Strong Barbarians side named to play Wallabies at Twickenham

Angus Ta'avao is actually playing in the ITM Cup final, then jetting off to the UK. He's 1.94m and 124 Kg, but he is an exceptionally fit looking guy - besides being strong in the scrum, very good at tackling and carting the ball up. Brings a very physical presence to the defence and forward momentum. Obviously John Kirwan knows of his ability and rates him highly.

That match against the Barbarians made me a fan of the Baa Baas to this day. I still have that match on DVD. A couple of years before, my dad had taken me to my first rugby international at the SCG - Australia v France. I remember the crowd moaning everytime the Australian fullback tried to kick for territory, knowing all he'd succeeded in doing was giving the ball to Blanco - quite possibly the best fullback I've ever seen.

Yeah they want to win.

I don't care what you do around the paddock if you can't scrummage you don't matter. There are very few good scrummagers in NZ and the ones who are get overlooked for the ones who can kick and pass like a back.

other squad announcements. England squad: Forwards: Joe Marler (Harlequins) , Matt Mullan (Wasps), Kieran Brookes (Newcastle) , David Wilson (Bath), Dylan Hartley (Northampton), Rob Webber (Bath), Dave Attwood (Bath), George Kruis (Saracens), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Courtney Lawes (Northampton), Calum Clark (Northampton ), James Haskell (Wasps), Ben Morgan (Gloucester), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, captain), Billy Vunipola (Saracens), Tom Wood (Northampton) Backs: Danny Care (Harlequins) , Lee Dickson (Northampton) , Ben Youngs (Leicester), Owen Farrell (Saracens), George Ford (Bath), Stephen Myler (Northampton), Brad Barritt (Saracens) , Luther Burrell (Northampton), Kyle Eastmond (Bath), Jonathan Joseph (Bath), Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester), Mike Brown (Harlequins), Alex Goode (Saracens), Jonny May (Gloucester), Jack Nowell (Exeter), Semesa Rokoduguni (Bath), Marland Yarde (Harlequins) Ireland squad: Forwards (21): Stephen Archer, Rodney Ah You, Rory Best, James Cronin, Sean Cronin, Robbie Diack, Dave Foley, Chris Henry, Jamie Heaslip, Dave Kilcoyne, Mike McCarthy , Jack McGrath, Paul O'Connell (c), Tommy O'Donnell, Peter O'Mahony, Mike Ross, Rhys Ruddock, Dominic Ryan, Richardt Strauss, Devin Toner, Nathan White. Backs (16): Tommy Bowe, Gordon D'Arcy, Craig Gilroy, Robbie Henshaw, Felix Jones, Rob Kearney, Ian Keatley, Darragh Leader, Ian Madigan, Kieran Marmion, Conor Murray, Stuart Olding, Jared Payne, Eoin Reddan, Johnny Sexton, Simon Zebo. Wales squad for November: Forwards: Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Paul James (Bath Rugby), Nicky Smith (Ospreys), Richard Hibbard (Gloucester Rugby), Emyr Phillips (Scarlets), Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Aaron Jarvis (Ospreys), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Rhodri Jones (Scarlets), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Bradley Davies (Wasps), Luke Charteris (Racing Métro), Dan Lydiate (Racing Métro), James King (Ospreys), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues, CAPT), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Dan Baker (Ospreys), Taulupe Faletau (Dragons). Backs: Mike Phillips (Racing Métro), Rhys Webb (Ospreys), Rhodri Williams (Scarlets), Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), Cory Allen (Cardiff Blues), James Roberts (Racing Métro), Jonathan Davies (ASM Clermont Auvergne), Scott Williams (Scarlets), Hallam Amos (Dragons), Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), George North (Northampton Saints), Tom Prydie (Dragons), Leigh Halfpenny (Toulon), Liam Williams (Scarlets). Scotland squad: Forwards: Adam Ashe (Glasgow Warriors), Johnnie Beattie (Castres), Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors), Blair Cowan, Geoff Cross (both London Irish), Alasdair Dickinson, Ross Ford (both Edinburgh), Chris Fusaro (Glasgow Warriors), Grant Gilchrist (c) (Edinburgh), Robert Harley, Jonny Gray (both Glasgow Warriors), Richie Gray (Castres), Scott Lawson (Newcastle Falcons), Kieran Low (London Irish), Euan Murray, Gordon Reid (both Glasgow Warriors) Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan), Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors). Backs: Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors), Chris Cusiter (Sale Sharks), Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors), Dougie Fife, Tom Heathcote (both Edinburgh), Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors), Greig Laidlaw (Gloucester), Sean Lamont, Sean Maitland, Finn Russell, Henry Pyrgos, Tommy Seymour (all Glasgow Warriors), Duncan Taylor (Saracens), Tim Visser (Edinburgh), Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors).

they dont have a 8 also :)

Blues have tall props, Taavao Prattley and Tungafaasi are all 6' 4" 120kg+ guys. but their first choice of Woodcock & Faumuina are only 6" :)

i thought Nepo laulala was the outstanding prop in ITM but then his team dropped out at semis , so....

have to get players who are idling. cant pick frontline players in europe becoz of club matches. can only pick from those not in the NZ ITM finals. same goes for SA.

Its a better team than Australia. Hard to get them playing like a unit though.

who's available? players contracted to clubs UK/Europe unlikely to be released; to me looks like he's scratching to get a squad together, announcing new ones a few at a time.Waits for a player to say 'no' then approaches another one. Nothing in it for a club to release a player who could be playing for them, and possibly get injured - then who would be liable for their rehab time?

None of the training would have been in the Test window, and it is not a Test anyway. That is what happens when you let the clubs dictate player availability.

Well,you could always go back to the days when the Barbarians were essentially the BILs.For example the 1973 ( the 1971 Lions minus Barry John) or the 1989 team ( the team was essentially the Lions team of that year). I think it all changed in 2009 when the ABs toured,and the Baabaas were stacked with mainly SA and Aussie players with a kiwi and a Welshman making up the numbers.It was about the Barbarians winning,entertainment was of secondary importance. And you will find it is no different with this team.Chieka is going to find them a difficult assignment,the only thing in his favor is Kirwan is coaching the team.

"NZ will have around 10+ fringe ABs gaining international experience that arent part of the ABs squad..." There would've been even more playing if the NZRU were to engage their brains and drop the Maori in favour of the Juniors.

The crowd will get some southern running rugby!

Only 2 Northern Hemisphere players? I would have liked to have seen more. A proper balance between players from the 2 hemispheres. I know that most of the top-flight European players are on club duty at the moment, and have their own international matches to worry about, but I'm sure JK could have found a few European stars to light up Twickenham. I miss the Babas' days of old, where the cream of players in Europe took on a champion SANZAR nation. I think the Barbarians is 1 team that has really being affected by the game becoming professional. It's 30 years since the Grand Slam winning Wallabies, including David Campese, Michael Lynagh, Nick Farr Jones and the Ella brothers (the only Australian rugby team to achieve a Grand Slam against the 4 Home Unions. That team was coached by none other than Alan Jones!) took on a star-studded Barbarians side, including Serge Blanco and Rory Underwood. The Wallabies won a classic game, 37-30. Ah, great days!

Kiwi Coach = Kiwi Players. Not uncommon for Baa Baas coaches to pick from near their base and from competitions with which they are familiar.

it's a conspiracy to give All black players on the fringe game time

Pretty strange for a European tour to have all tri nation teams, obviously dont want a crowd. Did Pulver organise this

Jeez, there is a lot of Kiwis in the team... Any particular reason?