A sparkling performance has seen the Qantas Wallabies rack up a commanding 55-7, eight try to one, victory against the Barbarians in Sydney tonight - the heaviest defeat ever suffered by the Baa Baas against southern hemisphere opposition.
The weather played its part turning on a beautiful night at the Sydney Football Stadium for the opening Bundaberg Rum Rugby Series match of the year between the Qantas Wallabies and the Barbarians, played for the Nick Shehadie Cup.
The Barbarians started well, a penalty putting them deep into Wallabies territory and it was almost a dream international Rugby debut for Sonny Bill Williams as he charged through a tackle of Wallabies captain Stirling Mortlock with his first touch of the ball and was stopped just inches from the line by a superb tackle from Luke Burgess.
Mortlock however got his revenge just minutes later hitting Williams in a huge tackle that brought cheers from the packed SFS crowd and a rye smile from Williams.
It was the Wallabies turn to attack soon after when a clever kick ahead from Burgess saw the Wallabies turn over possession just metres from the Baa Baa’s line.
A few phases later lock James Horwill ran a sharp angle to cut through the Barbarians defence and crash over for his 5th try for the Wallabies. Matt Giteau missed the conversion to have the Wallabies up 5-0 after six minutes.
An offside penalty on 12 minutes gave the Wallabies another scoring opportunity, and Mortlock showed how serious the Men of Gold were taking the Barbarians threat by pointing to the posts.
Giteau was successful with the penalty from 30 metres out to the left of the posts and the Wallabies were up 8-0.
Mortlock put in a powerful run soon after and it looked like the Wallabies were in again but a crunching tackle from All Blacks legend Jerry Collins dispossessed the Men of Gold’s skipper.
But just a minute later the Wallabies were in after a superb scything run from winger, and Man of the Match candidate, Drew Mitchell.
He picked up a loose ball in the Barbarians 22 and went through the tackles of centre Seilala Mapusua, prop B J Botha and Williams to score wide out – just managing to ground the ball over the line despite the attention of Barbarians scrumhalf Chris Whitaker.
Giteau again missed the conversion but after 16 minutes the Wallabies were in control at 13-0.
The gap was almost bigger just four minutes later when breaks from inside centre Berrick Barnes and Burgess saw winger Lachie Turner sprint away before being tackled into touch just a metre from the line.
It was a momentary reprieve for the Baa Baas, with Giteau selling two dummies to a perplexed Barbarians backline soon after, before strolling over untouched next to the posts. Giteau converted his own try and after 23 minutes the Men of Gold were out to a 20-0 lead.
The Barbarians looked to strike back shortly after with Mapusua finding a gap before Whitaker sent a long pass to Baa Baas winger Iain Balshaw, whose neat grubber was just gathered in time by Burgess.
Play swept from end to end as both teams lived up to the Barbarians tradition of spinning the ball wide.
Mortlock and Turner both failed to ground loose balls in the 26th minute that would have put the Wallabies further ahead – and Balshaw in replied tried to launch a counter-attack from his own in-goal.
Strong defence and speedy attack had the Wallabies well in control – and the Baa Baas were further disrupted on 31 minutes with Mapusua limped off to be replaced by Saracens flyhalf Glen Jackson, with All Blacks flyhalf Luke McAlister moving to inside centre.
Most pleasing for Men of Gold fans was the fact that the Wallabies were clearly picking up where they left off at the end of 2008 – playing like a side that had been together for six months, not six days. The team clearly knows what is expected under Robbie Deans and were straight back into the groove.
But the Barbarians struck back just before half time with McAlister making a break on his own 22 before Whitaker popped up twice to put Balshaw away on a sprint down the left touchline. McAlister converted wide out to give the Baa Baas something to smile about at 20-7.
One black spot for the Men of Gold in the first half was an injury to debutant flanker Matt Hodgson who went off with a shoulder injury on the stroke of half time to be replaced by Dean Mumm.
The second half started with more Wallabies changes with No.8 Richard Brown and hooker Stephen Moore coming together in a nasty clash of heads, which saw both going to the blood bin for stitches and being replaced by David Pocock and Tatafu Polota-Nau respectively.
More worryingly Burgess went off with a hip-pointer injury after a heavy clash with Collins, with Josh Valentine coming on for his first taste of international Rugby since 2006.
The Barbarians also made a change with Whitaker coming off to rousing applause to be replaced by the second most capped All Black in history, Justin Marshall. Cardiff Blues fullback Ben Blair also coming on at fullback for Geordan Murphy.
The Barbarians launched a superb long range attack shortly after with Williams putting Blair away on a long break and then backing up to almost complete the move but some quick work from Mitchell saw the ball turned over deep into Wallabies’ territory.
Seconds later the Wallabies were on the attack and George Smith popped the ball back into Valentine who then fed the ball inside to big Brumbies hooker Moore to charge away on a twenty metre burst to the line .
Giteau again converted and the Wallabies were well clear at 27-7 up with just over twenty minutes to play.
The Barbarians then launched another attack with replacement hooker Schalk Brits (on for Sebastien Bruno) making a break before feeding inside to another replacement, prop Greg Somerville (on for Clarke Dermody).
Williams, who was having an impressive international debut, was then upended in a huge tackle by Turner, who was having a great game for the Men of Gold.
Deans then went to the bench bringing Ben Alexander on for Al Baxter and 18-year-old James O’Connor on for another Man of the Match candidate, the popular Adam Ashley-Cooper.
Barbarian’s captain, and Wallabies squad member, Phil Waugh then received a huge ovation as he went off after a tireless performance to be replaced by French legend, Serge Betsen. Lock Chris Jack was also replaced by the Baa Baas with Martin Corry coming on for his last game.
Ben Alexander showed the backs how it was done on 65 minutes running a superb angle from a Barnes pass to dive over under the posts for his first try for the Wallabies. The try coming after a strong burst up the middle from Mortlock.
Another conversion to Giteau and the Wallabies were up 34-7.
Polota-Nau, now on as full replacement for Moore, set up the next Wallabies try with a powerful burst. The ball came to O’Connor then to Giteau who put through a neat grubber for Mitchell to follow up and score his second try for the night.
Giteau again converted wide out and the Wallabies were out to a commanding 41-7 with just under ten minute remaining.
Pocock edged the Wallabies towards the half century, barging over for a try from close range with four minutes to go. Mortlock converted and the Wallabies were up 48-7.
Then Polota-Nau and Horwill combined to put O'Connor away on a thirty metre sprint, outpacing the cover to score his first try for the Wallabies. Mortlock converted and the Wallabies had laid down a marker for season 2009 with a 55-7 hammering of the Barbarians - one of the biggest losses ever in Barbarians history.
Full time score
Qantas Wallabies 55 (James Horwill, Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell 2, Stephen Moore, Ben Alexander, David Pocock, James O'Connor tries; Giteau penalty, 4 conversions; Stirling Mortlock 2 conversions) defeated Barbarians 7 (Iain Balshaw try; Luke McAlister conversion) at the Sydney Football Stadium. Crowd: 39, 688. (Half time: Wallabies 20-7).
