It’s a Twickenham double header this weekend, and this afternoon we’ll find out if England and the Barbarians can put on half as good a show as Leicester and Saracens did yesterday.
I’m particularly looking forward to seeing Jon Golding and Dave Attwood in action, and I hope they make a good account of themselves. Let’s hope England can put together a decent performance before they head for Australia and New Zealand.
We won’t be around after the game to publish anything, so leave your comments about the match and the performance on this article. Over the last couple of years, I’ve often enjoyed the debrief more than the game itself, so make sure you have your say!
England: B Foden (Northampton); M Cueto (Sale Sharks), M Tindall (Gloucester), S Hape (Bath), D Strettle (Harlequins); C Hodgson (Sale Sharks), D Care (Harlequins); J Golding (Newcastle), S Thompson (Brive), P Doran-Jones (Gloucester), D Attwood (Gloucester), T Palmer (Stade Francais), J Haskell (Stade Francais), S Armitage (London Irish), N Easter (Harlequins, capt).
Replacements: L Mears (Bath), T Payne (Wasps), D Ward-Smith (Wasps), J Worsley (Wasps), J Simpson (Wasps), O Barkley (Bath), M Tait (Sale Sharks).
Barbarians: P Warwick (Munster); P Sackey (Wasps), C Laulala (Cardiff Blues), F Fritz (Toulouse), C Heymans (Toulouse); J-B Elissalde (Toulouse), B Kelleher (Toulouse); R Roncero (Stade Francais), B August (Biarritz), J White (Leicester), R Skeate (Toulon), B Kay (Leicester), R So’oialo (Hurricanes), M Williams (Cardiff Blues), X Rush (Cardiff Blues, captain).
Replacements: K Owens (Scarlets), C Johnston (Toulouse), J Thion (Biarritz), G Smith (ACT Brumbies), P Mignoni (Toulon), F Estebanez (Brive).
I think the Ba Ba’s are gong to kill us :(. lol
On seeing the England line-up I was feeling quietly confident. But then I saw the Barbarians teamsheet, and I think they might do one over on us. Drat and double drat.
Thought Cuato had a stormer of a game and I am not always his biggest fan. They played well and at half time I think they took their foot off the gas, but not a bad performance.
Impressive start to the game by England, and the first 40 mins were a pleasure to watch (bar Hodgson’s VERY nervous start). Golding, Attwood, Palmer, Haskell, Cueto looked superb. God knows what was said at half time though, as England restored to their normal state of play (confused, no ambition, poor discipline, poor execution etc etc). Thank god it was only the Ba Ba’s – any other international team would have really destroyed us in the 2nd half (and gone on to win the game). Little lesson to learnt here England – IF YOU PLAY GOOD RUGBY, YOU GET GOOD RESULTS. IF YOU PLAY CRAP, OTHER TEAMS WILL WALK ALL OVER YOU
P.s THE GAME LASTS FOR 80MINS – SO PLAY FOR 80 MINS!!!
I’ve just watched the game, and thought it was good but frustrating. Agree with everything already said about England going to sleep after half time – I suspect they thought they had the game won, and their minds started turning to the tour and not getting injured before the plane leaves.
Cueto was superb and outshone Foden, who seemed to be trying to force things a little. Attwood played well, as did Golding, Haskell and Olly Barkley, and I thought there might be a future for Hape.
Hodgson was average, Tom Palmer was fairly disappointing I thought (I counted 3 penalties conceded, a couple of offloads, but nothing too special), and Care was his usual self.
We’ll do some player ratings tomorrow…