By Connor Johnson
After last week’s 80-31 loss at the hands of South Africa, Barbarian’s coach, Scott Robertson, would be hoping for a better performance this weekend.
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His much-changed side takes on Wales at Allianz Stadium, with 19 internationals from 11 different nations being brought into the side who showed glimpses of the Barbarian flair in Cape Town.
Players such as Springboks scrum half Faf de Klerk, who has been named captain for the week, Wales legend George North, who has announced that this will be his last professional rugby match on Saturday, and Vincent Koch, who won the Rugby World Cup in 2019 and 2023 playing with de Klerk, so those two will be a duo to look out for on Saturday.
With a team glittered with International superstars, it’s always going to be hard to pick a captain, especially when most of the side have leadership experience internationally and domestically. Robertson and Deans decided on Faf de Klerk to be their team’s captain for this occasion. The coaches revealed that Faf was “extremely excited” to get to work.
“He was pretty honoured to be the captain, and you know extremely experienced, and he was just straight to the group about, he knows what a test week is, but he also has the balance of what’s required for the Baa Baa’s. So he’ll get more comfortable as the week goes on, he’s a competitor, that’s why he’s captain.”
George North will bow out from his professional career against the nation he has 121 caps for, as well as 47 tries with in the red jersey.
Robertson revealed, “It’s great that he’s getting this opportunity. He’s had some great moments in his career, and this is another one.
“He’s a figure that we all respect. He’s had a hell of a career, and it’s a great way for him to go out.”
With the Barbarians’ side only being together for a short time, it’s always hard to try to implement a certain brand of rugby, especially since players don’t play together regularly, and that always gives the coaches selection headaches. Robertson and assistant coach Robbie Deans said that it’s nice that this type of squad can still come together in the age of rugby contract talks always being front and centre.
“I reckon its been about the 50th iteration of the team.” Deans said. “You’ve got the Top 14 (players) until they get knocked out, then they’re cleared to play by the coach, and then if you’re in the running for the Wallabies to be named in the squad, and then someone misses out, then it gets run down to Sunday evening or morning.”
“It’s getting harder, which isn’t surprising in this era. Not many declined, there was an invitation obviously, and the players understand the privilege [of the Barbarians], so it’s more of a contractual.”
The words flair and talent are usually synonymous with the Baa Baa’s, and Coach Scott Robertson thinks this weekend will be no different from what the spectators will be expecting, and described his team’s style of rugby on Saturday as “entertainment.”
“What we can expect is a skillful game, and throw the ball around, [like] what we did last week.”
“Probably chased it a little bit. We’re trying to get the 50 [points], but just entertainment, guys showing me gifts and skills, and then a couple of water breaks, that’s what we’ll definitely see this week, obviously with the heat, but yeah, a united group, and the boys play for each other.”
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