Australia crush Barbarians in record rout

Australia warmed-up for their Test away to Wales next weekend by running in eight tries as they overwhelmed the star-studded Barbarians by a record 60-11 win at Twickenham on Saturday. Both Australia wings, Lachie Turner and Digby Ioane, and replacement forward James Horwill, Australia's regular captain, scored two tries each. The Barbarians managed a try in stoppage time from Wigan rugby league wing Sam Tomkins, playing his first union match, following two penalties from England discard Danny Cipriani. Australia's win surpassed their previous best against the Barbarians of 55-7 in Sydney two years ago. The invitational Barbarians' performance, coming after wins over New Zealand in 2009 and then world champions South Africa last year, is sure to raise fresh doubts about this fixture. Australia's James O'Connor, selected for the first time at fly-half at international level by coach Robbie Deans, landed eight out of nine goalkicks on his way to a match haul of 20 points. An incident-packed and error-strewn first half saw Australia turn round 18-3 in front after they scored two tries, butchered three possible others and had both Adam Ashley-Cooper and James Slipper sent to the sin-bin. In a match where teams are traditionally expected to run the ball, O'Connor was booed by spectators for kicking a first minute penalty. Both sides made numerous passing and handling errors with Turner making a mess of a huge overlap in the 10th minute when he failed to find Ben Horne, in space and with a clear path to the line. Four minutes later the Barbarians were level and Australia a man down after full-back Ashley-Cooper was sin-binned by French referee Romain Poite for a deliberate knock-on. Uncapped New Zealand centre Robbie Fruen intercepted O'Connor's pass and sprinted 50 metres downfield. But his intended pass to Tomkins was knocked on by Ashley-Cooper. Cipriani, who plays his club rugby in Australia for the Melbourne Rebels, kicked the ensuing penalty to make it 3-3. There was a huge cheer when Barbarians centre and former Australia captain Stirling Mortlock,hit Wallaby match skipper David Pocock with a huge tackle. But it was Australia who scored next when O'Connor's mis-hit drop-goal from 25 metres somehow went over the bar. And two minutes later Australia had their first try. Clever play from O'Connor saw him delay a pass to Ioane, running from deep and the wing brushed aside poor attempted tackles from Fruen and Cipriani before scoring a 25th minute try which O'Connor converted. Prop forward Slipper was then sent to the sin-bin in the 29th minute for a late tackle on Cipriani. O'Connor and Scott Higginbotham both burst clear only to deliver wretched passes. But on the stroke of half-time, Australia worked an overlap that saw O'Connor send in Turner for a try in the corner after the pair evaded the attention of two fowards in South Africa great and Barbarians captain Victor Matfield and New Zealand World Cup winner Jerome Kaino. The half ended in bizarre fashion when O'Connor, after Poite signalled for him to kick, took too long with his trademark deliberate run-up and saw charging Ireland scrum-half Peter Stringer steal the ball off the kicking tee. Barbarians coach Graham Henry emptied his star-studded bench at the break and Cipriani then reduced Australia's lead with a penalty he kicked despite slipping as he struck the ball. It was Horwill who scored next when fellow substitute Stephen Moore rolled off the back of a lineout and fed his fellow forward close to the line. Unusually for a Barbarians match, there was a third yellow card when Italy prop Salvatore Perugini, on as a replacement, was also sent to the sin-bin. Australia then scored several more tries. Cipriani's pop-pass close to his own line was picked off by Wallaby centre Rob Horne, Horwill again scored from close range before Turner grabbed his second try after a burst by Ashley-Cooper. Ioane powered over for his second try and Radkie Samo also crossed.