This was the balm before the storm. The next time England take the field will be here against France in the first of their World Cup friendlies when individual performances will count for considerably more than against a seasoned invitation team who lacked in energy what they had in experience.
It was a day of records rather than meaning. The Barbarians had never lost by more and Danny Cipriani’s 33 points, which included two tries, were a record in the fixture. Christian Wade scored three tries on the right wing and blew a fourth by dropping the ball in the act of touching down but also showed why he had been left out of the training squad of 50. The 24-year-old is too averse to physical confrontation and the England management will not sift through the footage of this romp too assiduously before the squad’s gathering on 22 June to start preparing for the World Cup.
Cipriani was named man of the match, 24 hours after another England outside-half, Owen Farrell, received the same accolade in the Premiership final and 10 days after a third, George Ford, had been voted the Premiership’s player of the season. He spent the last 25 minutes at full-back and, if he is to make the World Cup squad, it will be because of his versatility, covering two positions rather than contesting for one.
Cipriani resisted any temptation to ad lib and stuck to the coaching script despite the inadequacy of the opposition and the ease with which England both plundered possession and found space. Wade scored his second try after cutting in from the right and almost coming to a stop having slipped but so statuesque was the defence that it mattered not how fast he was moving, merely that he was.
So England took few liberties, playing for position and resisting the temptation to become individual. Shane Geraghty brought a few tricks off the bench but largely it was an afternoon of conformity and Cipriani, who went into international exile in the Martin Johnson era for challenging coaching orthodoxy and not bending to the will of the collective, has become an establishment man.
It will probably not be enough to secure him a place in England’s 31 for the World Cup, but he has given the management far more to think about than they would have expected even a few months ago. “Danny has learned a lot about the disciplined side of the game during his time at Sale,” said the England head coach, Stuart Lancaster. “He is a lot more controlled and composed in games and he understands the mechanics of winning big matches.”
Cipriani had Henry Slade and Elliot Daly outside him, players whose World Cup time may come in 2019 rather than this year. They offered kicking and passing options to England who are looking to model their game on the leading teams in the Premiership: the attacking flair of Bath, the defensive power of Saracens and the set-piece efficiency of Northampton.
Seven of their 10 tries were scored by backs while the Barbarians’ two were claimed by forwards, Brad Thorn and Thomas Waldrom, who also received yellow cards, the latter on 20 minutes for pulling back Lee Dickson as the scrum-half set off in pursuit of a kick ahead and the former, playing his final game before retiring, paying homage to his time at Leicester by tip-tackling the Northampton prop Alex Waller.
Thorn and Waldrom got stuck in, as did the Australia flanker George Smith, whose 111 Test caps were close to England’s total of 117, but the individualism of the invitation side did not threaten a drilled and organised England. After an opening 10 minutes when the men in white took the lead with a try against the run of play through Marland Yarde only for Thorn to reply quickly, it became horribly one-sided, disengaging the modest crowd.
Cipriani, who landed 11 kicks out of 11, put England 10-5 ahead with a penalty after 18 minutes but it was then about converting tries: Ed Slater, Jack Clifford, Wade, twice, and Cipriani all crossing to make it 45-5 to the home side at the break. Slade, Josh Beaumont, Wade and Cipriani found their way over the line in a quieter second period. Of the players who did not score, the hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie, who timed his pass perfectly for Yarde’s opener, the lock Joe Launchbury and the prop Kieran Brookes stood out.
“Kieran was the standout forward for me. He’s just going to get better and better,” said Lancaster. “We played some excellent rugby and, if it was hard enough to pick the 50 players for the training squad, it is going to be even tougher to get it down to 31 for the World Cup. The squad will have a demanding three weeks when we gather on 22 June and we will take only 45 to Denver for altitude training, gradually whittling down the number after that. We have to get the selection right.”
England Tait (Geraghty, 55); Wade, Daly, Slade, Yarde (Lewington, 61); Cipriani, Dickson (capt; Chudley, 64); Mullan (Waller, 48), Cowan-Dickie (Taylor, 48), Brookes (Denman, 61), Slater (Fisher, 55), Launchbury (Gaskell, 48), Wilson, Clifford, Beaumont.
Tries Wade 3, Yarde, Slater, Clifford, Cipriani 2, Slade, Beaumont. Cons Cipriani 10. Pen Cipriani.
Barbarians Aplon (Fujita, 42); Smith, Rokocoko, Olivier (Brett, 53), Monye; Pisi, Cubelli (Pienaar, 73; Taumoepeau (Tejerizo, h-t), Ward (Fourie, h-t), Diaz (Jones, h-t), Manoa, Thorn (capt), Whitelock (Matera, h-t), Smith, Waldrom.
Tries: Thorn, Waldrom. Con Pisi.
Sin-bin: Waldrom 20, Thorn 70.
Ref: G Clancy (Ire). Att 34,667
