Watch: Cheeky George Kruis conversion at Twickenham

George Kruis marked his final match of professional rugby by kicking six points in the Barbarians’ 52-21 win over an England XV at Twickenham – and he did it in style too.

The second-row, who has won 45 caps for England and toured with the British & Irish Lions in 2017, announced earlier this year that he would be retiring at the end of the season after a stint in Japan. He is only 32 but is keen to pursue his business interests.

Still, Kruis was able to bow out by putting in a Player of the Match performance in an impressive victory for the Baa-Baas, who ran out comfortable winners despite playing with 14 men for more than 40 minutes.

That was after Will Skelton was sent off for a dangerous tackle on Patrick Schickerling.

He kicked three conversions from in front of the posts in the second half, Baa-Baas fly-half Antoine Hastoy setting up the ball on the tee for him each time.

The first, of Baptiste Couilloud’s try early in the second half, was pretty straightforward, but Kruis added a little bit of flair with the other two.

Following Max Spring’s try in the final ten minutes, Kruis back-heeled the kick over the bar.

His former Saracens team-mate Richard Barrington captured the cheeky conversion here…

The third of his three conversions came in the last minute after Hastoy had scored the eighth and final Baa-Baas try. This time his team-mates formed a tunnel and slow-clapped him to the tee, and – like the others – he made no mistake in bisecting the posts.

“Have I been practising my kicking? No,” said Kruis afterwards. “The state of my legs, I thought I was going to pull a hammy!

“The Barbarians is everything that’s good about rugby. It’s been an epic week and as a fixture it’s something that should be celebrated. It’s a fantastic result off the back of a pretty social week.”

George Kruis is clapped by his Baa-Baas team-mates as he kicks the final conversion (Getty Images)

Asked if the match had made him rethink his retirement, he said: “Like a lot of my decisions in rugby it’s been planned from a long while out, I ask for opinions and plan things.

“I’m really comfortable with the career I’ve had and I’m equally as excited for the next opportunity with my business and continuing to create memories.

“We (the Barbarians) had a good time off the field and followed that up with an on-field memory. It was about creating a decent memory on the field.”

Those conversions – particularly the back-heel – will surely last long in the memory for those at Twickenham!

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