Ireland 23 Barbarians 29

Thomond Park, Limerick Friday 4 June 2010

Just as Thomond Park is the archetypal rugby arena, so the Barbarians are a unique rugby concept never so dangerous as when they have been written off.
Barely five days after they played their first half against England seemingly in a soporific trance they shocked the capacity crowd squeezed into the refurbished stadium with a reincarnation of their own. Out of the blocks with a vengeance, they built up a 21-3 lead before half-time, were still ahead 29-13 after 69 minutes, and then held on with great defence as Ireland almost literally threw the kitchen sink at them. It was Twickenham in reverse.
Clermont's Australian fly-half Brock James marked his Barbarians' debut with a hat-trick of close range penalty goals in the 12th, 18th and 32nd minutes, with opposite number Ronan O'Gara replying with one of his own at the end of the first quarter. It had been end-to-end entertainment and it was only a matter of time before the try drought was broken. When it was, three came along in quick succession.
In the 37th minute two penalty scrums near Ireland's line proved too much for their already creaking tight five and a blind-side probe and inside pass by Pierre Mignoni set up Xavier Rush for the try. Three minutes later, an Irish attack broke down in the Barbarians' 22 and Casey Laulala seized on the loose ball and raced up the left flank before being overhauled inches short of the home line. But the quickly recycled ball was all that George Smith needed to dive over near the posts for James to convert.
There was still time for Ireland to respond and, in the fourth minute of added time, it was their turn to maximise turnover ball and O'Gara set a captain's example before releasing Niall Ronan on the inside for a triumphantly taken converted try. It still failed to take the gloss over the Barbarians' 21-10 interval advantage.
On the resumption Ireland were more threatening. O'Gara hit the upright with a 38-metre attempt at a penalty goal but was more successful from similar range moments later. The Barbarians answered in the best possible fashion with David Smith popping up on the far left wing, showing an impressive combination of power and pace to release Cedric Heymans for a priceless try: 26-13 after 48 minutes. The pace was now frenetic. Replacement fly-half Jean-Baptiste Elissalde almost created a sensational second try for Heymans but at least had the consolation of a simple penalty goal to establish a crucial three-score cushion.
The final quarter - plus a baffling eight minutes of injury time - tested Baa-Baas' resolve and courage to the full. Gigantic prop Tony Buckley did bulldoze over near the posts and O'Gara did add another five points from the boot but this was the night when the tourists were in no mood to surrender. A lung-bursting passage of sustained Irish attack stretched them to the left, right and left again but no gaps were found.
The mood of the occasion was correctly reflected when the Thomond Park faithful - a true rugby crowd - rose to acclaim both teams at the final whistle.

Barbarians: P M Warwick (Munster); D Smith (Hurricanes), C D E Laulala (Cardiff Blues & New Zealand), *R S R Rabeni (Leeds Carnegie & Fiji), C Heymans (Toulouse & France); *B R James (Clement Auvergne), P Mignoni (Toulon & France); M D Barnes (Bath), S B Brits (Saracens & South Africa), C A I Johnston (Toulouse & Samoa), J Thion (Biarritz & France), M E O'Kelly (Leinster & Ireland), *A N Quinlan (Munster & Ireland), X J Rush, capt (Cardiff Blues & New Zealand), G B Smith (Brumbies & Australia)
Replacements: B August (Biarritz & France) - Brits h/t; J M White (Leicester Tigers & England) - Quinlan 33-43, Johnston 46-60; R So'oialo (Hurricanes & New Zealand) - O'Kelly 52; M E Williams (Cardiff Blues & Wales) - Rush 64; B G Kelleher (Toulouse & New Zealand) - Mignoni 48; J-P Elissalde (Toulouse & France) - James 48; F Estebanez (Brive) - Rabini 66
Sin-bin: Barnes (39-49)
[* - new Barbarian]
Tries: Rush, G B Smith, Heymans; Con: James; Pens: James (3), Elissalde
Ireland : R D J Kearney; J Murphy, G W Duffy, F McFadden, A D Trimble; R R J O'Gara (capt), P A Stringer; M J Horan, S Cronin, T D Buckley, E O'Donoghue, D Tuohy, J Muldoon, C Henry, N Ronan
Replacements: J P Flannery - Cronin 56; T Court - Horan 63; M R O'Driscoll - O'Donoghue 58; D P O' Callaghan - Ronan 32-40, Tuohy 58; T G O'Leary - Stringer 63; T J Bowe - Kearney 54; P W Wallace - McFadden 40
Sin-bin: O'Donoghue (39-49)
Tries: Ronan, Buckley; Cons: O'Gara (2); Pens: O'Gara (3)

Referee: R Poite (France)
Attendance: 26,000