93 Responses to Internationals: Barbarians vs Australia – Live Game Article

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  91

  Bullscot on 27 November 2011 at 8:34 am

  78@ Just For Kicks:
  Couldn’t understand why they would include Tomkins in the Baabaas team for a one off game in union, one hears so much about the supposed ‘Baabaa ethos’ so surely the newbie spot in the team should have gone to a young upcoming union player who would surely have cherished being there far more than some guy who is just over from league for one game. Maybe its not so much about the ‘Baabaas spirit’ anymore and bit more about the money – maybe they were hoping to attract some rugby league followers to watch the game.
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  92

  Just For Kicks on 27 November 2011 at 10:27 am

  91@ Bullscot:I think you’re last statement is the crux of the matter, Union is always desperate to attract league into it’s ranks, and this was perhaps a way for them to promote the game amongst league supporters. Whilst union certainly has the higher profile in UK, league is a very popular game, especially up North in England, probably bigger than union. It is certainly bigger in Aus, and is also very popular in NZ. Union would love to capture that market, and I think that it does a lot of work in trying to do so. You only have to look at how they market the converts from League to union such as Chris Ashton, Berrick Barnes, Ryan Cross, Jason Robinson and Lote Tuqiri to name but a few. Thus it was a bit of a coup to get Tomkins, one of the higher profile players in league, to play for one of the most ‘exclusive’ rugby clubs in the world. Imagine if he converted now to union, it would be huge news, and would, in the unions eyes anyway, show that union is the better code.
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  93

  superBul on 27 November 2011 at 11:42 am

  Lock forward Matfield, who played in the Barbarians’ 25-18 win against the All Blacks in 2009, was in no doubt of the worth of the fixture and the importance of the club’s ethos to modern-day rugby.

  “When you come up for the Barbarians you don’t have a lot of training, so some days you click, other days you struggle a bit,” he said.

  “Maybe the communication wasn’t there, there were one or two slipped tackles and then the other side get momentum and it’s hard to stop.

  “Australia are a full international side and they know each other pretty well,” added the 34-year-old Matfield, now set to pursue a career in broadcasting and as a coaching consultant with former Super 15 side the Bulls.

  “It was a fantastic week and, even though we lost the game by so many points, I will remember it for a long time.

  “The Barbarians have two out of three now in the last three years against the southern hemisphere teams so why shoot them down after one bad game?,” added Matfield, one of rugby’s greatest lineout jumpers.