The Black Jacks replied soon after when their openside flanker scooped up a spilt ball from a Barbarians backline move and ran 40 metres to score.

Despite gaining the upper hand in the forwards the Barbarians were at times their own worst enemies during the match, too often pushing passes and dropping balls at critical moments.

Man of the match Matt Tully set up the Barbarians’ second try just before half time when he raced through a gap and offloaded to Sonny Power who gained more solid metres up field. From the resulting ruck the Barbarians swung it wide to Ashley Kirk who offloaded back inside to Steve O’Leary who carried a defender over to score.

After the 12-7 halftime break the Black Jacks mounted a sustained period of attack that led to two tries. After defending their line continuously for repeated phases the Barbarians eventually ran out of defenders allowing the Black Jacks’ outside centre to score in the corner. The Black Jacks’ third try was again the result of a dropped ball by the Barbarians, with the outside centre seizing on the ball in open space to race to the corner.

The 12-17 deficit stung the Barbarians into life, and a return to basics and simple ball in hand rugby was rewarded when Ashley Kirk scored the match winner with six minutes to go.

A powerful scrum by the Barbarians and good pressure from the loose forwards forced the Black Jacks to lose the ball close to their line, and Kirk was right on the spot to pick it up and step a defender to score beneath the posts.

Halfback Matt Tully then scored one of the best individual tries of the tour to seal the match, stepping passed two defenders and then sprinting away to the line. The Goondiwindi halfback had the Black Jacks in two minds every time he touched the ball.

It was also one of the best performances by the forwards on tour, who played disciplined rugby and repeatedly had their opponents on the backfoot throughout the match.

The pink jerseys bore the logo of tour sponsor Central Queensland University. Two of the Barbarian’s players, Simon Steinhoffer and Murray Brooks, are graduates of the university, as is tour manager Geoff Barton.

Despite the high level of competition they play in, rugby struggles for crowd support in Las Vegas and the Black Jacks do not have their own home-base. They play each game at a public park where they have to erect their own temporary goal posts and mark their own lines before each match.

A large percentage of the players are employed as labourers in the numerous construction sites around the city – Las Vegas is said to be the fastest growing city in the US – while other players include a bar owner, a banquet manager at the Hard Rock Hotel, a mortgage broker and a colonel in the US Airforce.

Most of the foreigners currently on the team hail from islander and Irish heritage.