The Barbarians have warned up for Saturday's clash with the Wallabies by hanging on to beat the Classic Wallabies 27-24 in Lismore on the NSW far north coast NSW.
The Baa Baas came from 12-5 down on Tuesday to score 22-straight points in a game in which both sides scored four tries.
The Classic Wallabies, whose line-up included former Test wingers Lote Tuqiri and Drew Mitchell and some up-and-coming stars, scored two late tries to get within three points.
Coach Alan Jones opted not to field some of his higher-profile players including five-eighth Quade Cooper and Springboks forward Jacques Potgieter.
The Claasic Wallabies almost stole the match at the death, but Barbarians fullback Tom Banks won the chase to a grubber kick in-goal to secure a hard-earned win for his side.
"I was very pleased with the kind of football we played. We didn't finish it off as we might have and the other crowd played very well," Jones told the rugby.com.au website.
"We could have done better, but that's always the case - we've only had a couple of sessions together."
Emerging Brumbies star Banks scored the opening try.
The Classic Wallabies hit back with great footwork from Mitchell setting up Tuqiri for a try and Alex Gibbon notching a second after taking an intercept 70 metres out.
The Baa Baas hit back to lead 17-12 at halftime after tries to lock Richard Arnold and five-eighth Sam Greene.
A second five-pointer to Green after the break helped swell their advantage to 15 points.
However, the Classic Wallabies set up a thrilling finale with two tries in the closing minutes to prop Jock Armstrong and back Byron Hutchinson. Five-eighth Nick Jooste converted the second to slash the gap to three points.
"We did make mistakes but I've said to them that I'm not worried about that," Jones said.
"They proved a bit costly and the opposition got close to us, but I thought we showed a lot of courage in defence and then we translated the defence into attack pretty well."
Share
