International / Geoffrey Riddle / 28 May 2009 / Leave a comment

If the Lions need any tips on how to gel as a team, they could do worse than to buy in to the Barbarians' ethos, a squad that gets together every year, under different management, and who can boast a recent victory over the world champion Springboks, writes Geoffrey Riddle.

The Baa-baas regularly blend a star-studded group of players, and their comprehensive 22-5 win over South Africa in December 2007 at Twickenham shows that anything is possible.

The famous club side look set once again to field a magnificent line-up when they take on England at Twickenham this Saturday. Coach Dai Young has named a powerful pack, led by the admirable Martin Corry, but it is the back-row that makes you sit up and take notice. Serge Betsen may be slightly past his rampaging best, but the combination of the Frenchman, Jerry Collins, and Rocky Elsom is almost flawless.

Elsom is the man of the match in just about every game he plays in, and his towering performances in the Heineken Cup knock-out stages must put in the shade anything that his opposite number Nick Easter can ever dream of.

If Easter faces a tall order to compete with Elsom, the contest between Lewis Moody and Betsen, as well as the battle of the blindsides between Collins and Chris Robshaw look less cut and dried. 'Crazy Horse' Moody is relatively fresh having suffered 15 months on the sidelines through injury, and he will be all out in his efforts to vanquish his old rival Betsen. Collins certainly has the bulk advantage over Robshaw, but the Harlequins man has been in splendid form this season, and the battle for supremacy at the breakdown probably holds the key to this encounter.

A lot of money has been made over the past few years going short in the total points market in Barbarians games. Too often it is the cavalier reputation of the Baa-baas that gets punters excited, but if you look at the facts, against full international sides, the total points make-ups are generally low.

Although it was a bitterly cold night, the match against Australia at Wembley in December finished 18-11 in favour of the Wallabies. Last year, the Baa-baas lost to England 17-14 at Twickenham, after an under-strength side got beaten 39-14 by Ireland at the backwater of Kingsholm. Before that, it was the defensive victory over the Springboks at Twickenham.
And Martin Johnson has even gone as far to say that winning on Saturday is more important to him than playing 15-man rugby against the legendary black and white strip.

He said on Wednesday: "People want to see intense, high-quality rugby. They find that entertaining.

"If we start throwing the ball around and go backwards 50 yards, then I don't think people will find it entertaining.

"We want to win every match. Yes we want to entertain, but not necessarily in the way many people think of as entertainment."

Johnson has done his homework, too. He has seen that the Barbarians have slightly changed their attitude over recent seasons. The Corinthian spirit has been eroded by the more pragmatic will to win at all costs. In the previous match against England, he was convinced they were dead set on victory, rather than the poetry of entertaining the Twickers crowd.

"I watched the Barbarians against England last year and they didn't chuck it all over the place.
"They were very physical and hard over the ball, making it difficult for England to play.

"If we win quick ball then we have an opportunity to play, if we don't it will be hard to break them down."

The back-row battle, therefore, will be where the game is won and lost. But as we saw before last week's Heineken Cup, the path to profit is not always about who wins the game, it is about finding an angle. Going low in the total points market once again, may well be the answer.

So while the Lions can learn from the Barbarians about how to gel teams together in a short space of time, it seems the Barbarians executive have been taking notes of their own. It's all very well playing champagne rugby, but no-one gives you a bottle of bubbly to spray around if you've just lost the match.