Well, that turned out to be even more entertaining than we could have hoped – or even more worrying if you happen to be an England fan.
Eddie Jones insists that the idea was trying to play ‘on the front foot’ and that his rather unfamiliar-looking team weren’t good enough to deliver the game plan. Plenty of people would wholeheartedly welcome a more expansive approach from England as they build for next year’s World Cup. But the way panic, and then demoralisation, seemed to set in does not bode well. Jones does have time to turn things around, but it needs to happen quickly, starting with the summer tour to Australia. Legitimate questions were being asked after another poor Six Nations campaign: those questions will only grow louder after such a shambolic display.
But finally, well done to the Barbarians on a fine performance – and congratulations to George Kruis on a tremendous career.
Thanks for reading and emailing and see you next time.
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Whatever Eddie Jones had in mind for this fixture, watching George Kruis, the former England lock, backheeling a conversion through the posts in the final few minutes of an emphatic victory for the invitational side was probably not it.
“Have England made progress under Jones, stood still or gone backwards?” writes Chris Healy.
“I certainly think it’s hard to quantify any meaningful progress. I really struggle to comprehend that he has anything to offer going forward. Surely it’s time to consider a new coach?”
England smashed at home by a 14-man scratch team who’ve been pissed all week. George Kruis regal in retirement. France, indirectly, steam onwards, while what’ll happen in the first test in Australia, who knows…
— David Flatman (@davidflatman) June 19, 2022
“As an Englishwoman, a little elderly now, and living in France for many years, I can only agree with you about the culture of negativity,” emails Rosalind Tricker. “The French national team is transformed as it doesn’t appear to exist, and there is no way La Rochelle would have beaten the magnificent Leinster in the Champions Cup if they’d been afraid of making mistakes.
“Of course Barbarians had nothing to lose but neither did England, really. As a language teacher I know, too, that you learn by mistakes. No one wants to make them but you do it in a different way and, hopefully, better the next time. So pleased for the BaaBaas, especially for my team, Toulon’s, players but do so hope England can get it back together. Delighted my daughter and her partner were at Twickenham to watch.”
Fabien Galthié speaks to Amazon Prime to sum up his side’s display: “It was incredible ... I think it was British Barbarians, with French flair, with Phil Bennett’s instinct.”
How did they do it with 14 men? “Quality players. With our quality. Simple, with our quality, no risk ... it’s an honour to play here with this jersey, against England, in Twickenham. Just pleasure, and play our rugby.
“Happy. Fabulous. Enjoy. I have only have very positive emotions and sensations. Very exciting match ... and funny match!”
Will he celebrate tonight? “No. Now we go back to Paris, by the shuttle, and we prepare the tournament in Japan, and we fly to Tokyo on Wednesday.
“It was a pleasure to be invited here. Thank you very much.”
A funny match. Ouch.
Eddie Jones speaks to Amazon Prime: “Yeah, two things. Obviously we’re disappointed with the result. You never like to get beaten by a score like that. In terms of preparation for the [summer] tour, we tried to do a few things different today, to test us. We weren’t quite good enough to execute it ... and there’s a number of guys there who played their first senior game, and a lot of guys who’ve played their first senior game for a long time. So we’ll be better for that.
“It’s sitting down and talking to them [the young players] about what they need to do to go forward. You know, there’s a big gap between club level and international rugby. Some of the guys experienced that today and they’ll be better for it.”
Gabby Logan asks: who impressed him? “Look, Jonny May I thought was fantastic, he hasn’t played for I don’t know how long, eight or nine months? Tommy Freeman, again a young guy playing his first game, he showed enough.
“In the forwards, Jack Walker at hooker, a young guy coming through, showed a lot of potential.
“We’re pretty far down the track, yeah [with summer tour selection]. We’ve just got to check the injury rate now.”
“That’s a great time for young players to come through now. We’re seeing the game continually change now. It’s suiting players who can play much more on the front foot. And we weren’t quite good enough to play that, because it’s a big adjustment to playing ‘back here’ to playing on the front foot. And a lot of particularly our handling errors were based on trying to play on the front foot a bit more.”
Danny Care’s display? “The games really suiting him, playing on the front foot with quick ball, and he was very positive today.”
And on the Barbarians: “I think they were all playing for a French spot so it was a different sort of Barbarians game. They were tough on the ball, a young referee allowed them to stay on the ball a bit more, and we weren’t good enough in that area.”
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Here comes Eddie to have a chat.
The England captain Curry has understandably tried to put a positive spin on that. But when you see an opposition lock back-heeling a conversion through the posts, and when a scratch side (albeit with brilliant players) who spent most of the week ‘socialising’ rather than training beats you in such emphatic fashion, there is something seriously wrong.
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The question is: At what stage in this World Cup cycle are the combinations in this England team going to be established?
The England captain Tom Curry speaks: “We’ve just got a lot of learnings. Young lads coming in, different combinations. There were moments where we did play really well but you’ve got to back those moments up, and I don’t think we were there for the full 80 ... to be honest it’s not down to work rate or intent, it’s down to us kind of being switched on and on it for the full 80.
“It’s not just the young lads, sorry, that phrase, as if I’m blaming it all on them. It’s all of us. It’s brilliant experience for them to, as you said, reach those Test match experience.
“As a team, the combinations weren’t right there. But I guess that’s the exciting thing, and that’s the exciting thing about these matches, they’re unbelievable for moments like that, for experiences like that, that we can grow and learn from.
“We’ve just got to be on it for the full 80. There were moments where we were class, and moments where we weren’t so class ... in Test matches like that’s not the standard.”
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What is Eddie Jones going to say? Is he going to speak? That’s going to be a tricky interview. I’ll bring you any reaction I get ...
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Kruis has a chat with Amazon Prime: “This is what BaaBaas is about, spending a bit of time with a different culture, different people ... and we get a good result at the end. It’s brilliant. This is exactly what the Barbarians is about and I’m very grateful to be part of it.”
He is then asked about the back-heeled conversion – and presumably because he doesn’t want to rub it into his former England teammates too much, he ends the interview: “I’m going to be really rude, and I’d love to celebrate with the team if that’s alright?”
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George Kruis takes his place in the human tunnel to applaud the England players off the park. Some of the England players look embarrassed. That’s only natural.
The Barbarians now embark on a lap of honour which they have fully earned. Who knows, maybe they will enjoy a few drinks tonight?
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Full-time! England 21-52 Barbarians
A humiliation for England, but a wonderful performance from the 14-man Barbarians who played in the spirit of the shirt - and then some. Eddie Jones’s team, on the other hand, simply fell apart.
The Barbarians defence coach, Shaun Edwards, almost looks embarrassed as he shakes hands with Fabien Galthié, their head coach. And I can understand why. How can Jones justify that level of performance? It’s going to be tricky.
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79 min: Try! England 21-52 Barbarians (Carbonel)
Crikey. England have fallen apart. Who scored? Oh, it was Carbonel. Kruis strokes over his THIRD conversion of the match. The fans have seen some lovely rugby today. Most of it has been played by the Barbarians. This is a total humiliation for England. It’s not the return that Danny Care hoped for ... and certainly not the performance that Eddie Jones envisaged. Kruis goes off, his career finished.
78 min: Nowell and Care try to get something going. Hill tries to spin a pass out right but it goes nowhere.
74 min: Try! England 21-45 Barbarians (Spring)
Oh, that is special! Macalou scorches into space down the right. He finds Le Garrec, who clips a simply brilliant kick infield, which bounces nearly under the posts, for Spring. The full-back Spring gathers and touches down. And get this ... Kruis backheels the conversion through the sticks. I’m not even joking. That is taking the Michael. This is a hammering and a humiliation for England, there is no two ways about it.
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72 min: Are there any Opta stats on how many units of alcohol the Barbarians squad collectively consumed in their week together?
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Try! England 21-38 Barbarians
Carbonel, who has just come on, snaffles a lovely cute kick over the top by Le Garrec and touches down another try. Jeeez, this is dire from England, just as it is brilliant from the Barbarians. The extras are added by ... Carbonel? I didn’t see. Maybe it was George Kruis. Even though he’s gone off. Who cares, at this stage? It looks like the Barbarians have this won.
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65 min: “Has it all gone stale for Eddie Jones and his team?” emails Bo Simango. “With the RWC a year away isn’t it time to hand the reins to Steve Borthwick who’s done magnificently well with Leicester? England have a potentially great spine but I get the feeling they are being held back.”
I don’t think there is much Jones will be able to defend, regarding this performance ... but he will naturally insist that he is the man to produce another positive campaign at a World Cup following the final defeat in 2019.
64 min: Now it’s Courtney Lawes, another replacement for England, who charges through a few attempted tackles with a superb carry. England progress to within a couple of metres of the try-line but are then turned over. Penaud kicks ahead and tries to chase down his own kick. Smith gathers for England and tries to sidestep his way out of trouble but a penalty comes for the Barbarians at the breakdown.
60 min: Try! England 21-31 Barbarians
Smith finds miles of space to canter over after Curry’s powerful carry created the go-forward for England. Smith misses the kick. Again, the gap is 10 points. England have 20 minutes or so to recover some pride and win this match.
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59 min: Tom Curry tries to get something going with a bullocking run through a few tackles. England build momentum towards the try-line and Jack Nowell, just introduced to the action, nearly goes over ...
58 min: “The English cultures of fear of making mistakes [your comment at 43 mins] goes back a lot longer than just this team!” emails Michael Matthews. “Way back when I played in the 70’s a couple of teammates came back from a stint with England appalled by the negativity in the changing room. Apparently the whole emphasis of the team talk was on not making errors.”
58 min: “Yesterday, all that was good from England, today all that is bad,” emails Jemima. “Teabag test being failed by most … let’s see what Australia tour brings. From a now familiarly disappointed England fan.”
55 min: Try! England 16-31 Barbarians (Penaud)
What looks a generous TMO decision there, in truth, but the try stands. Penaud’s right foot looks to be in touch, and there is also a question over the grounding. But it’s a try, perhaps in the spirit of the occasion. England are certainly showing plenty of generosity in their defending ... Just to remind you, the Barbarians are down to 14 men. The conversion is missed.
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55 min: Penaud capitalises on more careless defending by England and dots the ball down in the corner with Freeman trying to shove him into touch. The TMO is having a look.
54 min: The Barbarians have freshened up their front row. In fact they’ve made six changes in one hit with Tolofua, Priso, Falatea, Lavault, Macalou and Le Garrec all coming on.
51 min: Try! England 16-26 Barbarians (May)
This is more like it from England. Smith and Care link in midfield and the running lines and passing are excellent ... it ends when Smith pops a pass to May, who darts inside and over the try-line. Smith misses the conversion. There are 10 points in it with half an hour to play.
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Try! England 11-26 Barbarians (Couilloud)
This is threatening to turn into a horror show for England who go missing in defence again. Care, who has just come on, is one of the guilty parties as Tanga ghosts through a gap on the edge of the 22 and nearly to the try-line. GEORGE KRUIS CONVERTS THE TRY!
That all came after Bougarit had nabbed England ball out of a maul following a lineout a few moments before, in a previous phase of play. This really is a horrendous performance from England.
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45 min: Jack Willis and Danny Care on for England. Care gets a big roar from the crowd.
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43 min: Ewels spills a lineout in the England 22. The Barbarians get the scrum put-in. Is there something about this England team culture created by Jones that makes the players terrified of making mistakes, and leads to more and more of them when they start happening? It’s certainly interesting to compare with the Barbarians’ easy-going approach.
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Second half kick-off!
Here we go. Collier is back on for Schickerling who failed that HIA and Vakatawa is off injured for the BaaBaas, replaced by Tani Vili.
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A shame for Will Skelton, who is such a good player to watch, but it was a senseless tackle. And Schickerling has failed his HIA.
Red card for Will Skelton. If there was a remote chance of Skelton being any sort of emergency call-up by Australia for England series, that ends it
— Gerard Meagher (@gerard_meagher) June 19, 2022
Half-time reading:
Half-time! England 11-19 Barbarians
That was ... interesting. Some good stuff from the Barbarians and a few flashes of quality from England and Marcus Smith ... but overall, that was an error-strewn effort from Eddie Jones’s side, and the head coach will be spewing at some of the mistakes that were made. Coming off a very indifferent Six Nations, Jones knows he needs to show real progress in the coming weeks and months, and that certainly isn’t progress. With the Barbarians down to 14 men for the rest of the match, you’d expect England to win, but you never know.
38 min: Try! England 11-19 Barbarians (Penaud)
Oh, this is a really bad moment for Mark Atkinson, who spots numbers out wide and tries to send a pass over Penaud’s head inside England’s 22. England have a four-on-one in the immediate vicinity but the pass is too low, Penaud snatches it at the second attempt, and then bursts over the try-line. Atkinson looks mortified, as well he might, with the final selection meeting for the summer tour taking place tonight. Hastoy misses the conversion.
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37 min: After Skelton’s sending off, Smith sends the conversion attempt wide, so it’s 11-14.
36 min: Red card for the Barbarians! (Skelton)
No argument from Skelton when the referee explains the situation. “Sorry boss,” he says, before trudging off.
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36 min: Meanwhile, the TMO is looking at a horrible hit by Skelton on Schickerling in an earlier phase. I think it’s going to be a red card.
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36 min: Try! England 11-14 Barbarians (Cokanasiga)
A lovely step, dart and classy offload by Smith to Freeman sends the Northampton man into space on the right. Freeman shows excellent composure to draw the last defender and then offload to Cokanasiga who is half-tackled but manages to reach for the line.
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35 min: Penalty! England 6-14 Barbarians (Smith)
Smith knocks over a penalty from right in front of the posts to reduce England’s arrears to eight points.
34 min: Adam Jones, the former Wales and Lions prop and current Harlequins coach, is singled out by the Amazon Prime TV director, sitting up in the stands. “That’s got to be a brand new T-shirt,” observes David Flatman on commentary. “It’s so white. He’s got his brand new T-shirt on for his big day out. He hasn’t got any ketchup on it yet.”
Brilliant.
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32 min: Penaud busts through a tackle by Atkinson and storms down the Barbarians left. They have numbers but Penaud’s attempted pass inside goes to ground. That had the makings of a classic Barbarians score for a moment.
Let’s be clear about one thing: Eddie Jones is warming up his hairdryer for half time.
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30 min: Marcus Smith is nearly nailed by a Barbarian rushing out of the line. He then pulls off a remarkable gather from a pass off his toes, swivels and sends a superb touch-finder to the England right wing. Brilliant kick. A rare bright spot for England.
28 min: The BaaBaas are penalised at the breakdown. Smith takes on the resulting penalty from a central position, but misses to the right. May comes out of the sin-bin just after Patrick Schickerling comes on for Collier in the front row, the Exeter prop’s first appearance for England. It looks like a tactical change rather than an injury.
Jones is pictured looked even more ashen-faced than usual up in the stands.
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24 min: Try! England 3-14 Barbarians (Ollivon)
Whoops. England are on the front foot, on the edge of the Barbarians 22. Ollivon intercepts, and gallops almost the length of the field to crash over the try-line. Randall, the England scrum-half, has the pace to come back and attempt to make a tackle but Ollivon has too much momentum and power. This is turning into a bit of a shambles for England as it stands. Randall did well to get back and cover, but when he got there, it was a poor attempt to tackle, as he tried to grab Ollivon around the chest rather than going low. Hastoy adds the extras.
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21 min: “We’ve had to do a lot of defending and I hope that doesn’t cost us later in the game,” Shaun Edwards, the Barbarians defence coach, tells Miles Harrison on Amazon.
Very little is going right for England at the moment – and Shaun Edwards, probably the world’s finest defence coach, is talking like it’s a real Test match.
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18 min: Yellow card for Jonny May and penalty try! England 3-7 Barbarians
Jonny May is pulled up for a deliberate knock-on by the TMO in a previous phase of play. He was the last defender, and Penaud would have been over the line without his intervention. So it’s a yellow card and a penalty try. Technically the correct call, if a bit harsh, as it didn’t look like a cynical attempt to bat the ball away from Penaud, rather an instinctive attempt to intercept the pass.
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18 min: Hastoy hoists a good cross kick to the Barbarians left for Niniashvili. The Georgian does well to offload in contact and Vakatawa reaches for the line and dots down as he’s bundled into contact ... the TMO checks it, and adjudges that Vakatawa knocked on as he collected the ball. I don’t agree, as it happens. It looked fine. But Vakatawa had a foot in touch regardless so the try would not have been awarded.
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17 min: Penalty! England 3-0 Barbarians (Smith)
The Harlequins No 10 opens the scoring with a straightforward penalty kick after a highly competitive opening, in which England’s precision has been lacking.
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14 min: Cokanasiga busts the defensive line and sprints into space down the England right after a good long pass by Marchant. He offloads inside to Randall but there’s some find defensive work from the Barbarians to bring the move to a close ... Cokanasiga had Freeman on his outside, which was perhaps the better option.
13 min: Another penalty goes against Bevan Rodd in the England scrum. He is up against Gigashvili of Georgia, who is doing some early damage.
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11 min: England make a mess of their lineout a couple of metres from the Barbarians line. Safe to say that the early handling errors, the scrum penalty and now a mangled lineout will not be pleasing Eddie Jones.
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10 min: “England are going to be better hydrated because their week will have been a bit less sociable,” points out David Flatman on commentary. Now, a good chase by Cokanasiga forces a kickable penalty for England ... they choose to go to the corner.
7 min: The TV director replays a monstrous hit by Skelton on Tom Curry. Both teams are trying to play a bit of rugby – there is certainly less kicking than we had 24 hours ago in the Premiership final. Which is only to be expected in a ‘friendly’ match.
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4 min: Cokanasiga crashes into contact in midfield for England and gets the home team on to the front foot. England work the ball through the hands and go forward and that brings a few roars from the crowd. Smith then gets his hands on the ball and sends Jonny Hill into space and close to the Barbarians 22. Smith then sends a clever kick out wide while he appears to be falling over, but the BaaBaas reset their defence and hold firm.
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1 min: Will Collier knocks on while trying to catch a pop pass in midfield by the scrum-half Harry Randall. Scrum No 1 ... and the Barbarians win a penalty from it!
Antoine Hastoy, of Pau, sends his penalty just wide of the right-hand upright.
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First half kick-off!
Marcus Smith kicks off for England. We are under way.
A nice touch: The Barbarians form a No 10, with nine or 10 players in a straight line and the rest standing in a circle next to them, to pay tribute to the late Phil Bennett.
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Watch out for the Australian Will Skelton, a fearsome presence in the Barbarians’ second row, and of course Charles Ollivon, the France back-row ... the teams are striding out on to the pitch now, all hand-in-hand with young mascots.
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A dressing room camera shot shows the Barbarians team all pacing around like caged tigers as they prepare to take the field. They look up for this.
Another England player to look out for is Tommy Freeman, the full-back, who had a fine season for Northampton.
From Eddie Jones’s perspective it’s safe to assume he’s telling his players to show no mercy to a Barbarians side who have, by their own admission, done more socialising than training to prepare for this match. But will the Baa Baas throw the shackles off and play some rugby? Let’s hope so.
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The England coach Eddie Jones has a chat with Amazon, firstly about the late change to his team: “He [Dombrandt] got a bit of a whack on his knee in training on Friday ... he’ll need to have a scan on Monday and that’s all we know.
“Everything’s a step, you want to be stepping in the right direction ... it’s a nice occasion for our players to show their skills ... there’ll be a big gap between this game and their normal club game. It’ll be good to see who can adapt to it.
“Danny Care is pretty happy and he’s been great in camp, he’s come back with a really good attitude, and he’s in good physical condition, so we’ll see where the game takes him.
“They [the Barbarians] may or may not throw the ball around, they may or may not kick the ball a lot, we’ll just have to adjust.”
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Shaun Edwards (the Barbarians defence coach) reveals Galthié’s approach to the week with the Barbarians: “Fabien said: “When we’re training, we’re training ... and when we’re not training, we’re not training.”
“We had two pretty decent [training] sessions, one in Monaco and one in London, and then a team run in Hyde Park yesterday. It was different, I will say that.
“We’ve prepared a bit like it’s a Test match ... when we’ve trained, we’ve trained really hard.”
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Fabien Galthié is asked about his Barbarians experience: “So eccentric, so funny ... it’s the Barbarians with a French accent.”
Will we see French flair today? “It depends on George Kruis, he’s the boss of the French players.”
He’s joking of course. It’s all about the banter today.
Teams
The headline with regard to team news is that Alex Dombrandt was meant to start for England at No 8 but has been ruled out by a late knee injury. Callum Chick of Newcastle comes into the starting lineup, having not been in the 22 initially.
England: Freeman, Cokanasiga, Marchant, Atkinson, May, Smith, Randall, Rodd, Walker, Collier, Ewels, J. Hill, Curry, Underhill, Chick. Replacements: Singleton, Goodrick-Clarke, Schickerling, Lawes, Willis, Care, Bailey, Nowell.
Barbarians: Spring, Penaud, Vakatawa, Botia, Niniashvili, Hastoy, Couilloud, Gros, Bourgarit, Gigashvili, Kruis, Skelton, Cretin, Ollivon, Tanga. Replacements: Priso, Tolofua, Falatea, Lavault, Le Garrec, Carbonel, Macalou, Vili.
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The scrum-half Danny Care has a chat in a pre-recorded interview: “I felt like the new kid again [being back in camp at Pennyhill Park] ... I’ve loved every single second. It is intense, you work hard, but that’s what it takes to play for England.
“I’ve had to work really hard to battle through and get back in the mix ... to be back in camp has been a surreal experience but one I’ve really, really loved.”
Wisely, Amazon Prime have just replayed that Barbarians try against the All Blacks, all started by Phil Bennett, who died a few days ago. It’s jaw-dropping every time you see it. And there are some nice words from David Flatman and Bryan Habana about the great man.
Live on Amazon Prime, Will Skelton is asked what it’s been like being involved with the Barbarians this week: “It’s been pretty shit, eh? ... No I’m kidding, it’s been unbelievable, but we’ve had a few beers this week, and hopefully we can back it up today.
“We’re going to look to have some fun with the ball, but make sure we’re playing in the right areas.
“‘Kruiso’ [George Kruis, who is retiring after this match] is one of my good mates, I’ve played a lot of footie with him ... he’s been telling us, today is all about me ... No, I’m kidding ... to play with Kruiso in his last match, hopefully we can make it a memorable memory.”
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Preamble
The domestic rugby season concluded yesterday, and in dramatic fashion too, with Freddie Burns’s last-minute drop goal edging Leicester past Saracens at Twickenham. The notion of giving the players a rest is obviously ridiculous, however, so England begin their summer programme against a French-dominated Barbarians in south-west London this afternoon.
The Barbarians concept may be old-fashioned, and today’s match does not have Test status, but there is still plenty to play for: not least for the Harlequins scrum-half Danny Care, poised to play for England for the first time in four years following a clear-the-air coffee with the gaffer Eddie Jones. Jonny May also returns on the wing following a lengthy injury absence, hoping to re-establish himself before next year’s World Cup. It will also be fascinating to see how the likes of Orlando Bailey (Bath) and Patrick Schickerling (Exeter) fare when introduced from the replacements’ bench.
The Barbarians team is peppered with world-class Frenchmen, such as Damien Penaud and Charles Ollivon, while the former England and Saracens lock George Kruis will bring the curtain down on his career, at the age of 32, after two seasons in Japan. Will Skelton, so outstanding for La Rochelle in their Champions Cup final triumph against Leinster, partners Kruis in the second row. This might be fun.
Kick off: 3pm
