Barkley kicks England to first tour win
AUST. BARBARIANS (9) vs ENGLAND (15)
OLLY BARKLEY kicked over two late penalties to help England’s second string secure a first win of their tour Down Under.
The Bath fly-half sealed an unconvincing win for the tourists after three Berrick Barnes kicks had overturned Charlie Hodgson’s pair of penalties early on.
But despite the result, it was still an unconvincing display from Martin Johnson’s men, and the coach certainly wasn’t getting carried away.
“We have won in Australia. Our second string have played their second string twice and we have got a draw and a win,” he said. “Am I saying it was fantastic and great? No. We should have finished our chances, we got in trouble with the referee and we found ourselves three points down away from home in difficult conditions.”
After a 28-28 draw against the Barbarians in the opening match last Tuesday, and a 27-17 defeat to the Wallabies in Saturday’s first Test, Johnson’s men were in need of positive result and looked on course when Hodgson kicked them into a 6-0 lead.
The introduction of Barnes seemed to spark the Barbarians into life, and after kicking twice to level the scores at the break, he then added a third to give the hosts the lead.
England didn’t give up, however, and Barkley pulled them level before twice making them pay for errors in the scrum to seal a much-needed win.