Barbarians take on Wales and Sharks in Super Rugby

Freddie Michalak Picture from http://bit.ly/lzCzJO

Now the regular season is over, a bit of housekeeping to take care of. First of all, reintroduce myself to my wife and kids and shower them with rare gifts unheard of in their lifetime (the remote control). But let’s not get too carried away as we still have a decent Barbarians match to look forward to, and Super Rugby is still ticking away.


I really like the look of this Barbarians match, this looks like it could be the real deal unlike the Baa Baa’s/England lite/Saxons effort last weekend – which in fairness was a pretty entertaining affair. This match looks more like an even contest. I’m interested to see Gav playing for Wales – is the WRU trying to launch a reality TV show maybe? Could also be in for his rugby ability, you never know. It’s a good looking Barbarians side, and one match played, one won and with continuity in selection this is definitely going on the Sky +.

Wales: 15 Morgan Stoddart, 14 George North, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Gavin Henson, 11 Aled Brew, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (capt), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Luke Charteris, 4 Ryan Jones, 3 Paul James, 2 Huw Bennett, 1 Nathan Bevington.

Replacements: 16 Lloyd Burns, 17 Scott Andrews, 18 Alun-Wyn Jones, 19 Josh Turnbull, 20 Tavis Knoyle, 21 Rhys Priestland, 22 Nathan Williams.

Barbarians: 15 Isa Nacewa, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Seru Rabeni, 12 Mathieu Bastareaud, 11 Doug Howlett, 10 Brock James, 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Sergio Parisse (capt), 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Joe van Niekerk, 5 Paul Tito, 4 Iosefa Tekori, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Sebastien Bruno, 1 Iestyn Thomas.

Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Davit Kubriashvili, 18 Erik Lund, 19 George Smith, 20 Lloyd Williams, 21 Willie Mason, 22 Benoit Baby.

Shark Bite

This is a derby for the Sharks with the Cheetahs. South African derbies are an acquired taste, like biltong or borewors . This is going to be umpteen kgs of good South African beef involved in high speed collisions, with a generous body count. The Cheetahs are on a roll, so not sure how the Sharks are going to do, especially in Bloem. But hey, got to back your team, so Sharks by three – as long as they remember to play both halves. Looking forward to seeing how Michalak slots in there – I’d love to see him at scrum half with Lambie at fly half.

International Match


Saturday , June 4

Wales vs Barbarians 14:30

Super Rugby


Friday , June 3

Highlanders vs Western Force 19:35

Melbourne Rebels vs Stormers 19:40

Bulls vs Waratahs 19:10

Saturday , June 4

Hurricanes vs Lions 17:30

Blues vs Chiefs 19:35

Reds vs Brumbies 19:40

Cheetahs vs Sharks 17:05