Cipriani eager to end his exile from England

Cipriani’s last appearance at Twickenham was with England in the autumn of 2008, after which he was cast into the international wilderness by Martin Johnson.

The Barbarians were overwhelmed by Australia, who ran in eight tries, leaving Cipriani with little chance to shine at fly-half.

But the 24-year-old impressed the Barbarians’ World Cup-winning coach Graham Henry during the week and reiterated his desire to break back into the England fold.

“I loved it, running out at Twickenham, hearing that roar. It is probably the best stadium in the world in terms of rugby and I have massive ambitions to be back here playing,” said Cipriani.

Australia scored 42 second-half points with Digby Ioane, Lachie Turner and James Horwill all touching down twice.

There were tries for Rob Horne and Radike Samo while James O’Connor, Cipriani’s new Melbourne Rebels club-mate, kicked 20 points.

Cipriani himself kicked two first-half penalties for the Barbarians.

The Barbarians’ defence was embarrassing but they did give the 51,212 crowd a late cheer with a late consolation try for England rugby league international Sam Tomkins.

The Wigan full-back had never played a game of rugby union before in his life but acquitted himself well – despite starting the week not understanding any of the positions.

“When I came in on Tuesday I was so raw I didn’t even know what the numbers for each position were,” said Tomkins, whose brother Joel has signed for Saracens.

“The boys were saying ‘we’ll play this off the 12 or the 10’ and I didn’t even know where those blokes were so that was a bit of a challenge.

“There are so many differences between league and union. I understand it a little bit more now.

“Where I am from people don’t know what rugby union is and I am glad I have had the chance to play but I am still a rugby league player.

“The try was a good way to finish it off but we didn’t manage to get much going.”

On the same day his brother joined Saracens, Tomkins announced he had agreed a new deal with Wigan but there is already talk of a cross-code switch in three years.

Graham Henry believes he would be a valuable acquisition.

“There’s no doubt that Sam’s a talented footballer who will be a big success in either rugby code,” said Henry.

“He had never played union before – he didn’t know what a ruck was or what a maul was. He has got good balance, he’s quick and he’s got a good head.”

Tomkins acquitted himself far better than Willie Mason did in similar circumstances against England in May and did not look out of place at Twickenham.

The Wigan full-back started on the wing and could have scored in the first half had Bryan Habana not ruined a scintillating break with a careless forward pass.

For Australia, the match was the perfect warm up for next weekend’s one-off Test against Wales.

South African lock Victor Matfield captained the invitational team in the last game after a stellar 110-cap career.

O’Connor twice kicked the Wallabies into the lead, first with a penalty and then a drop-goal, and he will compete with Cipriani for a start at fly-half for the Melbourne Rebels next season.

O’Connor carried the ball to the line, testing the Barbarians defence, but his inexperience in the role was exposed when Robbie Fruean picked off a telegraphed pass inside his own 22.

Fruean, who starred at Twickenham in the Crusaders’ Super 15 victory over the Sharks earlier this year, streaked clear but failed to find Tomkins on his shoulder.

Fruean delayed his pass to Tomkins for a split-second too long, allowing Adam Ashley-Cooper to get his hand to it. The Wallabies full-back was sin-binned for the deliberate knock-on but the try was saved.

Cipriani landed the penalty, O’Connor slotted his drop-goal and then, a minute after Ashley-Cooper’s return to action, Australia scored their first try.

Stirling Mortlock was guilty of running out of the defensive line, which left a gaping hole in the Barbarians defence for Ioane to beat Cipriani to score.

The Wallabies were reduced to 14 men for a second time when prop James Slipper shoulder-charged Cipriani late, but the Barbarians could not take advantage.O’Connor and Scott Higginbotham butchered golden opportunities with forward passes but the Wallabies secured an 18-3 half-time lead with a try in the corner from Turner.

Ashley-Cooper launched the counter-attack from a stray kick and, after quick hands from O’Connor and David Pocock’s drive, the ball was moved wide for Turner.

In unusual circumstances, O’Connor was denied the chance to convert from the touchline after Peter Stringer raced out to pick up the ball.

Turner’s score was a sign of things to come and it was one-way traffic after the interval as Australia found their accuracy with four tries in 13 minutes.

Replacement James Horwill charged over after Stephen Moore, on the wraparound from a lineout, made the dent before offloading to the Wallabies’ World Cup captain. The Barbarians lost Salvatore Perugini to the sin-bin and Australia piled forward.

Cipriani gathered an overthrown lineout in his own 22 but was guilty of an ill-judged offload, which Horne picked off to score.

Horwill added his second with a powerful run onto Nick Phipps’ short pass, fending off two defenders to touch down before Turner took advantage of another scything break from Ashley-Cooper to score the Wallabies’ sixth try as the scoreline became embarrassing.

Ioane drove through two Barbarians defenders to bring up the half-century of points and Samo’s burst from the back of the scrum completed the rout.

The Barbarians finally scored with the last play of the match when Cipriani showed great hands to pick up a pass off the deck and Tomkins scored one-handed in the corner to illustrate his versatility.

Barbarians: Toeava, Tomkins, Fruean, Mortlock, Habana (Rabeni 41), Cipriani, Stringer (Kenatale 41); Guinazu (Perugini 41), Mealamu (Strauss 41), Marconnet, Shaw (Bortolami 41), Matfield, Kaino (White 41), Bergamasco, Thomson. Unused replacement: Kahui.

Australia: Ashley-Cooper, Turner, Horne, Barnes (Tapuai 37), Ioane, O’Connor, Genia (Phipps 53); Slipper, Polota-Nau (Moore 50), Ma’afu (Alexander 50), Simmons, Sharpe (Horwill 50), Higginbotham, Pocock (Hodgson 51), Dennis (Samo 50).

Referee: R Poite (France).