England battle by Barbarians
Nick Abendanon's hat-trick of tries helped England record a 57-31 victory over a brave Northern Barbarians side in Potchefstroom.
Last Updated: 19/06/12 10:32pm
Nick Abendanon's hat-trick of tries helped England record a 57-31 victory over a brave Northern Barbarians side in Potchefstroom.
Substitute Jonny May also touched down twice after coming on to replace Ugo Monye, who was carried off on a stretcher after lengthy treatment on the field.
Fly-half Charlie Hodgson scored 17 points but England's defensive frailties were again shown up, with their opponents running in four tries themselves.
Indeed, the Barbarians broke the deadlock with a JC Roos penalty after a fight between JW Jonker and Jordan Turner-Hall showed the level of passion on display from both sides.
Replied
England replied almost immediately with a Hodgson penalty but fell behind again when Jonker offloaded to set Joubert Engelbrecht bursting down the left for a fine try that was also converted.
Abendanon steadied the ship with his first of the evening and Turner-Hall then held off a challenge to set up Ben Morgan, one of two players in action who had appeared in the second Test against the Springboks at the weekend.
However England's delight at putting points on the board was quickly tempered when Monye appeared to be unconscious before he hit the ground after attempting to tackle scrum-half Shaun Venter in the 27th minute.
Abendanon first rounded off a slick move under the posts and then pounced on a loose ball after a May kick rebounded off a defender to get his hat-trick, making it 31-10 at the break.
Impressive
Yet the Barbarians came out impressively at the start of the second half, Venter going over twice in quick succession.
With Roos' second conversion cutting the gap to seven points and Jamie Gibson sitting in the sin-bin for a late challenge, England suddenly looked to be wobbling.
May, though, forced his way over in the corner to open up some breathing space again, and his second from close range put paid to the home team's comeback bid.
Anthony Allen went over for another after a good Karl Dickson run and England were awarded a late penalty try after Deon Scholtz scored the Barbarians' fourth with a breakaway effort.