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The history of Barbarians versus Fiji
John GriffithsNovember 26, 2013
How many previous matches have there been between the Barbarians and Fiji? Andrew Jones, England
The sides meet at Twickenham on November 30 in a match that marks 100 years of rugby in Fiji.
The only previous encounter was in October 1970 when Fiji made their first tour of England. The game was staged at Gosforth and the visitors ran riot in the second half. Their forwards ran and handled like basketball players to overwhelm a Baa-Baa XV that included nine players who were to tour New Zealand with the Lions seven months later.
The scores were level (3-3) at the break but the free-running islanders crossed for six tries in the second half to win 29-9. Isimeli Batibasaga, the Fijian scrum-half, was prominent in many of the dazzling moves that led to tries and contributed 11 points with four conversions and a try. Another to impress in the open play was the hooker Atonio Racika, one critic suggesting that he could have been an international-class centre.
The Barbarians points were scored by J P R Williams (penalty goal) and John Spencer and David Duckham (tries).
John Griffiths is a widely respected rugby historian and is the author of several sports books, a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and co-author of the IRB International Rugby Yearbook. He has provided insight for Scrum.com since 1999.
