England 73-12 Barbarians: Christian Wade scores hat-trick

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Christian WadeImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Christian Wade's only Test cap came against Argentina in 2013

England XV (45) 73

Tries: Yarde, Slater, Clifford, Wade 3, Cipriani 2, Slade, Beaumont Cons: Cipriani 10 Pens: Cipriani

Barbarians (5) 12

Tries: Thorn, Waldrom Con: Pisi

Christian Wade scored a hat-trick as an England XV coasted to a record win over Barbarians at Twickenham.

Head coach Stuart Lancaster included 10 players from his 50-man training squad for the World Cup in a 10-try rout.

Marland Yarde, Ed Slater, Jack Clifford, Danny Cipriani and Christian Wade, twice, crossed for England in the first half, with Brad Thorn responding.

Henry Slade, Josh Beaumont, Wade and Cipriani added more, while Thomas Waldrom scored for the Baa-Baas.

It will have been difficult for Lancaster to judge the World Cup potential of his players in this bulldozing of a Barbarians side full of experienced players, but devoid of cohesion.

This was England's biggest ever win over the Baa-Baas, eclipsing the 57-26 victory in May 2012.

England XV's men in training squad

Elliot Daly

Henry Slade

Marland Yarde

Danny Cipriani

Lee Dickson

Matt Mullan

Luke Cowan-Dickie

Kieran Brookes

Ed Slater

Joe Launchbury

None of the 10 included in the initial training squad will have damaged their prospects of remaining when the numbers are whittled down to 31 on 31 August, 18 days before England commence the World Cup on home soil.

Luke Cowan-Dickie was particularly impressive. The Exeter forward showed a turn of pace before finding Yarde for the opening try of the game and displayed his offloading ability after the break by picking out Slade for England's seventh try.

Yarde clipped a clever kick inside to put Wade over, and then supplied the Wasps man again with a looping pass.

Wade has not ruled out the possibility, external of making a late bid to be in Lancaster's plans and the 24-year-old enhanced his claim with a performance that included the assist for Cipriani's try before half-time.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Danny Cipriani's two tries will enhance his prospects of earning one of the three fly-half spots in the World Cup squad

The wing will regret a moment of calamity when he dropped the ball before touching down after sprinting clear, but completed his hat-trick late on.

By that time Slater and Clifford had also crossed.

Cipriani landed all 11 attempts from the tee and the Sale fly-half amassed a 33-point haul, with Lancaster praising the Sale man after the match for "controlling the game well".

"I've got to make sure I put my hand up every time I get a chance," said Cipriani.

"We played our England way, we played our structure, we didn't let the game get too lose and on defence we hunted them down and got the ball back which is exactly how we wanted to play."

The Barbarians were captained by New Zealand's World Cup-winning lock Thorn, who barged over early in the game.

And Waldrom snaffled a loose ball one metre from the line to land a second try for the invitational team.

Teams

England XV: Tait (Leicester Tigers); Wade (Wasps), Daly (Wasps), Slade (Exeter Chiefs), Yarde (Harlequins); Cipriani (Sale Sharks), Dickson (Northampton Saints, capt); Mullan (Wasps), Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs), Brookes (Newcastle Falcons); Slater (Leicester Tigers), Launchbury (Wasps); Wilson (Newcastle Falcons), Clifford (Harlequins), Beaumont (Sale Sharks).

Replacements: Taylor (Sale Sharks), Waller (Northampton Saints), Denman (Northampton Saints), Gaskell (Wasps), Fisher (Northampton Saints), Chudley (Exeter Chiefs), Geraghty (London Irish), Lewington (London Irish)

Barbarians XV: Aplon (Grenoble & South Africa); Smith (Toulon), Rokocoko (Bayonne & New Zealand), Olivier (Montpellier & South Africa), Monye (Harlequins & England); Pisi (Suntory Sungoliath & Samoa); Cubelli (Belgrano Ath & Argentina); Taumoepeau (Castres & New Zealand), Ward (Harlequins), Diaz (Pampas & Argentina); Manoa (Northampton Saints and USA), Thorn (Leicester Tigers & New Zealand, capt); Whitelock (Panasonic Wild Knights & New Zealand), Smith (Lyon & Australia), Waldrom (Exeter Chiefs & England).

Replacements: Fourie (Lyon), Tejerizo (Tucuman & Argentina), Jones (Cardiff Blues & Wales), Hines (Sale Sharks & Scotland), Matera (Pampas & Argentina), Pienaar (Ulster & South Africa), Brett (Lyon), Fujita (Panasonic Wild Knights & Japan)

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