His day's work done, Berrick Barnes kicked back and watched Australia's Tri Nations opener against South Africa from the comfort of the stands on Saturday night.

The Wallabies World Cup hopeful got down and dirty in a successful comeback from footballers' migraine earlier on Saturday in Sydney club rugby.

Barnes scored one try, had a hand in another and landed six conversions from 10 attempts for a 17-point haul in Sydney University's 62-7 rout of Penrith on the University's muddy No.1 oval.

Having not played for six weeks following a series of head knocks during NSW's Super Rugby campaign, Barnes started at fullback and finished at flyhalf in an encouraging return.

The classy midfielder and one-time Wallabies vice-captain grew in confidence after effecting a couple of textbook front-on tackles in the opening exchanges and played out the full 80 minutes in a solid workout.

His general-play kicking was also sound, almost setting up three more five-pointers with probing kicks.

"It was good to get back out there with the boys," he said.

"I felt fine in the head. I was a little bit rusty so obviously I needed to get some footy.

"But, other than that, I'm pretty happy with it all and the head was fine."

With the Rugby World Cup seven weeks away, Barnes remains a strong chance of forcing his way into Australia's 30-man squad for New Zealand.

Wallabies coach Robbie Deans - who dropped 92-Test veteran Matt Giteau from his 22-man squad for Saturday's the Springboks showdown, preferring Pat McCabe as inside centre and Anthony Faingaa on the bench - will no doubt be following Barnes' progress in coming weeks.

Australia have three more Tri Nations Tests before their World Cup opener against Italy in Wellington on September 11.

The Wallabies take on the All Blacks on August 6 and August 27 in Auckland and Brisbane and clash with the Springboks again in Durban in three weeks.

"I'll be sticking around here with Uni, I'd say," Barnes said.

"I've got to get some footy under my belt yet before any of the other stuff."

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