Three Irish In Baa-Baas Squad
Three Irish players – Bob Casey, Peter Bracken and David Humphreys – have been included in the Barbarians squad for Saturday’s Gartmore Challenge match against England.
…Bob Casey claims a lineout for London Irish against Ulster last August…
Three Irish players – Bob Casey, Peter Bracken and David Humphreys – have been included in the Barbarians squad for Saturday’s Gartmore Challenge match against England.
London Irish lock Casey is the only one to make the starting line-up for the Twickenham clash (kick-off 3.00pm), which will be televised live on Sky Sports 3 from 2.30pm onwards.
The Maynooth-born Casey has played 33 times for Irish this season, scoring 4 tries. His second row partnership with Nick Kennedy has again been to the fore for the Exiles, who narrowly lost last Sunday’s European Challenge Cup final to Gloucester.
Out-half Humphreys, who is hoping to guide Ulster to Celtic League glory tonight, has a busy few days ahead of him. The 34-year-old’s services are also required for the World XV who face South Africa next Saturday (June 3) in Johannesburg. The Springboks are warming up for their two Test against Scotland.
Meanwhile, Tullamore prop Bracken, who has been called up to the Irish summer tour squad, is one of seven new Barbarians included in the panel for the Twickenham tie – the Wasps forward joins Humphreys on the provisional replacements bench. Another Wasp, French hooker Raphael Ibanez will captain the Baa-Baas, who beat England 52-39 in last year’s corresponding fixture.
Australian World Cup-winning coach Bob Dwyer takes charges of the touring side this weekend, with Leicester’s Pat Howard in charge for Wednesday’s game against Scotland.
BARBARIANS: Matt Burke (Newcastle Falcons/Australia); Bruce Reihana (Northampton Saints/New Zealand), Thomas Castaignede (Saracens/France), *Dominic Feau’nati (London Irish/Samoa), Joe Roff (Kubota/Australia); Carlos Spencer (Northampton Saints/New Zealand), Mark Robinson (Northampton Saints/New Zealand); Andrea Lo Cicero (L’Aquila/Italy), Raphael Ibanez (London Wasps/France) (capt), Christian Califano (Gloucester/France), Bob Casey (London Irish/Ireland), *Tom Palmer (London Wasps/England), Xavier Rush (Cardiff Blues/New Zealand), Olivier Magne (London Irish/France), *Toutai Kefu (Kubota/Australia).
Replacements (from): Mark Regan (Bristol/England), *Peter Bracken (London Wasps), *Daniel Leo (London Wasps/Samoa), Sam Harding (Northampton Saints/New Zealand), Justin Marshall (Ospreys/New Zealand), David Humphreys (Ulster/Ireland), *Isa Nacewa (Auckland/Fiji), Fraser Waters (London Wasps/England), *Dave Hewett (Edinburgh Gunners/New Zealand), Owen Finegan (Newcastle Falcons/Australia).
* – denotes new Barbarian