The invitational side are set to take to the pitch once again
Ten things you should know about the Barbarians
The men and women’s Barbarians teams are preparing to take the field once again and so here are a few things you should know about the teams…
Ten things you should know about the Barbarians
1. The Barbarians are an invitational team, with the men’s team founded in 1890. The first women’s side took the field in 2017.
2. The side usually play six matches a year.
3. They have played in 25 countries since they were founded.
4. Gareth Edwards scored arguably the best try ever scored in rugby union in a 1973 Barbarians match against New Zealand. Commentator for the match Cliff Edwards said as Edwards went for the line: “A dramatic start! What a score! Oh that fellow Edwards. If the greatest writer of the written word would’ve written that story no one would have believed it. That really was something.”
5. Ireland’s Tony O’Reilly has the most appearances and tries for the side. He made 30 appearances and scored 38 tries for the Barbarians.
What have players said about the team?
6. England’s Joe Marler summed up the team’s important in a post-match interview. He said: “It still has an important place in professional rugby. It’s even more important now to have it because everything is so intense, so pressurised and serious.
“You need to have an opportunity to enjoy rugby for the reasons you started playing for. You just want to pick up the ball and play and have fun.”
7. The 2021 men’s team is coached by Australia boss Dave Rennie and the women’s is led by Rachel Taylor.
8. They used to play in an annual The Mobbs Memorial Match in honour of former player Edgar Mobbs. Mobbs died in the First World War and so the team started the match in 1921 and played them until 2011.
9. In 2020 the Barbarians’ match against England was called off after several of its players broke Covid rules. The stars, which included Chris Robshaw and Sean Maitland, were punished after they left the team’s bubble.
10. A famous game against Australia in 1948 implemented a tradition, before the professional era, for southern hemisphere sides to play the Barbarians when visiting the northern hemisphere.
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