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Preview: Barbarians v Australia

Wednesday 03rd December 2008

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After five matches and 400 minutes of non-stop Test rugby from a gruelling end-of-year tour, the Wallabies wind down their European trip on Wednesday against a formidable Barbarians line-up at London's Wembley Stadium.

The match has been organised as part of the British Olympic Association's celebrations of the centenary of the first Olympics in London, where the Games will return in four years' time.

Australia took the rugby union gold medal in 1908 with a 32-3 victory over Great Britain, represented by the south west English county of Cornwall. This time round the Wallabies face a representation of a different kind...

The Barbarians' matchday 22 contains four of the last five winners of the IRB Player of the Year Award: Welsh winger Shane Williams (2008), Springbok winger Bryan Habana (2007), All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw (2006) and Springbok flanker Schalk Burger (2004). The only player missing is the 2005 winner - All Blacks fly-half Dan Carter - who probably would be playing too if he hadn't started his sabbatical with Perpignan in France.

As if that wasn't enough international talent dished on the Wallabies' plate, the men in gold face a daunting task against a buffet of other superstars including several World Cup-winning Springboks as well as victorious captain John Smit, who will skipper the Barbarians.

Throw in try-scoring All Blacks machine Joe Rokocoko and New Zealand hard man Jerry Collins and you start to get an idea of the task facing the Wallabies. And the final icing on the cake - sitting alongside Shane Williams on the bench - is Wallabies legend George Gregan, who would like nothing better than to chalk one up against his old team-mates.

Coached by Jake White, the former Springbok coach has brought on board Australian assistant Eddie Jones who played a backroom role in South Africa's World Cup triumph last year. It's a tribute to White's reputation, and his repertoire with his players, that they have fronted up for him at the end of such a long and exhausting season.

Funnily enough, it was against the Barbarians that White lost his last match in charge of South Africa at Twickenham. It was a bitter pill for White as it was not the way he wanted to go out, but now gets the chance to make amends... albeit from the other side of the fence.

Barbarians matches are traditionally free-flowing affairs with both teams tossing the ball around, but Australia's stand-in captain George Smith has already suggested that the Wallabies will approach it more as a Test match and stick to their structures.

Also the last thing White was known for is free-flowing rugby. Often when South Africa tried that in the past, it has led to near-disaster, such as when the Springboks tried to match Fiji in the running rugby stakes in last year's Rugby World Cup quarter-final and almost found themselves joining the likes of New Zealand and Australia on an early flight home.

Only the calm head of Smit bringing the Springboks back to a more structured game-plan, saw the eventual winners home.

But the feel-good factor of the Barbarians - who celebrate the spirit of the game - will be required to add interest to a match that many feel is one too many for the travel-weary Australians. With a host of their big guns, including skipper Stirling Mortlock, fly-half Matt Giteau and lock Nathan Sharpe out injured, Wallabies coach Robbie Deans has handed his rising stars the chance to shine.

Deans entered into the best traditions of Barbarian rugby by picking a largely experimental side, selecting fringe players who had been given little game time in the Test matches including teenage full-back James O'Connor at full-back and uncapped lock Peter Kimlin on the bench in a reshuffled Australia team.

20-year-old Reds fly-half Quade Cooper also starts his first game for the Wallabies, and is joined by scrum-half Brett Sheehan - getting his first action of the tour as well - as is prop Sekope Kepu, also starting his first ever match at this level.

So who are Australia left with then?

There are only five Wallabies remaining from the XV who ran out to take on Wales - outside centre Ryan Cross, winger Digby Ioane, number eight Richard Brown, flanker Hugh McMeniman (who moves to the second row) and lock Mark Chisholm.

The Barbarians of olde traditionally kept the ball in hand and attacked at all costs. The professional era has changed their style of play somewhat and this makes it a little more difficult to know what to expect from a team thrown together at the last minute.

This can work in favour of the Wallabies, who unlike the Baa-baas' single week of prep time, have been together for a while now. They can use this to their advantage and play very much a team game against the Barbarians' individual style of play.

But there is no 'i' in team - something in which White would have been working hard at drumming into his new band of players. Both teams love scoring tries, that is for sure, but they are not about to throw the ball around willy-nilly in search of the five-pointer.

The type of tries that excite the fans will be similar to the ones the Barbarians scored in their 22-5 win against South Africa last year. Win good first phase, attack with purpose and pace, force the gap and score. Simple. Clinical.

Prediction: If the Barbarians click - and coach Robbie Deans will be desperately hoping that they don't - then there is potential for them to thrill the capacity Wembley crowd expected for the centenary celebration clash. Australia will give it a good crack, but in the end the result may not be that important to them as much as getting home after a long tour. The Barbarians to win by ten points.

The teams:

Barbarians: 15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Rico Gear, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Frans Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Jerry Collins, 7 Richie McCaw, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Johan Muller, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Census Johnston, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Federico Pucciariello.
Replacements: 16 Mark Regan, 17 Rodney Blake, 18 Chris Jack, 19 Nick Koster, 20 George Gregan, 21 Ollie Smith, 22 Shane Williams.

Australia: 15 James O'Connor, 14 Lote Tuqiri, 13 Ryan Cross, 12 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Brett Sheehan, 8 Richard Brown, 7 George Smith, 6 Dean Mumm, 5 Hugh McMeniman, 4 Mark Chisholm, 3 Matt Dunning, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Sekope Kepu.
Replacements: 16 Adam Freier, 17 Ben Alexander, 18 Peter Kimlin, 19 David Pocock, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Lachie Turner, 22 Drew Mitchell.

Date: Wednesday, 3 December
Venue: Wembley Stadium
Kick-off: 19:30 GMT
Referee: Chris White (England)
Touch judges: Wayne Barnes (England), Steve Terheege (England)
TMO: Geoff Warren (England)