England undone by Baa-Baas
Martin Corry and Josh Lewsey bowed out in style with a 33-26 triumph for the Barbarians against England.
By Phil Jackson
Last Updated: 30/05/09 8:53pm
Martin Corry and Josh Lewsey bowed out of the game in style with a 33-26 triumph for the Barbarians against England on Saturday.
Missing nine players called up by the British and Irish Lions, Martin Johnson was forced to put together a new-look side ahead of back-to-back Tests against Argentina.
And on this showing the England coach has some cause for concern as Iain Balshaw (13, 46), Chris Jack (22), Rocky Elsom (43) and Gordon D'Arcy (51) ran in tries before fatigue and changes took their toll.
Ben Foden (31), Jordan Turner-Hall (57), Tom May (71) and Matt Banahan (72) restored some respectability to the scoreline, but in truth England were largely outplayed on an emotional day when rugby bade farewell to former England greats Corry and Lewsey.
Turnaround
England made much the quicker start to the game in the sweltering London sun and could have gone ahead, but for Andy Goode's missed penalty attempt in the first minute. That miss seemed to change the momentum of the match, though, as the ball found its way out to Lewsey on the left flank.
The retiring England star dinked a perfect kick through for his former England team-mate Balshaw to race over the line for the game's first try. Replays showed the winger was actually offside at the kick, but the referee awarded the try and Ben Blair duly converted.
Corry also marked his final appearance at Twickenham with a rampaging break for the line, after great combination work from Glen Jackson and Rocky Elsom, to send Jack in at the corner. Blair again added the extras and England trailed 14-0.
England's handling had been sloppy up to that stage, but they did finally get on the board on the half hour mark when Steve Borthwick and Danny Care combined to send the ball out wide for Chris Robshaw. Robshaw then showed why he was named Guinness Premiership player of the season by feeding the ball back inside for Foden to go over the line. Goode missed the conversion, though, and England went into the break 14-5 down.
Pivotal
The Barbarians showed no sign of letting up after the break, though, as first Saracens-bound hooker Schalk Brits showed great feet before sending Blair through a gap, with Heineken Cup winner Elsom in support to finish. Blair missed the conversion, but the Barbarians still had a healthy lead.
Things went from bad to worse for England as D'Arcy broke through thanks to some woeful England tackling and Balshaw finished for his second converted try of the match.
Lewsey cut England's defence to ribbons again minutes later to send D'Arcy over for a fifth try for the Baa-Baas after some superb work from Brits and England trailed 33-5 following Blair's conversion.
Guinness Premiership Discovery of the Season Turner-Hall did stop the rot after latching on to Goode's clever kick into the in-goal area, but even with the Brive fly-half's conversion, England still trailed 33-12.
Another fine grubber kick from Goode sent May over for England's third try of the game after Phil Waugh had been sin-binned, though, and the Brive star chipped wide for Banahan to outjump Doug Howlett and score to make it 33-26.
The visitors held on for the win, though, as Corry and Lewsey fittingly finished victorious at the stadium where they fought so many battles in the national cause.