Fringe players stake their claim

Ireland 39 Barbarians 14: Despite losing the services of Brian O'Driscoll prior to the game at Kingsholm this evening Ireland beat the Barbarians with an expansive and adventurous performance more typical of the tradition of their opponents.

Captain O'Driscoll returned to Dublin today after the death of a close friend.  His place, alongside Leinster team-mate Luke Fitzgerald, was taken by Gavin Duffy.

Shane Horgan stepped into lead the side and scored two tries, as did Jamie Heaslip. Outhalf Paddy Wallace kicked 14 points as the Barbarians were restricted to converted scores by flanker Craig Newby and number eight Pedrie Wannenburg.

With the panel to tour the southern hemisphere already chosen there was the chance for a number of fringe players to impress and to that end Luke Fitzgerald, Shane Jennings and Tommy Bowe gave management food for thought with mature performances.

Whether O'Driscoll goes on tour is not clear yet but the centre looks certain to stay behind initially when the squad departs on Friday night.  Ireland face the All Blacks on June 7th and Australia in Melbourne seven days later.

Ireland, fielding 12 of their New Zealand-bound squad, made a blistering start by slicing open the Barbarians defence inside five minutes.

Bowe was the beneficiary, sprinting over on an angled run that underlined his quality as an outstanding finisher.

He almost repeated the feat two minutes later, this time after Ireland attacked from deep inside their own half, but the Ospreys-bound wing spilled a difficult pass five metres out.

Wallace added a 10th-minute penalty to his earlier conversion, and a Barbarians side including the likes of Stephen Larkham, Lesley Vainikolo and Michael Claassens found themselves under sustained early pressure.

There was no let-up from an Irish team committed to playing traditional Baa-baas open rugby, as two more converted tries in four minutes effectively ended the contest.

Horgan completed a slick move for the first, then he struck again after Claassens' pass was intercepted by fullback Rob Kearney, rounding off an 80-metre move.

Wallace booted both conversions to complete a breathless opening 24 minutes that left the Barbarians playing catch-up, and even when they claimed a consolation score just before the interval, it came at a cost.

Newby, who will join Guinness Premiership finalists Leicester from Otago later this summer, claimed an impressive touchdown that London Irish full-back Peter Hewat converted.

But Newby was injured in the process and had to be carried off and taken to hospital as Ireland closed out a 24-7 half-time lead.

Ireland saw scrum-half Isaac Boss sin-binned for obstruction within five minutes of the restart, but another Wallace penalty extended the lead to 20 points.

And the Barbarians were then rocked by a fourth Irish try, this time the result of lock Malcolm O'Kelly's powerful running as Heaslip rounded off his committed approach work.

The reliable Wallace landed his sixth successful kick, steering Ireland 34-7 clear entering the closing quarter.

It was now all about damage limitation for the Barbarians as they made an inevitable raft of substitutions, which included run-outs for England World Cup hooker Mark Regan, Gloucester prop Patrice Collazo and Saracens fly-half Glen Jackson.

A dust-up between Ireland flanker Neil Best and Baa-baas prop Cobus Visagie ended with a bloodied and bruised Visagie leaving the field, before the rugby took centre stage again when Wannenburg galloped over.