Rugby: Barbarians 'drunk at training' in lead-up to win over England

Victor Vito scored a double in the Barbarians thrashing over England. Photo / Getty

England co-captain George Ford labelled his team's display against the Barbarians as "embarrassing" after conceding a record number of points at Twickenham in the 63-45 defeat.

Even though England were without around 20 leading players due to the Premiership final, Ford refused to use that as an excuse.

"No matter what game you're playing in, when you put the England shirt on you expect to be better than that," said Ford, agreeing that it was an embarrassment. "It is yeah, it's not great is it? We didn't start well, some of the tries seemed like easy, soft scores. We needed more life to us, more energy to us, more desire and hunger in defence. The BaaBaas were always going to come with that type of game and score tries from everywhere. We knew that in the week but the message didn't sink in well enough."

Head coach Eddie Jones admitted that he was "not happy" at conceding nine tries and that the team had "struggled to cope" with the pace and intensity of the Barbarians at the start when they raced away to a 21-0 lead within 12 minutes.

However, Jones stressed that this fixture was primarily intended to be a "test of our depth" ahead of the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

The Barbarians had prepared in typical fashion with just three training sessions, although such were the nightly festivities that head coach Pat Lam took special steps to ensure that the tactical measures got through.

"There were three training sessions although I videoed one... as some of you (the players) were half-cut," said Lam, with a smile. "We came here to celebrate five days together as a one-off team."

Former Saracens wing Chris Ashton scored a hat-trick within 25 minutes of the start on his first appearance back at Twickenham since moving to Toulon last summer.

"It was a nice feeling (out there)," said Ashton, who has two years left on his contract to run, thereby excluding him from England selection. "It was a great opportunity for me although I'd have liked a couple more (tries)."