Drew Mitchell scored two tries on his international return from an ankle injury to lead Australian Barbarians to an easy 38-14 victory over Canada.
The lethal finisher, who was playing his third match since suffering that horrific Super Rugby injury, was one of four on the comeback trail.
Berrick Barnes, Rob Horne, James Slipper and Tatafu Polota-Nau all came through unscathed in a selection that saw veteran Nathan Sharpe lead.
Centre Ben Tapuai, who was not selected for the World Cup, had a hand in the first three Barbarian tries and scored one of his own late in the day.
Horne, who also scored a try, was later named as a reserve for the Wallabies in Saturday's match after he was rested for the second half.
Canada will play in Pool A with France, Japan, New Zealand and Tonga at the World Cup.
The scorers:
For Australian Barbarians:
Tries: Horne, Barnes, Mitchell 2, Hodgson, Tapuai
Con: Barnes 4
For Canada:
Tries: Van der Merwe, McKenzie
Con: Pritchard 2
Australian Barbarians: 15 Lachie Turner, 14 Rod Davies, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Berrick Barnes, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Pat McCutcheon, 7 Matt Hodgson, 6 Dave Dennis, 5 Nathan Sharpe (capt), 4 Sitaleki Timani, 3 James Slipper, 2 Tatafu Polota Nau, 1 Ben Daley.
Replacements: 16 James Hanson, 17 Pek Cowan, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 Beau Robinson, 20 Ben Tapuai, 21 Luke Morahan, 22 Mark Gerrard.
Canada: 15 James Pritchard, 14 Ciaran Hearn, 13 DTH van der Merwe, 12 Ryan Smith, 11 Phil Mackenzie, 10 Ander Monro, 9 Ed Fairhurst, 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Chauncey O'Toole, 6 Adam Kleeberger, 5 Jamie Cudmore, 4 Jebb Sinclair, 3 Jason Marshall, 2 Pat Riordan (c), 1 Hubert Buydens.
Replacements: 16 Ryan Hamilton, 17 Scott Franklin, 18 Tyler Hotson, 19 Nanyak Dala, 20 Sean White, 21Conor Trainor, 22 Nathan Hirayama.
Comments
excitationz says...
I thought Canada played fine, defense has improved dramatically over the past four years, conditioning as well.
Was lucky to have this type of test leading into the world cup, it can only make Canada more confident...
thx Barbarians!
Posted 22:55 27th August 2011
rohan1992 says...
heaps of people said 60+ canada played well
Posted 03:12 27th August 2011
eejbm says...
not a bad match, it was good to see it streamed lived and free and commentator-free
now on to tonight.
Go Wallabies!
Posted 23:32 26th August 2011
jonesy2 says...
well one could say that this is not good enough but one also has to look at the fact that most the team wouldve just wanted to get through unscathed. successful, well done and good to get some run and form for those lads.
Posted 20:06 26th August 2011
SACanuck says...
Great to see that Canada got 2 tries. Now for the AB's !!!
Posted 20:04 26th August 2011
BDAUSSIE says...
Great game from Mitchell, Tapui and and Barnes. Mitchell looks like he's not far off top form which is great to see.
TPN and Slipper were powerful at scrum time. just need to get match fit now. good hit out for all involved.
Posted 15:37 26th August 2011