slipped through Stuart Barnes' lips. "Extra time.'' Then he added, "Which was hell.'' Barnes was referring to the moment, and a happy one, really, now frozen in rugby history. It was the defining moment of the 1991-92 rugby season and possibly the defining moment of his whole career. The only problem for Barnes was that it occurred, well, in extra time.

With 10 seconds remaining in the Cup final, Barnes booted his team, Bath, to the summit of English rugby for the second consecutive season, when he drop-kicked a goal from an astounding 40 yards out and scored against Harlequins.

"It was 12-12 at the end of full time,'' he grimaced. "After 29-and-a-half minutes they (Harlequins) missed six attempted drop kicks and we got in their half of the field with 10 seconds to go.'' Barnes, in Bermuda for tomorrow's 20th Easter Rugby Classic, is hoping he can repeat those heroics, preferably not in extra time, before a local crowd which is clearly anxious to view one of British rugby's most exciting players. The game will serve as the ideal tune-up for Barnes and Bath team-mates Richard Hill and Ben Clarke, who are preparing for their third straight title in two weeks, this time against Saracens.

Even with that important match in clear view, Barnes is focussing all his attention on his first trip to Bermuda, where his wife Leslie has joined him.

She will watch him suit up for Bermuda Invitational as the team attempt to seek revenge against Irish, 49-28 winners a year ago, at the National Sports Club at 3.30 p.m.

Barnes expects his team will have ample opportunity to reclaim bragging rights -- with Hill and number eight Clarke joining him. The tactical core of the team will truly be dominated by players well-known to each other. He believes the Bath connection will enable the `scratch' team to click right away.

"He is an outstanding footballer,'' said Brendan Mullin of Barnes, a former British Lions team-mate and member of Irish squad hoping to throw a curve in the Bath trio's game plan. "He is very quick with great acceleration. He can get a back line moving. He is a good tactician and an excellent captain.'' Less than 12 hours after arriving here, Barnes sprinted along South Shore Road in Southampton early yesterday morning for a 30-minute jog in preparation for tomorrow's clash. His Bermuda hosts, Tom and Morag Smith, then arranged for Barnes and his wife to pick up mopeds, where "we will probably be crashing left, right, and centre,'' he said, smiling.

Barnes, 30, bumped his way into the rugby limelight early in his career. As a 19-year-old member of the Oxford University team, he was selected to England's national team. He quickly became a fixture on the international scene, earning six more caps. Then, just as quickly, he dropped out of picture, choosing instead to devote all attention to his club team.

The choice paid off. The five-foot-six, 180-pound player, led his team to seven of the last eight British championships.

This year, after a five-year absence from the national team, Barnes stormed back on the world stage, winning his eighth cap for England. Brilliant performances against Scotland and Ireland enabled him to retain his place on British Lions tour, which heads for New Zealand next month.

"I'm fairly close to my form overall,'' Barnes -- with windswept brown hair and a boyish guileless demeanour -- said yesterday while his eyes were darting towards the kites flying above Riddell's Bay.

"Oh, God, I'm working on every aspect of my game all the time. I think when you get to the stage and you say `I can't get better,' that is the time you hang up your boots.'' The hallmark of the great player, as everyone knows, is doing it when it matters; and by that measuring stick Barnes is great player.

His return to prominence has heated up debate over who should be English out-half -- Barnes or North London Wasp Rob Andrew.

"It has been high profile,'' Barnes said, with benign gruffness, of the chatter. "Both of us kind of smile and shrug our shoulders.'' Barnes, an avid reader and music buff, works as a mortgage lender in Bath.

That makes him an expert on risky business, but except for an injury to his cheekbone, his career has been surprisingly injury-free. He plans to continue playing for three more years and hopes to play in his first-ever World Cup, in 1995, in South Africa.

Jean-Marc Lafond, one of three French players participating in tomorrow's Easter Classic, will now be able to concentrate solely on the rugby game after getting good news about his brother, Jean-Baptiste.

The French Racing Club star, making his second appearance in the Classic and part of the Bermuda-Irish roster, learned just prior to arriving in Bermuda that his brother, Jean-Baptiste, was front and centre in an international doping scandal when he reportedly failed a drug test after a Five Nations clash in Paris on March 20.

But yesterday it was learned that Jean-Baptiste and Welsh rugby union full-back Tony Clement, who was also involved, were cleared of any doping allegations.

Both players admitted they had been given medicine before the match because of sickness. But they strongly maintained their innocence.