Jake White's final match as South Africa coach may have seen the world champions lose 22-5 to the Barbarians but he was adamant rugby union's most famous invitational team should continue to play the leading nations after an exhilarating clash at Twickenham on Saturday.
"I think the one thing we must never forget is that rugby union has a history and we must never erode that," White said. "The way the Barbarians played for the jersey, it was like they were defending for their countries."
There was plenty of running rugby, a quality for which the Barbarians are famed, as they scored three tries through Australia playmaker Matt Giteau, ex-Wales flanker Martyn Williams and Wallaby back-row Rocky Elsom.
PHOTO: AP
However, what marked out this star-studded Barbarians line-up was the quality of their defense, something that hasn't always been one of their strong points in the professional era.
Despite South Africa, whose team admittedly contained 10 players that didn't start October's 15-6 World Cup final win against England in Paris, being encamped on their line for most of the second-half, the Barbarians refused to yield.
Man-of-the-match Williams and Justin Marshall, the former All Black scrum-half, were among several players who repeatedly kept the Boks at bay.
Barbarians captain Mark Regan had defied an order from his Bristol side to play in the match, which witnessed England teammate Jason Robinson's last senior appearance before retirement.
English Premiership clubs had banned their players from appearing in the game in a bid to prevent them getting injured in a "meaningless" fixture.
But on this evidence it seemed as if this was the absent players' loss, not the Barbarians,' and the 35-year-old Regan, England's hooker at the World Cup, said: "It's always worth playing for the Barbarians. They're a great side."
Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan, in charge of the Barbarians for this match, said the fact a crowd of more than 58,000 turned up was the ideal answer to those who questioned the side's place in the modern game.
"The test of the Barbarians is whether people come to watch them and what the boys produced today was up there with any Barbarians performance," he said.
"All credit to the boys. We talked in the week about the Barbarians ethos, but we played both types of football. In the second-half the guys put their bodies on the line for ages and I was very impressed," O'Sullivan said.
Meanwhile White, whose four years in charge of South Africa yielded 36 wins from 54 Tests with one draw and 17 defeats, said he would struggle to get used to life away from the Springboks when he stepped down at the end of the month.
"When the Boks run out for their first game next year, that's probably when it will hit home that I am no longer part of it," he said.
"I've been really privileged to lead an amazing group of players in an amazing four years," White said.
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