THE BARBARIANS HAVE confirmed their 23-man squad for the clash with Ireland on Thursday at Thomond Park, with Ulster’s Ruan Pienaar among the final additions.
The South African scrum-half will be joined by New Zealand internationals Jason Eaton and Saimone Taumoepeau in the invitational side’s famous black and white shirt in Limerick this week, while it’s also been confirmed that Thomas Waldrom will be involved.
Of most excitement is the confirmation that 40-year-old Brad Thorn will ineed be part of the BaaBaas squad too, as he gets set to retire from playing to take up a coaching role with the Queensland Reds in Australia.
On Friday, the Barbarians confirmed that Leinster trio Shane Jennings, Zane Kirchner and Jimmy Gopperth accepted invitations to play under Robbie Deans, who has been strongly linked with the province’s vacant head coaching position.
Leinster supporters will also enjoy the sight of legendary lock Thorn back on Irish soil against Joe Schmidt’s national team on Thursday evening.
Among the other exciting names in the squad are former New Zealand wing Joe Rokocoko, Wales international Alex Cuthbert and Wallabies flanker George Smith.
Barbarians squad to face Ireland:
Backs:
Gio Aplon (Grenoble & South Africa)
Stephen Brett (Lyon)
Tomas Cubelli (Belgrano Ath & Argentina)
Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues & Wales)
Yoshi Fujita (Panasonic Wild Knights & Japan)
Jimmy Gopperth (Leinster)
Zane Kirchner (Leinster & South Africa)
Ugo Monye (Harlequins & England)
Wynand Olivier (Montpellier & South Africa)
Ruan Pienaar (Ulster & South Africa)
Tusi Pisi (Suntory Sungoliath & Samoa)
Joe Rokocoko (Bayonne & New Zealand)
David Smith (Toulon)
Forwards:
Matias Diaz (Pampas & Argentina)
Jason Eaton (La Rochelle & New Zealand)
Deon Fourie (Lyon)
Shane Jennings (Leinster & Ireland)
Pablo Matera (Pampas & Argentina)
Konstantin Mikautadze (Toulon & Georgia)
Ryu Koliniasi Holani (Panasonic Wild Knights & Japan)
Adam Jones (Cardiff Blues & Wales)
Rodrigo Capo Ortega (Castres & Uruguay)
George Smith (Lyon & Australia)
Saimone Taumoepeau (Castres & New Zealand)
Rodrigo Tejerizo (Tucuman & Argentina)
Brad Thorn (Leicester Tigers & New Zealand)
Gerhard Vosloo (Toulon)
David Ward (Harlequins)
Thomas Waldrom (Exeter Chiefs & England)
George Whitelock (Panasonic Wild Knights & New Zealand)
Tickets for the Ireland v Barbarians match are priced from €30 and family (1 adult & 1 junior) terrace packs from €25 at www.ticketmaster.ie or 0818 719 300.
