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Barbarians sneak past Ireland

Gloucester - A penalty three minutes from time by Argentinian great Felipe Contepomi gave the Barbarians a thrilling 29-28 win over Ireland and an unwelcome defeat for the Irish ahead of their tour of New Zealand.

Contepomi's penalty was the only one kicked during a typically open Barbarians encounter which saw eight tries in all, four from each side with the biggest cheer of the match coming for former England captain and Gloucester favourite Mike Tindall scoring one of them.

Former Gloucester star and like Tindall a member of the 2003 World Cup winning squad Iain Balshaw, now at Biarritz, also scored a try while former England wing Paul Sackey and Italy's South African-born lock Cornelius van Zyl touched down as well.

The Irish - who were missing their Leinster stars after their loss on Sunday in the Celtic League final a week after winning the European Cup - battled all the way and there were two tries for the impressive 21-year-old Ulster wing Craig Gilroy.

Munster duo Keith Earls and Simon Zebo were Ireland's other try scorers but it was not enough to stop the 'BaaBaas' from registering a morale boosting win after a 57-26 thumping by England at Twickenham on Sunday.

They round off their three match tour against Six Nations Grand Slam champions Wales at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

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