The English dirt trackers contained a brave effort from an outgunned SA Barbarians (South) outfit to run up a big 54-26 in in Kimberley yesterday.
Winger Christian Wade (3) and New Zealand-born back rower Thomas Waldron (2) were responsible for five of the eight tries England scored on the day, although Jimmy Stonehouse’s combination, drawn from players representing Boland, SWD, Border and EP in the Currie Cup First Division, competed well for around an hour.
The superior skill and experience of the English side proved telling as they scored three tries in the last quarter to inflate the scoreline.
England – Tries: Christian Wade (3), Thomas Waldron (2), Graham Kitchener, Danny Care, George Lowe. Conversions: Charlie Hodgson (4). Penalties: Hodgson (2).
SA Barbarians South – Tries: Jacques Engelbrecht, Hannes Franklin, Norman Nelson, Ntabeni Dukisa. Conversions: Elgar Watts (3).
Tweet
This was the perfect opportunity to give fringe players a taste of international rugby and to broaden the Springbok player base.
This smells of SARU politics!
@StevieS (Comment 1) : Presidents Council politics, mate… the long tail wagging the dog
@robdylan (Comment 2) : You’ve said it perfectly Rob.
Same thing happened when they awarded Test matches to small unions in return for votes
Nice to see another Kiwi reject playing for the Poms. The Poms would be really stuck if they didn’t have any foreign input.
A few guys showed that they have what it takes to play at Super Rugby level. Engelbrecht and Bulbring come to mind.
@lostfish (Comment 4) : This goes for both cricket and rugby.
What a pot of Tos, Barbarian Rugby has such a long standing tradition. It would have been awesome to pick a under 23 of a sa frindge side and keep the tradition going…now that pick ‘this’ side…Jurie Roux must start having some cahoonas fast…or he will get sucked into Poiliticle crap…what a nother dissapointment…