Lancaster hails young guns after rout
England head coach Stuart Lancaster praised his exciting youngsters after they showcased their potential in an emphatic 40-12 rout of the Barbarians at Twickenham.
Lancaster is now licking his lips at the prospect of letting the same collection of raw talent off the leash against Argentina in the coming weeks as the England squad prepare to fly out to South America on Wednesday.
Lancaster certainly hopes he has unearthed a few sparkling young diamonds in the likes of Freddie Burns, Marland Yarde, Kyle Eastmond and Christian Wade, who all scored tries in the crushing defeat of a disappointing Baa-Baa outfit on Sunday.
The opposition may not have been up to the usual Baa-Baas standard, but England's inexperienced team produced a thoroughly professional job.
Billy Twelvetrees also crossed the line for England as they thrilled the 60,601 crowd and Lancaster had a broad smile as he said: "There were quite a few outstanding performances out there and I was delighted by the control and dominance of the overall performance.
"It was a case of objective achieved with people coming in and pushing themselves forward for future chances in the team.
"Marland scored a fantastic try and showed both his running skill and power plus his defensive qualities as well.
"The fact he has good upper body strength gives him an extra dimension to some wings. You can see his potential, as you can of some of the other young lads.
"Christian took his try well and he's such a hard runner to stop once he gets up a head of steam. Freddie's kicking from hand and ground was excellent and he controlled the game well. It was a strong performance from him."
Burns, making the most of his chance at fly-half with Owen Farrell set to go with the British and Irish Lions to Australia and Toby Flood given the summer off to rest, was certainly impressive as he scored a try after just 39 seconds and kicked 13 more points.
The Baa-Baas, coached by Dai Young, failed to sparkle in the first half and only briefly threatened to cross the England line as the home side dominated for most of the game.
Yarde's try was outstanding, the London Irish wing cutting through the Baa-Baas defence with ease, and the 21-year-old could give Lancaster a real selection headache for the November internationals if he impresses in Argentina.
Former St Helen's rugby league player Kyle Eastmond made an instant mark on his debut.
Just a few minutes after coming on as a replacement, he cut in from the right flank and raced over the line.
Wade darted over the line and Twelvetrees followed as England ran riot for over an hour.
Veteran South African hooker Schalk Brits and London Wasps and England Saxons full-back Elliot Daly salvaged some late pride with tries but it was a day the Baa-Baas will want to forget.
Daly said: "The game didn't go to plan but it was still a great honour to wear the famous Baa-Baas jersey. To score a try was a great experience as well, and something special.
"We just could not match England in physicality or use the ball as well as they did."
Bath hooker Rob Webber, captaining England in place of the "rested" Chris Robshaw and unavailable Tom Wood, added: "It was an honour and privilege to lead the side out at Twickenham. But it certainly helps when you walk off having won and won well."
AFP
