After a three-year interlude, the Remembrance Match returns to the calendar with Combined Services hosting the fixture at Brickfields Stadium, home of Plymouth Albion, on Tuesday 12 November.

Later that month, a return fixture that has been over 40 years in the making is on the cards. Back in 1970 Fiji recorded a groundbreaking 29-9 defeat of the Barbarians. The eagerly anticipated rematch is set for Twickenham on Saturday 30 November with the added ingredient of the Fiji Rugby Union celebrating its centenary season.

Into the New Year and a new opponent grabs the attention. On Wednesday 23 April the Barbarians travel to Dublin to play the Clontarf club in a celebration of another unique event ... one thousand years since the Vikings retreated out of Ireland after the battle of Clontarf.

All this before the annual fixture against England in late-May 2014.