By Connor Johnson
Wearing the Barbarians jersey is a prestigious honour, and most greats of the game don’t even get the chance to wear the famous black and white top.
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This year has proposed a different situation for both the players and the coaches, with the Baa Baa’s playing in back-to-back weeks for the first time since playing England and Spain in June 2022.
Playing for the Barbarian’s is such a rare opportunity; some players even come out of retirement just to be a part of what is a special week. When Saracens prop Bryony Cleall retired from professional rugby in October 2025, many thought that would be the last time we saw the former England International on a competitive rugby pitch.
When talking at the Barbarian’s men and women’s training session, Brony described her reason why she came out of retirement to represent the Barbarian’s as “her why.”
“I was just saying just how much fun I had yesterday (Tuesday), well I say I’ve come out of retirement to play in this game, and I thought like, do I go back to it, I had that much fun, then I thought nah.”
“I’ve done it for a reason, but it was just so fun because we just played rugby. We had no cares for mistakes, we had no care for pressure.” “We had no coach shout at us, we were just allowed to play, and yeah, we looked tasty.”
Cleall, who played for Bristol, Saracens, Wasps, and Harlequins in her nine-year career, made 7 appearances for England, but most likely would’ve got more chances in the red rose shirt if it wasn’t for unfortunate injuries stalling her progress when it looked like she would become a mainstay.
Over her time playing professional rugby she would have played with and against many high-calibre players, but admitted that when coming into the Barbarian camp, she was unsure of how to approach the familiar players.
“Coming into the camp, I was like so excited and anxious all at the same time. But the last few days have been better than expected. It’s so odd when you when you say hello on the first day, you’re like hi, like we know each other, but we’ve never actually met each other or like ever conversed, or you sometimes create these like personalities of people in your head, but they’re so different when you meet them.”
Not many people get to make multiple appearances for the Barbarians, and it’s even rarer to make three for them. On Saturday, Flanker Lachlan Boshier will be making his third time putting on the black and white jersey, after appearances against South Africa last week in Cape Town as well as against Fiji in 2024 at Twickenham.
Even though Boshier is gearing up to make his third appearance for the Baa Baa’s, he says it’s still as special as it was when it was his first.
“Yeah definitely, you know you can’t take this opportunity for granted you know there’s every player in the world would love to be here, so you know when i get asked, of course i’m going to do it, and yeah this is probably going to be my last time, so i’m treating it like my last time, and yeah its just as good as the first time.”
Both Cleall and Boshier will both be starting for the Barbarians women’s and men’s teams when both take on Wales at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday. The Men kick things off at 2 PM, before the Women take to the field at 5 PM, on the same turf.
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