The game was hyped up with Gavin Henson being named in the starting 15 for Wales at 12, Stephen Jones was making his 100th cap for Wales. The game was even more interesting with Martyn Williams being named in the Barbarians starting 15. The Barbarians will hope to continue their form from last week after beating England with an eventful 6 tries for the Barbarians.
First Half
The game started with the Barbarians having a roll with many scrums that they dominated with noticeably Carl Hayman taking care of the Welsh front row. Penalty after penalty flowed due to this but the Barbarians were pulling the strings. Luckily for Wales they survived this abuse from the scrum and surprisingly Wales took the lead with a suspect try as Gavin Henson threw a forward pass to George North who finished the try very well. He must be in with a good shout for a start in the Rugby World Cup for Wales and Stephen Jones converted. Wales 7 -0 Barbarians
The Barbarians had a great chance to get back into the game with Clermont Fly Half Brock James kicking a cross field kick but Doug Howlett just missed out on handling it, although Castres lock Joe Tekori got on score sheet with an error from Mike Phillips. The Castres lock received the ball from Joe van Niekerk then easily crossed the line. Brock James missed the conversion. Wales 7 “ 5 Barbarians.
The Barbarians took the lead from man of the moment Isa Nacewa, Parisse the inspirational leader led the way passing to Borde who executed an awesome dummy to pass to Nacewa who had time to easily cross the line. James converted. Wales 7 “ 12 Barbarians. The tries were flowing because Morgan Stoddart was the next player on the score sheet as he intercepted a pass from Paul Tito the Scarlets fullback/winger couldn't be stopped as he crossed the line with Stephen Jones converting. Wales 14 “ 12 Barbarians.
More time will be needed in training for lineouts and scrums for Wales as they both weren't functioning well against the Barbarians. After Sackey was ousted into touch from the resulting lineout for Wales they gave away a scrum with a knock on from Warburton, the orchestrator Parisse just reached over the line to put the Barbarians into the lead, Brock James converted. Wales 14 “ 19 Barbarians.
Second Half
The first try after the second half came to Wales after numerous drives from the pack being halted by the Barbarians, Mike Phillips crossed the line to give the Welsh the lead. Stephen Jones converted. Wales 21 “ 19 Barbarians. The changes ran for Wales with experience being replaced by youth, Aled Brew scored a try with brutal strength knocking Iestyn Thomas to get over the line. Aled Brew should go to the World Cup after the season he has had. Stephen Jones knocked the conversion over. Wales 28 “ 19 Barbarians.
The game was far from over with man mountain Willie Mason coming on to play in a backline with alot of power, Bastareaud scored a try that showed the true potential of 31 year old Willie Mason as he rode 2 tackles and popped the ball of that even Sonny Bill Williams would be proud off. Wales 28 “ 24 Barbarians. Time was over with the last play to be played with Parisse popping to another Barbarian, Mason done it again with a superb offload from a double hit to give Nacewa room to show again why he is in such great form to win the Barbarians the game. Wales 28 “ 31 Barbarians.
Full Time
Thoughts - The day seemed to be about Gavin Henson and his return but it was stolen by Sergio Parisse and the Barbarians. They are a strong team showing flair and power in the same team who will take some stopping. Well done to the Barbarians.
Wales: Morgan Stoddart (Scarlets); George North (Scarlets), Jonathan Davies (Scarlets), Gavin Henson (no club), Aled Brew (Newport Gwent Dragons); Stephen Jones (Scarlets), Mike Phillips (Ospreys); Ryan Bevington (Ospreys), Huw Bennett (Ospreys), Paul James (Ospreys), Ryan Jones (Ospreys), Luke Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), Danny Lydiate (Newport Gwent Dragons), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues, capt), Toby Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).
Replacements: Lloyd Burns (Newport Gwent Dragons), Scott Andrews (Cardiff Blues), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Josh Turnbull (Scarlets), Tavis Knoyle (Scarlets), Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), Scott Williams (Scarlets).
Sin Bin: Brew (44).
Barbarians: Isa Nacewa (Leinster and Fiji); Paul Sackey (no club), Seru Rabeni (La Rochelle and Fiji), Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Francais Paris and France), Doug Howlett (Munster and New Zealand); Brock James (Clermont Auvergne), Sebastien Tillous-Borde (Castres Olympique and France); Iestyn Thomas (Scarlets and Wales), Sebastien Bruno (Toulon and France), Carl Hayman (Toulon and New Zealand), Iosefa Tekori (Castres Olympique and Samoa), Paul Tito (Cardiff Blues), Joe van Niekerk (Toulon and South Africa), Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues and Wales), Sergio Parisse (captain, Stade Francais Paris and Italy).
Replacements: Leonardo Ghiraldini (Benetton Treviso and Italy), Davit Kubriashvili (Toulon and Georgia), Erik Lund (Biarritz Olympique and Norway), George Smith (Toulon and Australia), Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues), Willie Mason (Toulon), Benoit Baby (Clermont Auvergne and France).
