With the verdict safely in hand, it was up to a 33-year-old lawyer from Belfast, Ireland, to explain how the Classic Barbarians so thoroughly outplayed their opponents from England.

Barbarians full-back Colin Wilkinson had his fingerprints all over the first game of the World Rugby Classic, leading his squad to a 29-18 victory behind his first-half try (the first of the tournament), a penalty kick and a pair of conversions.

When the attorney, who specialises in matrimonial law and played once for Ireland last January, was not lighting up the scoreboard he was putting his team in excellent scoring position.

"We have a good blend of brain and brawn,'' said Wilkinson, picking his way through the post-game celebration. "I had missed the early conversion then got the penalty, and that kind of got us going.'' The Barbarians built up an 8-0 lead in the first half before England took control on a penalty kick from Huw Davis and then a try from centre Rob Lozowsky with a conversion from Davis. That was the only time they would hold the lead in the game.

The Barbarians then erupted for three tries from flanker Mike Rafter, wing Bill Gammell and flanker Willie Duncan to make the score 29-10 before the half.

Barbarians appeared to be transported by a kind of invulnerable enthusiasm on a fall day bright as polished copper.

Barbarians -- made up of players from Ireland, Scotland and Wales -- seemed to build on momentum from their Irish contingent, led by Wilkinson, centre John Hewitt and former Ireland captain Phillip Matthews.

Despite being kept off the scoresheet, Matthews made his presence felt with bone-crunching tackles and frequently put his side in excellent field position.

"I thought he had an outstanding game,'' said Wilkinson of Matthews. "I think he will show up throughout the tournament.'' Matthews, participating in his first Classic, produced several blows on English players, which left them staggering backwards like bad actors in Westerns.

"You know we wanted to win the game,'' said Matthews, who also had 38 caps for his country.

"We played like typical Celts today. We got a couple of good scores early on which put the pressure on them and it was then all up to them.

"You could see it was a very committed game and I think that's what the crowd wanted as well. They don't want a half-hearted ballgame and then see everybody off to the beer tent. This was very much a good 60-minute run-around.'' The Barbarians were unable to duplicate their first-half scoring heroics and were left off the scoreboard by a stubborn English side.

Scores by Davis (penalty) and full-back Paul Boyle (try) put the score at 29-18 and moved England to within 11 points, but they were bottled up during much of the half.

The Barbarians now face Australia tomorrow night (8.45 p.m.) while England can breathe easy until Thursday (3.30 p.m.) when they also lock horns with the Aussies.

THE EYES HAVE IT -- It was all eyes on the ball as England attempted to thwart a first-half scoring flurry by the Classic Barbarians.