He was the Barbarians' reluctant superstar on Sunday -- scoring three tries in the second half of a 26-7 victory over Bermuda -- but the last thing Glenne Webbe wants is for anyone to trumpet his sterling performance as a heroic one in his maiden World Rugby Classic.

Yesterday Webbe declined an invitation to play in the Classic's golf tournament, but the six-foot speedster was clearly in his element on the National Sports Club pitch.

"I can't play,'' Webbe, a one-time boxer, said yesterday of his skills on the golf course, not in a rugby game.

The Cardiff native was the first player to steal the Classic spotlight when he led the defending champions to a second-half comeback over Bermuda, but later had to share the attention with New Zealand's elephantine offence which scored 14 times for 70 points against the United States.

The Barbarians, ushered onto the pitch by bagpipes and a placard sheep, the team's mascot, looked far more sheepish than expected, unable to get their game on track until seven minutes into the second half.

Skipper Allan Martin played the big bad wolf at half-time, telling his squad in not-so-subtle tones that they were dropping too many balls and missing too many tackles.

"He had a pretty good go at us, basically because we were throwing the ball wide and there was a lot of dropped passes,'' said Webbe. "A lot of things weren't happening at first.'' Even Webbe appeared tentative, staking out the right corner of the field, finding himself out of position and over-running the ball at times.

"I settled down in the second half,'' said Webbe, who scored his first try after hooker Geoff Davies got everything rolling for the Barbarians.

From that moment on the match was all a Webbe feat -- he notched three tries in a span of 20 minutes to put the game out of reach for Bermuda.

"I won't take credit for all three of them, two were very lucky and I think I was at the right place at the right time,'' understated Webbe yesterday. "You go into the game and you hope that things go the way you want them to.

Everyone's got something to offer. But what happened to me was a lot of luck more than anything else.'' The Barbarian line-up will be strengthened for their second encounter on Friday with the addition of Stuart Hamilton, Mark Douglas and Paul Turner. The triumvirate arrived too late to play on Sunday so Martin was forced to use a hooker at scrum half and a centre at outside half.

Any changes, however, won't affect Webbe, who grew more comfortable as the game progressed. The only black player on the team, Webbe has marvelled at the way his team-mates have helped ease his transition to oldtimers' rugby.

"I've felt part of the squad all along, the players have been fantastic,'' said Webbe. "I'm the new kid on the block and they've helped me.'' Webbe played for Wales from 1986 to 1988, securing 10 caps in those two years, but a litany of injuries prevented his awesome promise to bloom.

"What really stands out are the injuries,'' said the winger. "I really didn't have a chance to stamp my mark on the international scene.'' In his debut in a World Cup qualifier Webbe scored a hat-trick, but has no real memories of the game.

"I was knocked completely out and don't remember,'' he said. "We had so many injuries and at that time we were only allowed to make two substitutions so I had to stay on the field. I remember looking at one try later on television and thinking how weird it was. I couldn't remember doing it.'' Webbe has warmer memories of Bermuda -- the trip is actually the second one since June when he got married here. "My wife, Sally, has relations in Bermuda. But I didn't think I'd be coming back so soon.''