Wallabies coach Dave Rennie will take charge of the Barbarians XV featuring Quade Cooper and at least three other Australians after the team’s Spring Tour commitments in November.
The first tranche of players for a game at Twickenham on November 27 was named Tuesday with the Wallabies’ reborn No.10 continuing to prove a favourite of Rennie, who restored him to the team after a long time absence this campaign.
Player News for the @KillikandCo Cup v @manusamoa ????????
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Quade Cooper ???????? #Baabaas #KillikCup #rugby pic.twitter.com/CwnANGJBAX— Barbarian FC (@Barbarian_FC) October 4, 2021
After a mentoring role against New Zealand, Rennie gave Cooper the keys to the Wallabies backline and he has been unbeaten in four starts with wins against South Africa and Argentina.
Len Ikitau, called up by Rennie last year after just one Super Rugby appearance, halfback Nic White and Rennie’s go to loose forward back up Pete Samu are the other Aussies named, with the full selection yet to be completed.
The match was planned to be be against the Samoan Test side however they have pulled out of the game. It’s expected to be a ‘Manu Samoa’ selection in their place.
Argentina’s Pablo Matera, one of the six players who missed the final Rugby Championship Test after leaving camp to go to Byron Bay, was also named on Tuesday.
The invitational side have also confirmed four Springboks: Steven Kitshoff, Frans Malherbe, Malcolm Marx and Duane Vermeulen.
More names are to be added in the coming weeks.
More than 35,000 tickets have been sold for the match but Samoa have announced their withdrawal due to their country’s travel restrictions.