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Watch: Joe Marler converts his 'worldie' try versus the Barbarians
By Liam Heagney
Joe Marler scored what the Barbarians described as a worldie of a try for Harlequins on Thursday, just four days after playing an immense part for the Baa-Baas in their 35-31 win over the All Blacks XV at Tottenham. After representing the famed invitational club last Sunday, the England loosehead swapped sides and he came off the Quins bench to provide a captivating contribution at The Stoop.
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Rather than playing just a single game versus the ABs XV, the Barbarians have opted to provide filler matches for a trio of Gallagher Premiership clubs who were left short of fixtures this month due to Wasps and Worcester financially collapsing just a few rounds into this season’s league.
Games against Harlequins, Bath and Northampton have been lined up and the opener on this English club tour was incredibly lively, Quins winning 73-28 against a Baa-Baas XV that included Mike Brown. The ex-England full-back was on the scoresheet in the first half against his former club, but it was the converted try scored in the 78th minute by Marler that received the loudest cheer of the night.
The Barbarians had been attacking when the ball was spilled outside the Harlequins 22 and it was quickly booted forward along the ground. Cadan Murley, who had been with the England squad earlier this week, won the foot race and he kicked it on with the Baa-Baas 22 approaching.
The winger picked up when he next caught up with the bobbling ball inside the 22 and after he stumbled to the ground, he played on offload to the supporting Archie White whose sweet left-to-right pass was gobbled up by sprinting Marler after he had raced up the field from where the turnover in possession had originally happened.
In case you missed it, this is what @JoeMarler did last night ?#COYQ pic.twitter.com/rGwfTzIb2Z
— Harlequins ? (@Harlequins) November 18, 2022
Marler celebrated gleefully, fully enjoying his unopposed run to the line, and after dotting down, the leggings-clad forward booted the ball into the air in jubilation. Then, once he caught his breath, he nonchalantly drop-kicked the conversion between the uprights to make it a seven-point try.
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“That might be the most popular score of the night,” enthused the Harlequins TV commentator. “Ten tries for Quins, one for that man. The best kick of Caden Murley’s career and maybe the best finish of Joe Marler’s… Guess who is going to kick it [the conversion]? Seven points for Marler!”
The irony of seeing Marler score for Harlequins wasn’t lost on the Barbarians just days after the prop had been at the heart of the Baa-Baas’ success against the AB XV. “Dagger meet heart,” they tweeted. “Joe Marler, aka the ultimate Baa-Baas player, just finished a worldie AGAINST us before slotting the conversion himself for Harlequins. It’s better to have loved and lost than never loved at all I guess?”
Marler wasn’t the only recent Barbarians player to score against the invitational team as Joe Marchant, another currently out-of-favour England player, had also played for them last weekend and he too touched down for Harlequins.
? How good was this one @mikebrown_15? #COYQ pic.twitter.com/27jhpd6K1V
— Harlequins ? (@Harlequins) November 18, 2022
