Jennings To Lead Barbarians Against Ireland
Shane Jennings will captain the Barbarians against Ireland XV at Thomond Park on Thursday night (kick-off 7.45pm). He captains a starting side containing nine different nationalities with 466 international appearances between them.
Leinster and Ireland flanker Shane Jennings retires from the professional game this summer after a distinguished career in which he has won 13 caps for Ireland, PRO12 and European Cup titles for Leinster and an Aviva Premiership title with Leicester Tigers.
The selected Barbarians team includes Jennings’ Leinster team-mates Zane Kirchner and Jimmy Gopperth with Ulster scrum half Ruan Pienaar also starting for the famous invitation club celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. Former Leinster lock Nathan Hines is also a late addition to the bench.
Baa Baas head coach Robbie Deans has assembled a side with a sharp cutting edge containing the likes of Toulon’s leading try scorer David Smith, New Zealand’s Joe Rokocoko and British & Irish Lions winger Alex Cuthbert.
Lions tighthead prop Adam Jones anchors a scrum containing a powerful second row combination in Uruguay’s Rodrigo Capo Ortega and Georgian Konstantin Mikautadze, while Japan’s Ryu Koliniasi Holani is a dynamic number 8 from Deans’ club side Panasonic Wild Knights.
BARBARIANS Team & Replacements (v Ireland XV, Thomond Park Stadium, Limerick, Thursday, May 28, kick-off 7.45pm):
Player/Club/Province/Country/Caps –
15. Zane Kirchner (Leinster/South Africa) 29
14. Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues/Wales) 32
13. Joe Rokocoko (Bayonne/New Zealand) 68
12. Wynand Olivier (Montpellier/South Africa) 38
11. David Smith (Toulon)
10. Jimmy Gopperth (Leinster)
9. Ruan Pienaar (Ulster/South Africa) 80
1. Roberto Tejerizo (Tucuman/Argentina) 4
2. Deon Fourie (Lyon)
3. Adam Jones (Cardiff Blues/Wales) 95
4. Rodrigo Capo Ortega (Castres Olympique/Uruguay) 38
5. Konstantin Mikautadze (Toulon/Georgia) 31
6. Shane Jennings (Leinster/Ireland) (capt) 13
7. Gerhard Vosloo (Toulon)
8. Ryu Koliniasi Holani (Panasonic Wild Knights/Japan) 38
Replacements:
16. David Ward (Harlequins)
17. Saimone Taumoepeau (Castres Olympique/New Zealand) 3
18. Matias Diaz (Pampas/Argentina) 8
19. Nathan Hines (Sale Sharks/Scotland) 77
20. George Smith (Lyon/Australia) 111
21. Tomas Cubelli (Belgrano Ath/Argentina) 34
22. Tusi Pisi (Suntory Sungoliath/Samoa) 20
23. Gio Aplon (Grenoble/South Africa) 17