The seven Ulster players showed well in this hard fought game against Canada.

Ryan Caldwell capped a rambunctious performance with the opening try and it looked like the Ulster show when Cave scored a cracker to give Ireland a 17 - 6 lead at half time.

However, Canada hit back with tries from Craig Culpan and Dean van Camp to take a 20-17 lead.

John Hearty's try restored Ireland's lead and Johnny O'Connor and Jeremy Staunton added later touchdowns.

Mallon looked sharper than he has for a while, and McKenzie was always looking for work. Wilson was again very solid and he will be extremely unlucky if he does not go to the World Cup. Young Fitzpatrick acquitted himself well against a strong

Ulster Young Guns star for Ireland A

Canadian front row. Campbell seemed to give the backline more time when he came on so hopefully he'll get more of a run against the NZ Maori on Tuesday 29th May 2007 (20.00 kick off. Live on SS1 from 19:30).

Argentina v Ireland. Saturday 26th May. (20:10 kick off. Live on RTE)

The great news is that there are seven Ulstermen in the starting line up (Ireland: G Duffy; B Carney, A Trimble, K Lewis, T Bowe; P Wallace, I Boss; B Young, J Flannery, S Best (capt), T Hogan, M O'Kelly, N Best, K Gleeson, J Heaslip) with Ferris to join from the bench. The FRU has a couple of reporters out at the game so hopefully we'll get some behind the scene pictures up mid week.

Three Ulster legends , Fitzpatrick , Howe and Maggs went on the Barbarians recent trip to Tunisia and Spain to spread the Gospel of Rugby Union.

Fitzy has taken time out of his summer schedule to bring us up to date with the tour.

"A successful Ba-Ba's tour drew to a close yesterday, with two victories in difficult conditions and many friendships renewed and new ones made.

The squad assembled in a Gatwick Airport hotel 8 days ago. There were 25 players in total, some very familiar faces from the Celtic League such as Welshmen John Davies of the Scarlets and the two Nicky's (Robinson and Macleod) of Cardiff Blues. Stuart Moffet and Gary Law lead the Tartan contingent and from the premiership Hugh Vyvyan of Saracens lead the tour as captain. He was joined by Lee Robinson of Bristol and South African Hottie Lowe of Bath amongst others.

The Ba-Ba's have always had a special place in the world of rugby football with its stated aims to commit to open attacking rugby and to bring together players from different clubs, countries and backgrounds. This tour ticked all these boxes. From the get go in Gatwick everyone entered into the spirit of a Ba-Ba's tour, introductions were made, where needed, and old rivalries were soon forgotten.

On arriving in Tunisia the tour party quickly got down to business with a light training session to help us all acclimatize to the hot weather and start the process of getting to know each others rugby styles. This was done in true Ba-Ba's style with much friendly banter.

A large part of the Ba-Ba's mission in rugby which is backed by the IRB, is to help spread the word of rugby in the developing nations. Part of this comes in the form of the matches planned, but the other side of the mission is the coaching sessions organized in conjunction with the host union. Here local children are coached by the Ba-Ba's and on this tour two sessions took place, one in tunisia and the other in Spain. This was great fun and we were all impressed with high standard of skill and understanding by the children of both the nations.

RFU referee Dave Pearson traveled with the tour party and refereed both the matches. He also ran clinics to help local referee's get up to speed with what's happening in the refereeing world.

Saturday afternoon, 5.30pm local time, the match against Tunisia kicks off and we we're both pleased and surprised by the noise and atmosphere created by the local Tunisian fans. It's like a good natured football crowd but there is a distinct Arabian feel to it. From the word go the Ba-Ba's set their stall out moving the ball from side to side probing for weaknesses in the Tunisian defence. However any tactical weaknesses are made up for by their courageous spirit. In the tackle they throw themselves at the attackers with kamikaze commitment. An entertaining game followed with the Ba-Ba's deserved winners by 33-10.

An entertaining evening followed with the tourists given a taste of Tunisian hospitality with local dishes, dancers and music. This was followed by a presentation of traditional Tunisian robes and fez's which the the tour party gamely wore. Needless to say Saracen player and tour captain Hugh Vyvyan looked the most comfortable in his fez!

On Monday the party left for Spain for a further challenge. The match kicked off on Wednesday evening at 7.30pm. The temperature was high, but the challenge remained the same. We started the game in typical Barbarian fashion with some tidy passing and interplay. This early enterprise was rewarded when Lee 'the horse' Robinson of Bristol finished of a good move and crashed over the Spanish line. The Spanish proved to be quite a handful and impressed the Ba-Ba's with their counter attacking and broken field running. In the end the Barbarians proved to be too strong for Spain, pulling away to win 52-26."

Justin Fitzpatrick
25/05/07

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