The famous Barbarians club ruined Wales legend Neil Jenkins’ party with a comfortable win at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.
Jenkins took the field in the 66th minute for his 100th match in a Wales jersey, but he couldn’t stop the avalanche of famous black and white jerseys as they lined up to score.
The “Ginger Monster” did have a say in proceedings, though, setting up two late tries to replacement Tom Shanklin to bring some respectability to the scoreline and slotting a superb touchline conversion to bring the 23,721-strong crowd to its feet.
“We got a lot out of this match,” Wales coach Steve Hansen said after his side’s seventh straight loss. “It was a good opportunity to give the players some rugby and to introduce some newcomers to the side.
“We didn’t show all our hand, obviously. We left some things in the bag because we didn’t want to expose them before going down south.
“I’m not worried by another loss. Winning and losing is about performance and obviously they performed better than we did.”
All Black winger Bruce Reihana and French backrower Olivier Magne rattled Wales early, but a Stephen Jones break gave centre Mark Taylor a free run to the line and Jones’ conversion narrowed the margin to 10-7.
Then, on the stroke of halftime, came one of the tries of the season, started by Newport’s Percy Montgomery.
The Springbok fullback brilliantly fielded a kick running back before putting up a monstrous up-and-under and catching it. He linked with Reihana and New Zealand backrower Sam Harding dived over under the posts.
Iestyn Harris livened up the match and the crowd with a now familiar jink through the BaaBaas’ defence to score under the posts two minutes into the second half.
His good work was undone when Barbarians winger Aisea Tuilevu smuggled the ball out of a maul on the halfway and strode away towards the try-line. Most Welsh players were still looking for the ball in the maul when the Fijian flyer was dotting down for the softest of tries
Replacement Mick Galwey’s pushover effort in the 56th minute was cancelled out by Tom Shanklin’s try a minute later, but the Barbarians’ sixth five-pointer – courtesy of Newport and South African prop Adrian Garvey – returned the margin to 15 points and ended the match as a contest.
Reihana’s second try and scrum-half Mark Robinson’s first – both well-executed long-range efforts – simply twisted the knife.
A clever Jenkins double-round gave Llanelli fullback Garan Evans the space to break clear, and his pinpoint pass handed Shanklin his second try. Jenks handled three times in the next movement that resulted in Shanklin’s hat-trick in the left corner. Jenkins, naturally, converted from the touchline.
Barbarians: Tries: B Reihana (2), O Magne, S Harding, A Tuilevu, M Galwey, A Garvey, M Robinson. Cons: F Contepomi (4).
Wales: Garan Evans (Llanelli); Mark Jones (Llanelli), Mark Taylor (Llanelli), Iestyn Harris (Cardiff), Rhys Williams (Cardiff); Stephen Jones (Llanelli), Dwayne Peel (Llanelli); Iestyn Thomas (Llanelli), Robin McBryde (Llanelli), Adam Jones (Neath), Vernon Cooper (Llanelli), Gareth Llewellyn (Neath), Colin Charvis (Swansea), Martyn Williams (Cardiff, capt), Alix Popham (Leeds).
Replacements: Mefin Davies (Pontypridd), Ben Evans (
Barbarians: P Montgomery (Newport & South Africa); A Tuilevu (Otago & Fiji), C Stoica (Castres & Italy), D Gibson (Bristol & New Zealand), B Reihana (Northampton & New Zealand); F Contepomi (Bristol & Argentina), M Robinson (Auckland Blues & New Zealand); O le Roux (Natal Sharks & South Africa), M Sexton (Ulster), F Tournaire (Leicester & France), R Strudwick (London Irish), M Connors (Northampton & Australia, capt), S Harding (Otago Highlanders & New Zealand), O Magne (Montferrand & France), AJ Venter (Natal Sharks & South Africa).
Replacements: R Ibanez (Castres & France), A Garvey (Newport & South Africa), M Galwey (Munster & Ireland), S Phelan (Club Athletico San Isidro & Argentina), D Edwards (London Irish), M Perry (Bath & England), S Staniforth (NSW Waratahs & Australia).
Ref: Dave Pearson (
Touch judges: Steve Leyshon (
Third official: Hugh Watkins (
