Aussie's never-before-seen red card in 132-year first for rugby

Former Australian second-rower Will Skelton has become the first player in 132 years to be sent off wearing a Barbarians jersey after a high tackle against England at Twickenham.

The towering forward was sent handed his marching orders in the first half of the match at Twickenham, but incredibly it still didn't stop the French-dominated invitational side humbling Eddie Jones' England 52-21.

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Skelton became the first player in the Baa-Baas' 132-year history to get his marching orders, after his shoulder to the head of Patrick Schickerling in the 37th minute.

While there appeared to be no malice involved in the tackle, which saw Skelton hold onto Schickerling, he was shown a red card with the Exeter prop out of the match over a failed head injury assessment.

Officials ruled it was a sending off because the 2.03m-tall, 140kg Skelton had time to avoid the collision and didn't use his arms on Schickerling, who hadn't actually been in possession of the ball anyway.

The prop didn't return in the second half after his HIA.

Skelton also might have got lucky that he didn't get penalised for an earlier hit on Tom Curry.

Yet even when having to play 43 minutes with only 14 men, Fabien Galthie's side, featuring Les Bleus players who'd shone in their Six Nations grand slam triumph, offered England a humbling loss before their tour to Australia.

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While Jones introduced a number of fresh faces for the match against the invitational side, it piqued as a reminder that there is work to be done ahead of the Australian Tour.

Jones, while playing down the significance of the loss, was still forced to concede: "We were beaten pretty badly at the breakdown, so it's a good reminder of how much work we have to do before Australia.

"No one is happy about the result but, again, we look at it in the light of what we're trying to do.

"There's a contextual situation here. I know you're struggling to understand it, but we're trying to build a new team, play a different way, a style that suits that players and there are going to be some ups and downs."

Australia headed into camp on the weekend ahead of next month's three Test series.

There were a number of uncapped players named in the Wallabies' squad, including Brumbies stars Cadeyrn Neville ahd lock Nick Forst, NSW Waratahs duo David Porecki and Jed Holloway, Melbourne prop Pone Fa'amausili and Queensland speed machine Suliasi Vunivalu.

with AAP

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