THE loss of their fullback, Tim Stimpson, with concussion for a mandatory three weeks, has set England a tricky selection problem for next Saturday's international against Argentina at Twickenham.
When the coach, Jack Rowell, announces the team at Bisham Abbey today, Mike Catt may find himself switched from fly half to his old position of fullback, allowing Alex King to come off the bench and win his first cap in the number 10 shirt.
It was a severe body blow to the Barbarians when Stimpson was stretchered off midway through the first half of an embarrassingly one sided defeat by the Wallabies. The Newcastle man went down in a crumpled heap after making an offensive tackle on David Campese who, later in the game, embellished his last representative appearance in England with a popular try.
The Barbarians' failure to score until the final quarter, by which time Australia had already built up a 39-0 lead, raised serious questions about this traditional end of tour fixture against an invitation side that met only 48 hours before the kick off.
No one could fault the Barbarians. They were courageous and displayed an abundance of enthusiasm, but those qualities were never sufficient to give the pragmatic, pacey Wallabies a run for their money.
Malt Burke, the most impressive Australian player on a tour that has yielded 12 wins from 12 games, underlined his burgeoning talent with a total of 24 points that included two tries, two penalty goals and four conversions. The New South Wales fullback set a cracking pace from the outset, tormenting the over worked Barbarians defence. It was a benchmark performance by a player who seems destined for greatness.
However, it remains to be seen whether Saturday's attendance of 65,000 will be repeated at future Barbarians' meetings with touring sides all too eager to improve their match statistics.
The listless mood that enveloped the Twickenham crowd before half time, as the Wallabies notched up 27 points with crisp authority, persisted until Alan Bateman and Scott Quinnell relieved the gloom a little with a try apiece to give the hosts some credibility.
Just as they had done in their victory over Wales, Australia, completely dominated the line out. Their technical superiority in this crucial area left the All Black, Ian Jones, and the Quinnell brothers in a state of confusion that quickly spread throughout the Barbarians and destroyed their prospects of a comeback.
"We had reasonable hopes of competing but we made elementary mistakes and got punished," admitted Rob Andrew, the Barbarians captain and fly half.
"We have talented players in the northern hemisphere but we're still trying to catch up with the southern hemisphere because we don't have the right sort of pyramid structures needed for development. I think it will be very sad if the Barbarians were lost to top international rugby."
Surprisingly, the Wallabies have come in for strong criticism back home for not reproducing the uninhibited running and high scores of some of their distinguished predecessors. Yet within a month, they achieved four Test wins with something to spare and effectively subdued strong provincial sides such as Munster and Ulster. And all this in the absence of their two world class forwards, Eales and Waugh, due to injury.
Campese remains a committed fan of the Barbarians' ball in hand style of play. "I like Barbarians' rugby and they should stay in the professional era," insisted the man who has been linked with several English Courage League clubs in recent months.
Sadly the Leicester forwards, Back and Garforth, did not have a suitable platform on which to relaunch their international, claims.
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