Chorus of boos for the Barbarians' adopted 'national anthem' in Cardiff
Saturday’s Barbarians fixture against Wales was supposed to be a fantastic rugby celebration, but it struck a bum note before it even started at the Principality Stadium.
The match was Wayne Pivac’s first game in charge of Wales and it doubled as a fond farewell for departing coach Warren Gatland, who was in charge of the Barbarians after twelve years at the helm of the Welsh.
However, before a ball was kicked the stadium reverberated to a chorus of boos.
The expectation for a match such as this was that there would be only one anthem played, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau. But the atmosphere took a turn for the worse as God Save The Queen came out over the loudspeakers at the stadium.
Seemingly, the English anthem had been ‘adopted’ by the Barbarians, which was rather curious as their squad, skippered by Ireland’s Rory Best, contained no England players. They stood there in silence with blank expressions while the music played.
Fans in the stadium quickly voiced their disapproval of the anthem and this dissatisfaction soon spread online where a number of supporters took issue with what had just happened.
The booing of god save the Queen was very loud at the Millennium
— MeicApNeb (@meicapneb) November 30, 2019
Surely it should be the "world in Union" as the @Barbarian_FC anthem not God save the queen #WALvBAR
— Phil 🏴 (@Phil_rees_wru) November 30, 2019
Incredibly, playing “God save the Queen”, in Cardiff, to herald a Barbarians side coached by Warren Gatland, captained by Rory Best and bereft of English players, prompted a less than euphoric crowd response.
— Mick Collins (@MickPCollins) November 30, 2019
baffling moment to start off #WALvBAR why in god/jesus/allahs name did they play god save the queen for the Baba's? Rory Best looked so awkard trying to not acknowledge it was the song been played #Rugby thoughts anyone?
— G Hofman (@gghofman) November 30, 2019
Has “God save the Queen” ever been greeted with so many smiles in #principalitystadium before? #WALvBAR
— Barry Wyn 🏴 (@barrywyn) November 30, 2019
https://twitter.com/GillibrandPeter/status/1200787511414546434
https://twitter.com/matt_rhys_wills/status/1200787882010710016
WATCH: Warren Gatland on what it will be like taking on his old team Wales this weekend as Barbarians coach
Comments on RugbyPass
There’s no doubt the All Blacks were the better team on the day, but it’s not enough to be better, you also have to have luck.
6 Go to commentsI dunno, Ben. It does feel a little like you are just in denial that the Springboks are really good. Good enough to win two straight world cups.
6 Go to commentsAre we still talking about the World Cup final in May? The final took place more than 6 months ago. Isn’t it time to move on?
6 Go to commentsIt looks like the trauma counseling is not helping the Ben Smith troll much. He is still trying to convince his little brain that his loser team won the RWC.
6 Go to commentsOh dear, Jon. Ben Smith’s Saffer clickbait was at least backed up by some rationale!
6 Go to commentsThe more direct approach to your past time this time I see Ben. Look, it doesn’t need to be said, anyone watching the match knows the ABs played better and just got robbed by the officiating, but lets face it, their dominance in the match was only because South Africa choked and forgot how to play rugby with the ball. South Africa were still the better side. Of course Ireland and France were also better sides that New Zealand. Possibly even England on WC performances.
6 Go to commentsGreat mythology - no surprises Ox didn't talk about being driven backwards by Laulala in the RWC final!
4 Go to commentsJust shows how a hand up can help as long as the invitation is accepted. Good story.
1 Go to commentsKarma is a powerful force
21 Go to commentsFrench players said the same thing to the All Blacks after their pool match in 2011. But the French can back up their s**t talk with action.
70 Go to commentsThe problem is the officiating & changing rulings,& TMOs.Last weekend I saw a 9 penalized for a crooked scrum feed! the last time I saw that rule applied was In about 1975!!!!!!!!.Late or not the incident is history & Australians alleging that Kiwi rugby supporters wear eye patches is a bit rich.Try listening to Australian Commentators.Every new player who has an above average game is suddenly the next great sensation.
21 Go to commentsEvery Irish fan in the stadium celebrated like they had won the tournament after the SA and Scotland games so yeah, the way Etzebeth tells it stacks up. It was definitely ‘In Their Heads’!
70 Go to commentsEtsebeth is right about 1 thing. Boks after winning a RWC have been crap. Only in 2009 did they reach the heights of what a RWC Champion should look like but that was only after 3rd/last in the TriN 2008. Lost a home series in 1996 (vs ABs); didnt win even 1 x Rugby Championship after 2019. ABs and Wallabies and England at least played like Champions after winning RWC.
70 Go to commentsCrusaders will knock one of the top seeds out in the first round, hope it’s not my Chiefs
28 Go to commentsEben really seems like just a deeply unpleasant man.
70 Go to commentsDMac. BB crabs too much at 10.
4 Go to commentsIt is every boys dream to be a Springbok. I managed it in a discipline other than rugby…But rugby, I have always engaged with passion. It does my old heart good to see the mix of people in the team and this displays the possibilities for this wonderful country. The logo “stronger together” says it all. This current edition of the Boks is nothing short of inspirational.
4 Go to commentsIrish people about the best damn people on the planet. OK, in the NH. Fijians are the World’s best happiest friendliest people. But as far as European cultures producing good people, Ireland stands alone. But on the rugby pitch there is a creeping arrogance that has detached from humility. eg Sexton abusing a match referee, and not for the 1st time. He was extremely lucky to make it to the RWC, strings were pulled. And O’Mahoneys sledge to Cane was lowballing, attacking an opposition Captain seems opportunistic and gutter talk. Cane is a real gentleman. Have never seen ABs unleash after the whistle like they did on O’Mahoney after QterF, it was well deserved. Unlike Bok supporters, the Bok players understand history. Massive amount of respect between Boks and ABs is evident, they get on well and have throughout history. Even Pinetree Meads best mate (except his old cobber Kel Tremain) were Springboks, friendships forged after tours. And Meads was always targetted given his star status (he even played 2 x Tests with a broken arm). On the contrary, ABs and Wallabies famously dont get on, bad blood after Aussies not taking offer of beersies postmatch.
70 Go to commentsHaha god NZ journalism is so crap listen to this guy “We’ll be proven in a few weeks if our baseless bs can stick” lol Everywhere else uses experts to write stuff but here they’re just career guys that don’t care about what they write, NOT CONCEDED A TRY IN YEARS lol > “Naturally, you’re looking for performance, sometimes that means you can’t think logically or use evidence to arrive at any sort of clarity of decision. Pretty much sums it up to a tee Paul ignores the articles in here about then runs off each team this year, that Penney is just a yearly stop gap until, who, Ellison is released by ABs, the huge imbalance of the injury front between teams at each end of the table, or who it was that _should_ have been coach. But of course if they actually do evidence and investigative work theyre shy of their article not hitting that sensationalism boundary and lose revenue. Leaving us non the wiser. They look like they would have been best with a geeup coach this year to turn around the razorless depression the clubs obviously going through. Hard to think of someone fitting the Bill to have been chosen instead, the clown Cheika? Id have been tempted to double play and entice O’Gara down. Hell maybe that is who they are waiting for, he wants a international gig and it could be after Scmidt or razor
28 Go to comments_Dan Carter weighs in on who should be Scott Robertson's All Black 10_ Dan: “It’s a toss up between Beudy and Dmac, although Mounga would be nice - but he can’t… so…” The Rugby Public: “Thanks Dan. For nuthin!”
4 Go to comments