Visser caps Barbarians' fightback win - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Visser caps Barbarians' fightback win

30/05/2011 02:04:17 AM Comments (0)

England have blown a 17-point lead against the Barbarians as Tim Visser's late try completed a dramatic 38-32 victory in the rugby international at Twickenham.

Tries from Henry Trinder, Ugo Monye and James Simpson-Daniel had put England in charge before the Barbarians mounted a comeback either side of the interval on Sunday.

Visser, former Wallaby George Smith and Joe van Niekerk added to the first-half tries from Benoit Baby and Frederic Michalak as the Barbarians took control.

England thought they had escaped with the win with a late try from the Exeter flanker Tom Johnson.

But Visser's second try, scored with the last play of the game after a piece of Fijian magic from Joe Tekori, sealed the Barbarians' win.

There was further bad news for England manager Martin Johnson as he ran the rule over a handful of fringe World Cup squad contenders.

Monye limped off with an ankle injury, while Harlequins prop Joe Marler, a contender for the World Cup training squad, was carried off on a stretcher in the second half.

The Barbarians squad had a combined total of 539 caps and, as usual in this fixture, they took some time to get going.

England were faster out of the blocks and Gloucester centre Trinder gave them the lead after excellent build-up work from Matt Banahan and fly-half Charlie Hodgson.

Benoit Baby hit back for the Barbarians before Monye chipped ahead and then snatched the turnover from full-back Nicolas Jeanjean to score the second.

After Charlie Hodgson had landed a penalty, Simpson-Daniel left Ruan Pienaar in his wake to score England's third.

England finished the half with 14 men after Sale flanker Carl Fearns was sin-binned for killing the ball as the Barbarians' French five-eighth Frederic Michalak drove for the line.

Michalak then picked off a pass from England halfback Paul Hodgson and fended off a weak tackle from Charlie Hodgson to score just before the interval.

Visser, the Edinburgh winger, left Simpson-Daniel clutching at thin air as he collected a cross-kick from Michalak and raced clear to score.

Sackey showed good strength to drive Jeanjean forward before some delightful hands from Tekori sent Smith over in the corner as the Barbarians drew level.

When Seru Rabeni forced a turnover in midfield, Barbarians captain Sergio Parisse took the ball on and Van Niekerk jinked in between two defenders to put the Barbarians ahead.

Charlie Hodgson slotted a second penalty for England, who then took the lead with Johnson's try.

But Tekori's offload sent Van Niekerk clear and his deft pass sent Visser over for the match-winning try.

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