Chris Ashton scores hat-trick as Barbarians defeat England 45-63 at Twickenham
Chris Ashton was outstanding for Barbarians
©PA
England 45-63 Barbarians, Twickenham Stadium
Scorecard
Chris Ashton scored a hat-trick as Barbarians ran a nine-try riot to defeat England 45-63 in the Quilter Cup clash at Twickenham Stadium on Sunday.
Although Eddie Jones did play an under-strength England side, the defeat deepens problem for the red rose side after they had a struggling Six Nations tournament earlier this year.
Ashton on his first appearance against England since his move to Toulon gave a terrific start to Barbarians with tries in the 3rd and 7th minutes and a Finn Russell kick found Ashton in the 12th minute for their third try. Russell also slotted the conversions on all the three occasions as Barbarians scored 21 unanswered points.
As England were in desperate search of points, Elliot Daly starting at fullback dotted down in the 17th minute and Piers Francis followed the suit three minutes later to reduce the gap to 21-14. Ashton finished his hat-trick in the 25th minute but England made a tremendous comeback to level the scores by the end of the 30th minute with Zach Mercer (28') and Francais (30') crossing over.
As the half time was approaching, Ashton turned provider, with Russell scoring a converted try to take the visitors to a slender seven-point lead heading into the break.
Barbarians had their first points in the second half when Semi Radradra slipped past Chris Robshaw before Russell kicked the conversion to make it 28-42. Despite being down by 14 points, England opted to kick a penalty goal in the 49th minute that came from George Ford and minutes later Joe Launchbury grounded to reduce the gap to four points.
However, Barbarians once again took the initiative when Sitaleki Timani was sent over the line by Loni Uhila. Barbarians had a seven-point lead as the final 10 minutes kicked off and Greig Laidlaw (72') and Vito (80') scored tries on either side of Jonny May's (77') touchdown to complete a 45-63 victory for the visitors.
