-Barbarians move, and the Wallabies hit back afterwards to take a match winning 40 – 22 point lead, which just held off a late Barbarians comeback.
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The G&GR MOTM
It’s not often that a man off the bench wins MotM, but Sean McMahon came on early for Higginbotham and never let up to just edge Tevita Kuridrani.
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Players To Watch
Tevita Kuridrani was again a beast, seeming to make breaks at will, ably assisted by Toomua. When Folau finally entered the game after 30 minutes he was a handful. Speight was strong in the first half, before fading out the game in the second. The much awaited Genia – Cooper did not really turn up, as both showed signs of rust. McCalman also showed some nice touches; however, most of the Wallaby second stringers did little to push their claims over the incumbents, Horne aside.
For the Barbarians, Nanai-Williams showed plenty of magic, and Saili caused the Wallaby defence nightmares. Thomson had Reds fans drooling with some of his work around the park.
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The Details
Crowd:
Score & Scorers
[one_half last=”no”]Wallabies: 40
Tries: Carter, Robinson, Kuridrani, Horne, Foley, McMahon
Conversions: Cooper (3/3), Foley (1/3)
Penalties:[/one_half]
[one_half last=”yes”]Barbarians: 36
Tries: Halai, Thomson, Saili, Cummins, Boshoff
Conversions: Slade (2/3), Boshoff (2/2)
Penalties: Slade (1/1) [/one_half]
Cards & citings
None
