What Wales learned from Barbarians experience

It was George North that made the headlines with his two-try display for the Barbarians at the Allianz Stadium in Twickenham on Saturday.

But as the retiring North heads off into the rugby sunset, Wales head coach Steve Tandy will be focusing on his preparations for the Nations Championship.

The 33-31 victory for Wales was played in front of a stadium less than a quarter full but Tandy will be more concerned with what he saw on the field.

Wales open their tournament against Fiji at the Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday (14:10 BST).

So what did Tandy learn from the first runout since the end of the Six Nations?

Tandy will be happiest about getting competitive minutes for his squad, as most of his Welsh-based players had not been on the pitch since mid-May.

He would have been content with Dewi Lake, Jac Morgan and Teddy Williams returning after injuries and the head coach will now unveil his reduced squad for the Nations Championships on Tuesday.

Lake, who has retained the captaincy despite the return of his great friend Morgan, looked strong in his first 40-minute appearance since the end of the Six Nations.

Number eight Aaron Wainwright continued his fine form with a player-of-the-match display and full-back Blair Murray showed glimpses of his attacking abilities, especially in the second half.

Tandy will have his 13 English and French based club players available for this game with the likes of Tomos Williams, Louis Rees-Zammit, Rhys Carre, Nicky Smith Dafydd Jenkins and Adam Beard in line to come in.

Wales' scrum remains a concern with the Barbarians forcing some set-piece penalties.

Carre and Smith will return on the loose-head after Gareth Thomas started against Barbarians, with uncapped Cardiff prop Rhys Barratt impressing during a replacement appearance.

The tight-head remains Wales' problem position, with Tomas Francis rested for the summer and Archie Griffin and Keiron Assiratti injured.

Lewis returned to start after a two-year absence and is joined in the squad by Sam Wainwright and Ben Warren, but the trio only have a combined tally of just nine professional starts in the 2025-26 season.

New defence coach Peter Murchie was in place for his first game and would have been unsettled by Wales shipping five tries.

Murchie would have been one of the few people in the stadium not celebrating as North powered through two poor tackles, by Dan Edwards and Ellis Mee, to score with his opening touch.

Headliner North rolled back the years to provide the theatre on Saturday but it was a shame he was playing to an almost empty gallery.

Watching top-tier internationals performing in a near empty stadium, with two out of the three tiers closed, was surreal.

It looked desperate. No official attendance was announced with pre-match ticket sales given between 15,000 and 20,000.

The double-header was staged in the 82,000 capacity ground with the Barbarians hosting the event and Wales classed as the away side.

Wales were never planning to play in June or July at the the Principality Stadium, a venue that has not hosted an early summer international for five years. Rock band Metallica played a concert at the venue the following day.

The acid test of whether interest is lacking in Welsh rugby team and World Rugby's new tournament will come this Saturday when Fiji and Wales face each other at the home of Cardiff City.

Another rugby quirk means Fiji will be the home side in the Welsh capital despite being more than 10,000 miles away from Suva.

No games are being played in Fiji during the tournament with the home games against England and Scotland being staged in Liverpool and Edinburgh respectively.

Ticket sales are believed to be initially slow and it is Fiji's responsibility to market the game as the 'hosts'.

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) could point to that, but it should not hide behind it.

The WRU has a duty to their players to try and ensure the ground is close to its 33,000 capacity.

This is the only opportunity for the Welsh public to see Wales play in Cardiff this summer and Welsh rugby's governing body must be part of the process in promoting that.

A repeat of what happened last week in Twickenham benefits nobody.

There would have been a range of factors for the low crowd and why people are not engaging with summer rugby, the scorching temperatures and the football World Cup to name just a couple.

Twickenham has been the Baa-Baas' recent summer home and games have worked when they have played South Africa or New Zealand due to sizeable ex-pat communities, but whether this experiment of playing Wales in south-west London will be repeated is doubtful.

Barbarians coach Scott Robertson was asked whether he had hoped there would have been more people watching.

"It was hot," said Robertson. "I am not sure how to answer that. It's not a question for us, sorry. We entertained who was here, that's what we did."

The Barbarians is always battling to retain its place in professional rugby with president John Spencer admitting they are very protective of the organisation.

Any players or coaches who have experienced the Baa-Baas have no doubt about the invitational side's qualities.

"It is unique," said Robertson. "You're playing with and coaching players you've revered and never think you're going to be a part of something like this.

"Then you become mates for life in a short period of time and the fans come and love to watch.

"It is critical for our environment as a rugby fraternity."

North says the Barbarians concept has a future.

"It's a special club and you have to be invited to play for them," said North.

"I've played for a long time and only now had the offer.

"It's special to meet new boys coming into the team at the start of their careers and players who have been around for a while from other countries."

Fiji arrived in Wales last Thursday and will spend nine days together preparing for the opener.

Former Fiji coach Gareth Baber, who led the nation to Sevens gold in Tokyo in 2021, popped into see some of his old players.

"They were singing and dancing around the gymnasium as they normally do," Baber told the Scrum V podcast.

"They look happy and connected and that is a warning sign for me.

"They have threats all over the place. They have big, physical technically-minded individuals who have been at the top of the game for a while now."

Former Wales hooker Scott Baldwin added: "I am nervous for this weekend. When you look at the talent they have assembled in the squad, it's frightening."