Wales 49-26 Barbarians
by David Nicholson
at the Millennium Stadium

WALES won a free-flowing game against the iconic Barbarians in a nostalgic goodbye to three faithful servants of Welsh rugby at the weekend.

Wales’s most capped player, and former captain Alan Wyn Jones, in his final game at the Millennium Stadium bagged a try and man-of-the-match award as he rolled back the years for the Baa-Baas.

Justin Tipuric played an impressive game for the scratch side and almost scored a try himself.

Both sides honoured the occasion by committing themselves to running rugby and the 53,000 crowd were rewarded with 11 tries in a basketball-style outing for the players.

Imperious fullback Leigh Halfpenny also bowed out of international rugby and nailed all five conversions for the hosts.

Coach Warren Gatland was pleased with his players’ saying some of the young ones had put their hands up.

But Gatland said he was not 100 per cent pleased with his side’s performance.

The Welsh scrum was a mess as the BaaBaas, with less than one week of practice, managed to out-muscle the home side to win scrum penalties.

What would have pleased Gatland was the performance of Rio Dyer on the wing who was in scintillating form as he drew gasps from the crowd every time he set off at speed.

First-half tries by hooker Dewi Lake, wing Tom Rogers and fly-half Sam Costelow sent Wales on the way in their last game before hosting opening Six Nations opponents Scotland on February 3.

But the non-cap fixture saw the Barbarians hit back impressively. Fijian scrum-half Simione Kuruvoli scored two tries, and when Jones crossed early in the second half to the crowd’s delight, Wales led by just two points.

But Welsh replacements Taine Plumtree, Aaron Wainwright and Kieran Hardy, with a brace, claimed second-half scores for Wales. 

Halfpenny is set for a move to the southern hemisphere, with Super Rugby heavyweights the Crusaders his likely destination, Jones is currently with French club Toulon while Tipuric remains a key figure for the Ospreys.

“For the three of them, to have that game here in the stadium was incredibly special and I thought the crowd were amazing in recognising that as well,” Gatland said.

“We talked about leaving Leigh on for 80 minutes, but then there was an opportunity to bring him off. I thought the ovation he got is testament to him not just as a rugby player, but as a person,” the Wales coach said.

Halfpenny received a prolonged standing ovation when he went off after 67 minutes and a handshake from opposing captain, Alan Wyn Jones.

The pantomime villain was Baa-Baas coach Eddie Jones who was roundly booed every time the cameras showed him on the big screens.

After a reasonably successful World Cup campaign Gatland was looking forward to the next year’s Six Nations saying: “I am pleased with this group of players.

“We know this next Six Nations will be a challenge, but if you keep working hard and keep believing, we are capable of doing things and winning matches. We showed that in the World Cup.”