Greg Growden
Wallabies' tour opener will be compelling
Greg Growden
October 30, 2014
Greg Growden says the Wallabies should expect to win at least four matches

Baa-Baas-All Blacks, Cardiff, January 1973: it remains the high point in Barbarians Rugby history.

As Cliff Morgan called it on BBC TV: "Kirkpatrick to Williams. This is great stuff. Phil Bennett covering. Chased by Alistair Scown. Brilliant! Oh, that's brilliant! John Williams, Bryan Williams. Pullin. John Dawes, great dummy. To David, Tom David, the half-way line! Brilliant by Quinnell! This is Gareth Edwards! A dramatic start! What a score! Oh, that miraculous fellow Edwards!" And so rugby's most celebrated try was scored by the Welsh wizard Gareth Edwards. A moment later, Morgan added: "If the greatest writer of the written word would have written that story, no one would have believed it. That really was something."

Due to such moments, a visiting southern hemisphere team's final tour match, against the Barbarians, was for years regarded as a highlight of the United Kingdom rugby calendar. It was due to the fact that Baa-Baas players were handed the freedom to do virtually anything they wanted, and the tourists invariably responded by opting for all-out attack; the focus of the game revolved around showing everything that was good about rugby.

Australia's David Campese acknowledges the crowd after his final international appearance, Wales v Australia, Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff, Wales, December 1, 1996
David Campese's Wallabies career ended fittingly against the Barbarians © Getty Images
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The Wallabies have been involved in a few tremendous Barbarians occasions, providing their own gems, particularly when David Campese was around and wanting to prove that he was actually Fred Astaire in a pair of footy boots. Such as in 1988, again at Cardiff Arms Park, when Campese scored the most astonishing of tries, which saw the crowd stand as one to show its approval. It was an effort that combined all his finest attributes: the zig-zagging speed, the unpredictability, the proof that his brain sometimes did not know what his legs were doing, the deft change of pace, the uncertainty of what would happen next, the juggling of leather from arm to arm, and the jumbling of all the opponents' minds as they tried to work out what he was going to do next. Gavin Hastings, Jonathan Davies and countless other Baa-Baas players stood up by Campese during that solo effort were completely dumbfounded.

After the try, Campese returned to centre-field to see the rest of the Australian team, led by centre Michael Cook, who had thrown the last pass, standing to attention and showing their approval by clapping him back to his wing spot. High above in the terraces, the fans left their seats to make the Campese tribute echo to almost thunderous proportions. A somewhat bemused Campese looked up and decided to clap them back in appreciation of their fine gesture. Later that night, four spectators were sighted in the middle of Cardiff Arms Park with a sign that proclaimed 'Dave Campese Walks on Water.'

Barbarians matches nowadays are vastly different. The fun and frolic is missing, as will be shown this weekend when the Wallabies, rather than ending their tour with a Baa-Baas match, instead kick-off their end-of-season European trip against the invitational side.

This is an odd scheduling change, not making much sense, but it is nothing unexpected as it involves those kooky Australian Rugby Union decision makers who are the big kahunas of bungling the big moment.

The touring team no longer treat these matches as a bit of a laugh, even if the Barbarians still opt against training for the game, and instead often head off down to Soho in London for a few pints the night before. Indeed, several matches recently have turned nasty, such as when the Wallabies headed to Wembley in 2008 and the Baa-Baas game degenerated into a scrap due to several cheap shots. Matt Dunning snapped an Achilles tendon and Sekope Kepu tore a pectoral muscle in what was supposed to be a 100-year celebration of Australia's rugby gold medal at the 1908 London Olympics.

Ruck'n Maul: Cheika will force changes
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The match lowlight came when the Barbarians' Italian prop Federico Pucciariello took exception to Quade Cooper's scrambling tackle on Fourie du Preez. Pucciariello decided to pound Cooper over the sideline. After smashing through an advertising hoarding, with the ever-punchy Wallabies half-back Brett Sheehan eager to get involved in a "don't argue" argument, Pucciariello and Cooper continued scrapping with each other until team-mates finally restored peace. So much for the traditional Barbarians bonhomie; it had instead been taken over by the brutes.

We might see a similar edge at Twickenham on Saturday. The Barbarians have named 10 starting New Zealanders who want to show All Blacks selectors that they have wrongly been neglected. They will be bricks with eyes. The Wallabies, meanwhile, will want to prove to their new coach, Michael Cheika, who is only a few days into the job, that they are willing to commit to his "treat 'em mean, keep em' keen" mantra.

But the Wallabies' tour opener will still be compelling. That is simply because of the Cheika factor, with Wallabies followers observing every moment in the hope of seeing early signs that he is the man to at last get Australian rugby out of the mire.

I just don't think we will see a repeat of Kirkpatrick to Williams …

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