It wasn’t exactly a stellar performance by the Aussies but they ground out a scrappy 31-28 win in the end over the Barbarians in Sydney.
Many thought Michael Cheika’s side would coast to victory but the Baa-Baas went in at half-time 21-12 after touching down three times. Cheika then proceeded to give them a justified kick up the hole at half time and all of a sudden the Wallabies began clawing back the deficit.
However, a bit of Quade Cooper magic put the Barbarians back in front before he did what he does best and fu*ked it all up.
With 10 minutes to go the mercurial Coops was sent to the bin for a high tackle on Israel Folau, and three minutes later Stephen Moore scurried his way over the line off the back of a rolling maul to give Australia a narrow win.
Anyway, apart from all that, the most entertaining bit of the game was when Taniela Tupou was denied a try for hiding the ball under his jersey, while all of his teammates pretended they were hiding it too.
.@Barbarian_FC pulled out just about every trick in the book against the @qantaswallabies. Full highlights: https://t.co/iUmgYHQ0Ff #BARvAUS pic.twitter.com/Qughhybi4d
— RUGBYcomau (@rugbycomau) October 28, 2017
Sadly, the auld ‘up the jumper’ ruse is illegal and the ref spoiled everything by ruling it ‘unsportsmanlike behaviour’. Way to go ref.
Try PaddyPower.com for the latest rugby union odds