Barbarians’ late brio shows Michael Cheika scale of Australia job

New roads have been paved with more green than gold for Australia since they last reached the World Cup final 11 years ago and just as their latest new head coach, Michael Cheika, had started to sit comfortably, he watched his charges unravel against a club side that had started to feel the effects of a hard week.

In the context of the next 11 months – Australia face England here in the group stage of the World Cup on 3 October – an 11-try romp was not overloaded with significance. Cheika rested most of his frontline players ahead of the four-Test programme that begins against Wales in Cardiff on Saturday and the Wallabies entered into the spirit of what has become the professional game’s occasional homage to an old ideal – kicking penalties into touch rather than at goal and running from deep – but some old faultlines remained exposed, not least the scrum.

Australia were leading 40-22 with five minutes to go but managed to find difficulty where none should have existed and finished in a state of rising desperation. When the Barbarians flanker Matt Todd found himself in space 40 metres out after the countdown clock had reached zero, one pass was all that was needed to make the lead change hands for the sixth time, but he was all alone after being tackled by Matt Hodgson.

Cheika took more out of victory than he expected to. “We looked good in patches and at other times guys looked a bit uncertain,” said the coach, who was appointed three days before Australia left for Europe after the abrupt resignation of his predecessor, Ewen McKenzie. “We have put new systems in for both attack and defence and this outing will do the players good. The win helps and we will be more aggressive against Wales. I have told the guys to get on the ride and enjoy it.”

The crowd enjoyed a match involving the Barbarians that for once bowed to tradition. Australia have a reputation for being maverick when Quade Cooper is in harness, but the Barbarians revelled in the unorthodox from the moment a couple of minutes in when the No8 Steven Luatua adopted the style of an American football quarterback at a ruck and hurled the ball 50 metres along the pitch only for the Australian Nick Cummins to drop it.

Although the Wallabies fielded only five of the side that had started the one‑point defeat to New Zealand two weeks before and were playing for the first time since the appointment of Cheikaas head coach, the Barbarians reckoned that a relatively conventional approach would expose their lack of familiarity and organisation and they alarmed their opponents with moments of daring that were underpinned by skill.

Colin Slade and Francis Saili transported the Barbarians back to the amateur era with flicks and tricks that have developed a scarcity value and they should have taken the lead in the 10th minute after a moment of particular audacity: Tomás Cubelli took a quick penalty five metres from the Australia line standingwith his back to the defenders and chipped the ball over his head but it fell to a prop, Angus Ta’avao, to catch and score, but he blew the chance.

Saili played for New Zealand in last year’s Rugby Championship but the All Blacks’ pre-eminence has left him stuck in the international wilderness, a player other countries spend their hands clasped in supplication for most of the year. The full-back Tim Nanai-Williams, a cousin of the All Black World Cup-winning centre Sonny Bill, has yet to win a cap, but were he any nationality other than a Kiwi, his awareness, handling and intuition would have earned him a hat-rack full.

The Wallabies hardly lacked inspiration. The outside-centre Tevita Kuridrani capped an impressive afternoon with a try, Israel Folau broke the line at will and Hodgson and Sean McMahon showed that whatever problems Australian rugby has up front, they do not extend to the back row. Cooper and Will Genia were reunited at half-back at the end of a year when they have not played much and while they flickered, their replacements Nic White and Bernard Foley brought light when they came on.

Australia led 14-12 at half-time but were behind on 52 minutes when Slade kicked a long-range penalty to give a frolic a pinch of gravity. McMahon’s try on 67 minutes looked to have ended the see-saw ride, only for Cummins, ineligible for his homeland because he plays in Japan, to lead a late revival.

“It was a game that went back and forth, up and down, bloody everywhere,” the Australian Barbarian said later. A bit like the Wallabies before Cheika.