England XV beat Barbarians
England beat the Barbarians 51-43 in a thrilling Quilter Cup match at Twickenham.
England fly half Marcus Smith scored 26 points including a try, six conversions and three penalties as he recorded a 100% success rate from the kicking tee.
Alex Dombrandt was named England Rugby fans' man of the match after some powerful carries and crossing the line twice.
Early lead
England led a star studded Barbarians side 31-12 at half-time, scoring four tries in an impressive first 40 minutes – all converted by Marcus Smith who also added a penalty.
Josh Bassett opened the scoring for England after 10 minutes after Johnny Williams pounced on a Barbarians error to set the Wasps flyer free to score down the left flank.
Barbarians captain James Horwill then found himself on the wing and when Colin Slade connected with a crossfield kick, he collected it and scored.
Springbok flanker then Francois Lowe crashed over from close range following a lineout and, with Slade adding the extras, give the Barbarians the lead for the first time.
England then produced three great tries to open up a sizeable lead at the break.
First, centre Joe Marchant made a jinking break and fed Alex Mitchell to burst through before the ball went through the hands of Ben Curry and Smith to find Simon Hammersley out wide to score.
Smith then added a try of his own after throwing a dummy and diving over from close range.
As half-time approached, Mitchell then intercepted a pass from the Barbarians lineout and off-loaded to Alex Dombrandt to score.
Barbarians fightback
The home side started the second half full of confidence and scored first as Dombrandt gathered a loose pass and fed Williams to score.
The Barbarians fought back scoring two inside a minute as first Gloucester’s Mark Atkinson crossed and then Rhodri Williams went in following a break from Filipo Nakosi.
Smith added a penalty after an offside at the breakdown before Atkinson added his second after collecting an offload from Taqele Naiyaravoro.
Replacement hooker David Heffernan found himself at the back of a rolling maul to bring the Barbarians within three points after Brock James added the conversion.
However, Smith kicked another penalty before Dombrandt bundled over for his second and secure the win despite a late Naiyaravoro score.
Reaction
Head coach Jim Mallinder said: “It’s a tough thing to come together in a week and play as a team. We talked all week about sticking together and probably having to go the 80 minutes, and expect the unexpected - we defended with our lives and we scored some cracking tries.
“That is what rugby is all about. It’s not about individuals, it is about how quickly can you come together and play as a team and I think that is something we did really well today.
"I think there were some outstanding individual performances today and hopefully Eddie Jones and the rest of his staff will look at that with interest.
“We’ve had a fantastic week with players and coaches coming together, very similar to the Barbarians, and I think at the end of a very long season we can all enjoy it.”
England XV starters
15 Simon Hammersley (Newcastle Falcons), 14 Piers O’Conor (Bristol Bears), 13 Joe Marchant (Harlequins), 12 Johnny Williams (Newcastle Falcons), 11 Josh Bassett (Wasps), 10 Marcus Smith (Harlequins), 9 Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints), 1 Ross Harrison (Sale Sharks), 2 Tom Dunn (Bath Rugby), 3 Ehren Painter (Northampton Saints), 4 Elliott Stooke (Bath Rugby), 5 Josh Beaumont (Sale Sharks) captain, 6 Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins), 7 Ben Curry (Sale Sharks), 8 Teimana Harrison (Northampton Saints, 5 caps).
Finishers:
16 Tommy Taylor (Wasps, 1 cap), 17 Beno Obano (Bath Rugby), 18 Paul Hill (Northampton Saints, 5 caps), 19 Will Spencer (Leicester Tigers), 20 Tom Ellis (Bath Rugby), 21 Ben White (Leicester Tigers), 22 Callum Sheedy (Bristol Bears), 23 Ben Loader (London Irish).
Barbarians XV:
15 Charles Piutau, 14 Niyi Adeolokun, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 Taqele Naiyaravoro, 10 Colin Slade, 9 Rhys Webb;1 Joe Marler, 2 Richard Hibbard, 3 John Afoa, 4 James Horwill, 5 Chris Vui, 6 Steven Luatua, 7 Francois Louw, 8 Viliame Mata.
Replacements:
16 David Heffernan, 17 Pierre Schoeman, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Facundo Isa, 20 Liam Messam, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Brock James, 23 Filipo Nakosi.
