Justin Marshall: The big winners were the Barbarians

New Zealand's Beauden Barrett is tackled by Andy Ellis of the Barbarians. Photo / Photosport

The Barbarians showed in their performance against the All Blacks in front of 65,000 at Twickenham that this is a worthwhile fixture in the rugby calendar because they played their part in an entertaining and valuable game for Steve Hansen's men.

This match celebrated the history of the Barbarians club and their previous matches against the men in black and once again it was a great spectacle.

Near the start of the year there were some murmorings from this part of the world that the fixture should be changed to a test against England. New Zealand Rugby and the All Blacks stayed firm and there's a good reason for that, because a lot of Kiwis have played for the Baabaas and we owe a debt of gratitude to the club.

I thought they gave everything they had. They played with a smile on their faces and tried things, as is the Baabaas way. They didn't go for goal, as is traditional, preferring to run just about everything and that put a significant amount of pressure on the All Blacks. It also meant they had to dig very deep and be disciplined.

There's always a stage in a match where the Baabaas are going to run out of puff and that's part and parcel of the week and the entertainment they enjoy off the field as well as on it. It took the All Blacks a long time to wear them down, though.

The rain didn't help the Barbarians. They stayed true to their values and tried to continue to move the ball and to be ambitous. Once the rain came the All Blacks tightened up and become far more direct.

They turned to some brutal running lines and were far more disciplined with the ball and the Barbarians couldn't adjust. The All Blacks' changed game plan showed they had some leadership.

Any player who has come up against Baabaas will say they are difficult because they don't play a normal style. You wait for them to kick to exit their red zone and they don't and it can be frustrating because it seems they play with no real pattern.

The All Blacks might be a bit perturbed by how long it took them to get control of the match but there was always going to be rust given the changes and inexperience of many of their players.

The big winners were the Baabaas and many of the 10 New Zealanders in the starting line-up, some of whom are on the fringe of the national team. The All Black selectors might look at some of them and think 'wow, maybe these guys can actually step up to international rugby'.

Some of the All Blacks didn't find their way into the game because of the way it flowed; men like David Havili, Seta Tamanivalu and Anton Lienert-Brown. But Ngani Laumape was good and Waisake Naholo was excellent with and without the ball. He is certainly taking his chances in Nehe Milner-Skudder's absence.

Up front, Ardie Savea was industrious and I thought Luke Romano showed a lot of maturity. He's under-rated and when the All Blacks needed someone make a strong carry or tackle and make a good decision, he did that. When you take out Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick, Romano is a very important player in that tight five.