O’Kelly And Quinlan To Start Against Ireland
Record-breaking Leinster lock Malcolm O’Kelly and Munster’s long-serving back rower Alan Quinlan have both been named in the Barbarians starting line-up for Friday’s clash with Ireland at Thomond Park (kick-off 7.45pm).
Another familiar face to the sell-out home crowd for the MasterCard Trophy match will be Munster’s Australian-born full-back Paul Warwick.
Warwick played in last Sunday’s 35-26 defeat for the Barbarians to England at Twickenham.
Malcolm O’Kelly, who is retiring at the end of the season, has played on three previous occasions for the Baa Baas, against South Africa in December 2000 and Scotland and England in May 2004.
Friday’s game at Thomond Park – the Barbarians’ first visit to the famous Limerick venue – will be an extra special occasion for Alan Quinlan as it will mark his debut for the black and white-shirted invitational team.
Xavier Rush, who captained the Barbarians at Twickenham, again leads the side which also features two additions to the tour squad this week – Schalk Brits at hooker and out-half Brock James from newly-crowned Top 14 champions Clermont Auvergne.
Paul Sackey faces a late fitness test on a hamstring injury before taking his place on the replacements bench, and Fabrice Estebanez is standing by to deputise.
This will be the first time that Ireland has played the Barbarians in Ireland since 2000. The most recent meeting between the two sides also coincided with the last Southern Hemisphere tour Ireland undertook in 2008 when the men in green played the Barbarians in Gloucester, winning the game 39-14.
Former French international Philippe Saint-Andre, who is coaching the touring Baa Baas, played three times for the Barbarians in the 1990s, including the 1994 match against South Africa when he was a try-scorer in the famous 23-15 victory for the club.
His assistant coach Kingsley Jones represented the Barbarians twice on the 2000 summer tour.
The Ireland team and replacements will be confirmed by head coach Declan Kidney on Wednesday afternoon.
BARBARIANS TEAM & REPLACEMENTS (v Ireland XV, MasterCard Trophy Match, Thomond Park, Friday, June 4, kick-off 7.45pm):
15 – Paul Warwick (Munster)
14 – Cedric Heymans (Toulouse/France)
13 – Casey Laulala (Cardiff Blues/New Zealand)
12 – Seru Rabeni (Leeds Carnegie/Fiji)
11 – David Smith (Hurricanes)
10 – Brock James (Clermont Auvergne)
9 – Pierre Mignoni (Toulon/France)
1 – David Barnes (Bath)
2 – Schalk Brits (Saracens/South Africa)
3 – Census Johnston (Toulouse/Samoa)
4 – Jerome Thion (Biarritz Olympique/France)
5 – Malcolm O’Kelly (Leinster/Ireland)
6 – Alan Quinlan (Munster/Ireland)
7 – George Smith (Brumbies/Australia)
8 – Xavier Rush (Cardiff Blues/New Zealand) (capt)
Replacements:
16 – Benoit August (Biarritz Olympique/France)
17 – Julian White (Leicester Tigers/England)
18 – Rodney So’oialo (Hurricanes/New Zealand)
19 – Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues/Wales)
20 – Byron Kelleher (Toulouse/New Zealand)
21 – Jean-Baptiste Elissalde (Toulouse/France)
22 – Paul Sackey (London Wasps/England)/Fabrice Estebanez (Brive)