Barbarians take late win as they beat Wales in Cardiff

FIRST :D

Great game, gotta love the BaaBaas and the style of play they encourage!

Good 'ol (mostly French) Baa Baas!!!! The score line should have read 7 less for Wales' forward pass try but there you go! Not a bad game. Lots of good players from both sides. Except Wales' scrum - crap as usual and Gavin Henson - should stay on light time tv instead of rugby!!! One good pass and nothing else!

Wales really did chuck it away, same old same old.

Brilliant passes by Mason to set up the tries. No idea how he got the pass out to set up Necewa.

Necewa's try as well. 5 players beaten. Well, 4 but 1 beaten twice. NZ should really consider him if they can. Great catch by Leinster.

Dave_7 you are a faggot.

Andy M, those tries happen all the time. I was supporting the Barbarians but it didn't annoy me. I get annoyed at decisions such the terrible decision which lost Ireland that game vs. Wales this year. Forward passes aren't too bad though.

I'm guessing it was mostly Wales fans because the ending was fucking incredible, a perfect finish to a Baa Baas game, yet it was so quiet at the end.

Mason and Nacewa are fantastic. The last try was brilliant.

Necewa's try as well. 5 players beaten. Well, 4 but 1 beaten twice. NZ should really consider him if they can. Great catch by Leinster.

--> Nacewa has already play for Fidji, he can't play for NZ.

But what he has done since 3 years in Leinster is phenomenal ! A class player.

haha now i understand what darcy meant when he said he's so good he can be boring to train with. crazy try there

Mason did some good offloads, but I expected that from him. Will be interesting to see him regularly playing.
Nacewa was a good attacking threat. Wales seemed a bit spread in defense.

Any chance of a video of Phillips shitting his pants when he realized he was mouthing off to Erik Lund? Pussy.

Naceva is awful

How shit is henson too...Wales are shagged for the WC...Poor poor team...poor poor tries

Who is that Welsh #8 with the afro? I thought Colin Charvis retired!

^^^^
Beat me to it Shirley lol

masson looks like sonny bill reincarnated. for those who dont know . nacewa has one cap for fiji as a replacement in the 2003 world cup. he says he wants to play for new zealand and hes tried to get it cancelled loads of times but they wont do it. he was always good at the auckland blues and leinster but its only really this season for leinster that hes become world class. he'll prbably end up playing for fiji in the world cup mthis year even though he said he wouldnt.he was born and raised in nz but his parents are from fiji

doubt Mason will make the same impact as SBW since he's more of a basher in the middle with his size than a prolific off-loader.

however, good luck to him in Toulon

I just do not understand how Wales' lineout is so appalling (OK I guess Bennet explains it). Charteris is 6'10 yet does SFA around the park and can't seem to catch any throws, most of the time it ended up going to Toby at the back.

great game, loving the respect nacewa has earned at leinster. i have to say though, i muted the tv after a while. jonathan edwards thinking the only input needed to commentary is to yell 'try time' whenever someone breaks the line.

Awesome game from tillous-borde.
Good skills from mason, he takes three then two defenders by his own. Each of these actions led to tries.

to defend us (wales), we didnt have our full team out. but i do agree we are fucked for the world cup.
phillips and henson shouldnt have got on the pitch, cant believe gatland has put them in the world cup squad after their performances.
the baa baa's did play well and deserved the win though

Cant wait to see faletau behind the real welsh scrum come the world cup, what a talent

"Except Wales' scrum - crap as usual"
Are you an idiot?
Two new caps in the front row for no real reason, and third choice/new cap hooker...

Thanks for the highlights. Pleasure to watch some more running rugby, esp. Nacewa.

Wales need to sort out their defence for the WC, and need to jettison Huw Bennett once and for all, the highlights don't show him screwing up the lineout again and again.

They have to play against the Springboks at the World Cup! hahahahahaha!

Nacewa is good but he would never make the All Blacks over Muliaina and Dagg (obviously the ineligibility aside)

I doubt they'd ever pick him because he plays abroad but he is better than Dagg and Muliaina. Again, eligibility issue aside.

Comment 8: Thbt. You're a faggot if you think you spell Fiji 'Fidji'.
Get out of my sight!

This barbarians team is world class and So many great players don't have the chance to play for their country so... Let's have a barbarian team in the world cup! ;)
With all the respect I have for some little rugby country, it would definitely be much more entertaining to watch..

@Andy M, "mostly French"??? Are you talking about the clubs they represent? Because as far as nationality goes there were only 3 french players on the 22 man squad.

Isa Nacewa must be the world's top fullback right now. He's superb both in defence and in attack and is just so damn effective. Boy, I love the Barbarians

And remember the name "George North" lads, it's coming big!

Where the hell was Visser???

@ShirleyBassey the guy at # 8 his Samoan first pacific islander in for Wales team. Needs more game time though but overall be doing damage for Wales at # 8! Questions on Isa Nacewa played 8 mins of his life international level 2003 world cup for Fiji. Went back to the blues to have a crack on the all blacks got turned down. But for now his a very mature # 15 and team Fiji is trying its best to have him back for Fiji @ # 15 . But the questions about becoming all blacks for the world cup wont happen even though he would love to do that but wont happen, his going to be # 15 for the flying Fijians

Wales No. 8 is Toby Faletau, son of a Tongan but grown up in Wales.

Interesting to see actually, with Faletau for Wales, and Manu Tuilagi, Mako Vunipola and Billy Vunipola for England, there might be a few home grown Islanders in a possible 2017 Lions team...

I thought wales could defend?

Nacewa is a very good player but he's never been tested against the best teams in the best comps.
No one knows how he'd go for Nz, it's the next step up and better players have failed at that level.
Besides, Muliani and Dagg are easily as good, almost certainly better.

He has been just short of perfect against all the best teams in Europe. Unlike Chris Ashton, he can perform against both good and poor opponents and he deserves the hype. I remember one mistake (knock on vs. Northampton) in his last 10 matches or so but many many brilliant moments.

masson looks like sonny bill reincarnated.

//////

Mason is nothing like SBW. Mason is a washed-up has been who's been nothing special in League for 5 years. SBW was one of the greatest League forwards of all time and was awesome on debut all the way up to his last game.

In 2010 nobody in the NRL wanted Mason except for the awful Cowboys, and they payed him little and only took him on a 1 year contract. In 2011 no NRL teams wanted him and he left to the SL - generally regarded as a 3rd rate retirement home for over the hill NRL players - to play for Hull (who are crap).

The only symmetry is both SBW and Mason have played League. It's an insult to Sonny to compare him to Mason. It would be an insult to any average League forward to compare him to current Willie.

There's so many forwards in League who are faster, stronger, more competent, better at bending the line and definitely better at offloading. Generally better forwards who are better ball players.

If Willie Mason is successful there's going to be a bloody exodus of average League forwards trying to get signed by Union clubs. Every NRL team has ATLEAST 3 players who can do what Willie does.

If I was looking for another SBW type player I'd be looking at your players like Ben Matulino, Dave Taylor, Kevin Proctor, Ben Creagh etc There's a ton of young ball playing second rowers in the NRL who'd make good centers in Rugby.

It's confusing that Willie Mason managed to get himself a Toulon contract, considering he's rubbish and only going to get worse. Very short sighted of Toulon. Makes you wonder if they have any sanity.

And if Mason is successful it's going to be a very sad predicament where Rugby League forwards - over the hill at that - are more skillful and better ball players than Rugby centers!

You'd have to think there's a culture or coaching problem if the above turns out to be the case.

Wow chip on your shoulder much?

There's no chip on my shoulder. Willie Mason is crap and he'd be out played on a League field or Rugby field by 50% of NRL forwards. That's being fair to the bloke.

What part of my post are you taking issue with? Everything I've stated is accurate and fair. Mason is horrendously over the hill, and if he finds success at Toulon it will be a very poor reflection on the state of the game; There are plenty of ball playing second rowers in the NRL who'd be a much better investment for a Rugby team; Mason is, wasn't and never will be half the player SBW is; Nobody in the NRL wanted Mason.

These are all objective facts. It's paramount to Simon Shaw going to the NRL and actually being a good player. It shouldn't happen and if it does it would highlight a blatant grass roots problem area.

But well done on highlighting the increasing stupidity of members on this website. Nothing in the way of a counter-argument, just a cheap jibe.

Stupidity? mate your the one being hostile, washed up or not, he had a few nice touches when he came on. chill!

Mason in Crap makes some excellent points, pretty much everything he says is 100% accurate.
Willie Mason was considered a very good player about 5 years ago. His descent into mediocrity since then has been alarming and undebatable.
He literally was rejected by virtually every NRL club.
There are numerous ball playing backrowers in league who are better than Willie Mason in almost every way.
Paul Gallen, Ben Creagh, Sam Thaiday, Ben Matulino, Jeremy Smith, Frank Pritchard, Dave Taylor, Bronson Harrison, Simon Mannering, Anthony Watmough, Beau Scott, Greg Bird, Luke Lewis, Ashley Harrison, Nate Myles, Corey Parker, Greg Inglis.

All those players are far, far better than Mason and would excell at union much more than he ever will.

Yeah Mason is a washed up league player. But he's trying his hand at union now so good luck to him.

It raises the question, why don't French rugby clubs raid the NRL?
If they are willing to pay 600,000 euro for Mason (a 31 who is way past his best), they could get much, much, much better, younger players for that money (or even less than that).
All those players I listed are much better than Mason and none of them are on 600,000 euro (most would be on no more than 350,000 Aussie dollars - About 250,000 euro or so).
There's plenty of guys who could tear it up the way SBW does, and at least half of them would be open to the offer.
Is it because French rugby scouts just aren't aware of the talent on offer? Cuz there's much better options than Willie Mason. And alot of them too.

For league converts Mason isn't so bad, Farrell went to Saracens and was basically paid by the RFU even though his knees were shot and he was too old (and they knew this) but still paid him a massive wage.

Ignoring Mason's history, he looked good for the Baa Baa's, even better if you consider he's only just converted. If he keeps that up there's still a good few years in him yet. Maybe the new challenge will help him get his stuff together.

The player of the day for me was the Baa Baa's second row. Great around the field, stacks of pace and strong as hell.

600 000 for Mason ? LOL !

His salary is < 180 000 a year.

Which is just an average wage in Top 14.

Mason did one beautifull offload here. The rest he did was not that good but it worked out ok...

But what do you expect from a guy with no union experience?!

4LC4TR4Z, fair enough, that makes a little more sense.

But the point stands. Look at Sonny Bill Williams.
If he can suceed so spectacularly, there are dozens of other players in league who can do exactly the same thing.