Chastaining afternoon for Jones as England hit by eight-try Barbarians | rugby union

Whatever Eddie Jones had in mind for this fixture, watching George Kruis, the former England lock, backheeling a conversion through the posts in the final few minutes of an emphatic victory for the invitational side was probably not it. For all the players absent for England, for all the excuses that could be made, this was without question a chastening afternoon for Jones and one that will not be ignored in Australia.

The Barbarians hit 50 points and scored eight tries. They were leading by three points when Will Skelton became the first player in Barbarians history to be sent off and finished with a winning margin of 31.

England, on the other hand, were woeful but for the efforts of Marcus Smith who shimmered in glimpses with the ball in hand but struggled from the tee. They simply could not get going in attack, were lackluster in defense and their set-piece needs plenty of work.

Jones names his squad for the tour of Australia on Monday morning and all you can say of this showing on Sunday is that a number of this side may have played their way off the plane. Compounding matters, Alex Dombrandt had to withdraw from the side with a knee injury which makes him a doubt for the tour and Joe Cokanasiga limped off here after repeated attention from the medical staff.

The Barbarians gave a clear message of their intent when winning a scrum penalty inside the opening few minutes and opting to kick for goal. Antoine Hastoy missed the kick but evidently Fabien Galthié, with France’s forthcoming tour in mind, had not instructed his players to attempt exhibition rugby from the word go. The crowd were not happy but as the match progressed the Barbarians were entertaining and effective in equal measure.

Smith had kicked England into a 3-0 lead before the Barbarians’ first try came when Jonny May was deliberately ruled to have knocked on. With Damian Penaud lurking and with no cover, May was shown a yellow card and the referee Andrea Piardi awarded a penalty try.

Up to that point Smith had done his best to spark England into life, before being hampered by injury, Cokanasiga looked dangerous on the rare occasion he backed himself to take defenders on – injury problems and a torrid season at Bath have seemingly knocked his confidence – but that aside, England appeared bereft of ideas. Jones’s decision to replace Will Collier with Patrick Schickerling after just 29 minutes felt like a kick up the backside to the whole side more than an indictment of the starting tighthead’s performance.

Smith did, however, kick a second penalty and a fine dummy released Tommy Freeman – one of England’s best players throughout – who picked out Cokanasiga. Virimi Vakatawa did his best to catch the winger but injured himself in the process and Cokanasiga was able to stretch to the line regardless. In the buildup, Skelton had hit Schickerling high and given the England replacement had already knocked the ball on, there was only likely to be one outcome. That Penaud picked off Mark Atkinson’s attempted long pass to Joe Marchant to extend the Barbarians’s lead summed up the opening half, however.

Five minutes into the interval and Jones called on Danny Care for a first England appearance since November 2018 but he was powerless to stop his opposite number Baptiste Couilloud going over under the posts for a fourth Barbarians try. That Kruis – on his swansong appearance before retirement – nudged Hastoy out of the way to take the straightforward conversion only rubbed salt into the wounds of the side he won 45 caps for. It also gave the Barbarians a handy 15-point lead.

May, making his first appearance for England since the autumn, appeared to give them a way back into the match by cutting inside and splashing over – Smith was again the architect – but Penaud’s second try pushed the lead out to three scores once more. Smith then finished off the try his industry deserved but again the Barbarians replied with a peach of a score – the 20-year-old replacement scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec, for whom a bright future beckons, dinking over the top for Louis Carbonel to seize the ball and dot down.

Before England were put out of their misery, Max Spring rounded off another delightful score after a break from Sekou Macalou – playing as a makeshift winger – before Kruis put the chef’s kiss on the Barbarians’ afternoon.

There was still time for Hastoy to add try No 8, and for Kruis to complete his conversion hat-trick.