Johnno's England held in first tour match Down Unnder

UNIMPRESSIVE England escaped with a draw from their opening tour match against the Australian Barbarians after staging a late comeback.

By The Newsroom

Published 8th Jun 2010, 16:41 BST

Updated 8th Jun 2010, 16:41 BST

Teenage full-back James O'Connor raced in for a hat-trick of tries and scored all the points as Australia's second string opened a 25-13 lead.

England lost their way after a promising start and had O'Connor not been replaced early - having done everything possible to win the Wallaby full-back jersey for Saturday's Test - then the outcome could have been very different.

Dan Ward-Smith and Matt Banahan followed up Lee Mears' first-half try and 13 points from Olly Barkley edged England back into the lead with six minutes remaining.

Even then, England appeared to do everything possible to throw away the victory and their rugby towards the end drew hoots of derision from the 10,000-strong Perth crowd.

Berrick Barnes drew the scores level with a penalty immediately after Banahan's try and the fly-half could have clinched victory for the Barbarians had his long-range effort with the last kick of the game not dropped wide.

England Australia