England 36 Barbarians 49
An All-star Barbarians team overran a young and inexperienced England side to win 49-36 at Twickenham today.
French ace Thomas Castaignede was outstanding for the invitational side who scored seven tries but England's error-strewn defending will have given coach Clive Woodward food for thought as he considers his squad for the World Cup later this year.
The Barbarians stormed into an early lead when Castaignede was found by an intelligent cross-field kick from Sam Harding and kicked the ball into space before sprinting in for the try. David Humphreys added the extra points.
Castaignede's French teammate Christian Califano scored the Baa-baas second try in the space of five minutes when he exposed poor England defending.
After 24 minutes, Mark Robinson stretched the Barbarians lead to 21-3 .
England were sinking fast and needed a lucky break. They got one in the 34th minute when David Walder's penalty kick bounced back off the post and into the arms of Michael Lipman who scored a try. But Walder missed his third kick of the afternoon.
The home side were slowly improving and on the stroke of half-time Jamie Noon collected Martin Corry's pass to go over for an England try and Walder kicked the conversion.
England were handed a penalty early in the second half after a blatant knock-on, but Walder continued an afternoon to forget by kicking wide.
After England's Phil Christophers was denied a try through an offside, Barbarians uncorked a flowing move, ending in a try for Ireland's Jonathan Bell. Humphreys increases the lead to 28-15 with the conversion.
But England pulled themselves back into contention when Jamie Noon collected Walders' disguised pass and notched up his second score of the afternoon. Walder finally got his act together to add the extra points.
The Barbarians re-asserted their grip on the game when Jerry Collins found Frenchman Raphael Ibanez for the try and Humphreys slotted over the conversion to make it 35-22.
The floodgates were opened and the England defence was in disarray again as Bruce Rheihana got the Barbarians' sixth try of the match and Humphreys' safe kicking stretched the lead.
Four minutes later, Walder reduced the deficit with a fine piece of skill - and followed it up with the conversion.
In a match given a strong French flair, it was fitting that Franck Tournaire rounded off a move created by his international teammates to wrap up victory for the Barbarians and Humphreys was true as ever with his boot.
With the Baa-baas work done, Nick Walshe scored a late try for England.