SYDNEY – An inexperienced Wallabies side fought back from a nine-point halftime deficit to down the Barbarians 31-28 at Allianz Stadium in Sydney on Saturday.
Trailing 21-12 at the break, the youthful Australian side ran in three second-half tries to take home the spoils after the Barbarians turned on an entertaining opening 40 minutes to score three tries of their own prior to the break.
The invitational side, playing in Sydney for the first time since 2009, lost captain Quade Cooper and wing Taqele Naiyaravoro to yellow cards inside the final 10 minutes after taking a 28-24 lead following a Naiyaravoro try, which was set up by a Cooper cross-field kick in the 67th minute.
After Cooper was binned for a high tackle on Israel Folau, the Wallabies capitalised on their two-man advantage when hooker Stephen Moore barged over from a rolling maul to score what would be the match-winner with seven minutes left to play.
Points-Scorers
Wallabies 31 – Tries: Duncan Paia’aua (2), Henry Speight, Jack Dempsey, Stephen Moore. Conversions: Paia’aua (3).
Barbarians 28 – Tries: Taqele Naiyaravoro (2), Andrew Ready, Tom Banks. Conversions: Quade Cooper (4).