RUGBY UNION: A mammoth crowd of 2,174 created a sea of spectators at Gold Park yesterday to watch the Classic Wallabies and Darling Downs Barbarians battle it out.

The scoreline finished 58-19 in favour of the Classic Wallabies, however it was inconsequential, as rugby union had it's chance to shine brightly.

Nathan Sharpe led the Classic Wallabies out for the exhibition match, and said

"It was a great afternoon of rugby with a lot of the old Classic Wallabies that haven't pulled the boots on for a while, so we were a bit sluggish out of the blocks," Sharpe said.

"The Downs guys played a great spirit of rugby.

"We had a great time. The spirit at the ground was fantastic and the crowd was awesome.

"It was a really good turnout and that is what it's all about.

"The Classic Wallabies guys that were lucky enough to play for Australia in some regard and it's always important to give back."

Paul Hanna captained the Barbarians, and he relished the chance to put the boots on again with old mates.

"They're pretty sharp still. They've got a good skill level and they were really hard to tackle," Hanna said.

"But we really enjoyed it and we took that attitude into the game. We said let's have some fun, we knew they would still have those skills so we just went out to enjoy it.

"We never thought we'd get the chance to do that again. It was really special"