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Wales beat Barbarians 33-31 as North signs off in style

Wales beat Barbarians 33-31 as North signs off in style
Wales warmed up for the Nations Championship with victory against Barbarians on a day when George North delivered a crowd-pleasing, try-scoring farewell.

In sweltering sunshine, with temperatures at Allianz Stadium reaching 32C (90F), Wales scored five tries through fly-half Dan Edwards, two, scrum-halves Kieran Hardy and Reuben Morgan-Williams as well as wing Ellis Mee.

But the day belonged to Wales great North who bowed out in style in his final game before retirement with two Barbarians tries.

After coming on as a second-half replacement for the Baa-Baas, North's opening try came with his first touch and he also added a conversion with the final kick of the game.

Few could have imagined kicking a conversion against Wales would be his last contribution on the rugby field after such a glittering career.

South Africa prop Vincent Koch, Munster centre Alex Nankivell and Uruguay scrum-half Santiago Arata also scored for the invitational side.

Wales had enjoyed a morale-boosting Six Nations win against Italy in March.

This - uncapped - victory represented successive wins for the the first time since the 2023 World Cup but Wales know there is a lot to improve before the start of the Nations Championship.

This fixture was staged outside World Rugby's official window so Wales' team was picked solely from the four domestic regions with Tandy missing 12 English and French based players.

Scrum-half Tomos Williams, lock Dafydd Jenkins, props Nicky Smith and Rhys Carre and Louis Rees-Zammit will come back into the equation for the Nations Championship start next week when Wales face Fiji at Cardiff City Stadium.

Tandy will name his squad for that tournament early next week which also includes away matches in Argentina and South Africa.

Source: bbc.com
FNRL

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