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Video: 19-year-old Alfie Barbeary scores Wasps hat-trick his first Premiership start
By
Liam Heagney
There were tries galore across the five Wednesday night Gallagher Premiership games, 36 in total at Sandy Park, the Ricoh, the AJ Bell, The Rec and The Stoop. However, one player’s scoring potency caught the eye more than most – the second-half hat-trick delivered by Alfie Barbeary for Wasps.
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The 19-year-old hot prospect had a short debut off the Premiership bench last month in the win over Worcester, but that was nothing compared to what the hooker delivered when chosen to start versus Leicester at blindside, flexibility reminiscent of the double jobbing Ashley Johnson used to do at the club.
Making 69 metres off 15 carries, the youngster struck for a 16-minute second-half hat-trick, touching down on 45, 51 and 61 minutes while also providing the assist for another of Wasps’ eight tries in their 54-7 destruction of a sorry Leicester.
Barbeary was selected ahead of in-form England prospect Jack Willis at flanker and his man-of-the-match pace and skill effort will surely register on the radar of Eddie Jones, who has been keeping tabs on the recent re-emergence of Willis.
The BT Sport footage of Barbeary’s hat-trick was exiting. He took a Dan Robson pass before dummying and crossing for his first. Next, he demonstrated his power from close range after Leicester splintered a lineout drive, and he rounded it off with a show of athleticism to run in the third.
Wasps have a serious talent in Alfie Barbeary ?
The 19-year-old ran in THREE tries on his FIRST #GallagherPrem start ?pic.twitter.com/tDIjYh9U9k
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) September 10, 2020
It left Lee Blackett swooning about the England age-grade captain. “Alfie had a mixture in the first half but he had an outstanding second half,” said the Wasps boss. “As an out and out rugby player, he’s pretty good.
“He’s a big project. He’s nowhere near the finished article. He’s got to keep working hard. He’s a talent, there’s no doubt about that, but there are plenty of areas of his game he needs to keep working on. Hopefully, we’ll see him reach his potential.
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“We’re trying to manage him by picking him in the back row. He’s a young kid and someone of his age it takes time to come through in the front row positions. We wanted to take the set-piece away from him, but we will keep working on the hooker side of his game. We just wanted to get him out there.”
An excellent tip for anyone on the comeback trail after injuryhttps://t.co/SgeeBf0rug
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 2, 2020
