Australian Barbarians 28 - 28 England: Attwood citing mars tour opening draw

ENGLAND lock Dave Attwood has been cited over two alleged stamping incidents in their draw with the Australian Barbarians.

The 23-year-old Gloucester forward has been summoned to appear before an independent disciplinary hearing in Perth today.

Attwood is alleged to have stamped on the Barbarians scrum-half Josh Valentine in the 34th minute and his opposite number Mitch Chapman in the 50th minute.

If Attwood is found guilty by judicial officer Paul Tully, he could be ruled out of the remainder of England's five-match tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Manager Martin Johnson, meanwhile, has warned England they will be floored by Australia in Saturday's first Test if they cannot learn the lessons from their draw with the Wallaby second-string.

England narrowly avoided a tour-opening defeat after the Barbarians had streaked into a 25-13 lead, courtesy of a hat-trick of tries from full-back James O'Connor.

No8 Dan Ward-Smith and wing Matt Banahan added to Lee Mears' first-half try, and 13 points from Olly Barkley edged England back into the lead.

But Australia fly-half Berrick Barnes drew the scores level with a penalty straight from the restart and England would have lost had his last-gasp penalty attempt not dropped wide.

England tackle the Wallabies in the first of two Tests on Saturday and have another clash with Barbarians to come in Gosford next Tuesday. "Both camps see this as a four-round fight and it is level after the first round," said Johnson. "We really could and maybe should have won the game at the end with the opportunities we had. Of course, we could have lost it."

Barkley took on the kicking duties and he pushed England into a 6-0 lead.

Eventually the Barbarians breached England's whitewash. After a powerful run from hooker Hiua Edmunds, the ball was spread right and O'Connor managed to hold off Barkley and Ugo Monye to score.

The Barbarians continued to cause trouble on the outside before O'Connor spotted a mismatch in England's defensive line and sliced past Flatman and Mears to score his second try.

England soon worked a reply, with Mears burrowing over from short-range.

O'Connor extended the Barbarians' lead with a second penalty just before the interval.

Three minutes after the break, Josh Valentine attacked left where the Barbarians had a two-man overlap and the scrum-half dabbed a delightful kick in behind Banahan for O'Connor to score. The Western Force 19-year-old, playing on his home ground, landed the touchline conversion and was then replaced, triggering the England comeback that was ultimately reined in by Barnes.

Scorers. Barbarians: Tries: O'Connor 3. Cons: O'Connor 2. Pens: O'Connor 2, Barnes. England: Tries: Mears, Ward-Smith, Banahan. Cons: Barkley 2. Pens: Barkley 3.

Australian Barbarians: J O'Connor; N Cummins, W Chambers, A Faingaa, L Turner; B Barnes, J Valentine; S Hoiles, M Hodgson, B McCalman, M Chisholm, M Chapman, L Weeks, H Edmonds, P Cowan. Subs: D Fitzpatrick, J Slipper, K Douglas, P McCutcheon, L Burgess, K Beale, P Hynes.

England: D Armitage; M Banahan, M Tait, O Barkley, U Monye; C Hodgson, R Wigglesworth; D Flatman, L Mears, D Wilson, D Attwood, G Parling, C Robshaw, H Fourie, D Ward-Smith. Subs: G Chuter, P Doran-Jones, C Lawes, J Worsley, P Hodgson, S Geraghty, D Waldouck.

Referee: S Dickinson (Aus).