An amazing crowd of 6,238 turned out in sweltering conditions to watch Alun Wyn Jones’ return to the ground where he made his Swansea debut in 2004 against Carmarthen Quins – and play for both teams.
Having led out the Baa-Baas for the first half, he donned the white shirt of Swansea for the start of the second in a game in which everyone was a winner, despite the Baa-Baas running out victors 68-33.
It was that sort of night as former Cardiff Blues head coach John Mulvihill and his Barbarian all-stars brought the circus to town for an evening of thrills, spills and plenty of tries. There were 15 tries and 101 points, although nobody was really counting.
At the end of one of the longest seasons in the history of Welsh it was a reminder of just how much fun you can have on a rugby field as both teams entered into the carnival spirit to send every fan home smiling.
Stephen Shingler of Barbarians makes a break to score a try.
While it was a special night for home hero Alun Wyn Jones, it was also a great way to end his 66-cap career for his former Wales and Ospreys second row Bradley Davies. Before he left the field, he managed to put his old sparring partner to shame by kicking a conversion in the second half – bettering the two failures by AWJ in the Baa-Baas win over the World XV at Twickenham last weekend.
It was 35-14 to the invitation side, who made their last visit to St Helen’s in 1994 having debuted in 1901, but the best try of the half came from home centre Joe Thomas midway through. To their credit, Swansea provided stiff opposition throughout and scored five of the tries on a special night.
Scorers: Swansea: Tries: Joe Thomas, Hanno Dirksen, Brandon Wood, Matthew Aubrey, Willis Wood; Cons: James Davies 2, Matthew Aubrey, Willis Wood.
Barbarians: Tries: Ollie Robinson, Steve Shingler (2), Taichi Takahashi, Tom Howe (2), Damien Hoyland, Rey Lee Lo, Kirby Myhill 2; Cons: Cons: Steve Shingler 5, Billy Searle 2, Bradley Davies, Elvis Taione
