England’s Alex Goode and Steffon Armitage are in the Barbarians starting line-up facing their national side at Twickenham on Sunday, May 28.
The Saracens full back and Pau flanker – five European Cup titles between them – are the English element in Vern Cotter’s cosmopolitan invitation outfit for the Old Mutual Wealth Cup match.
The former Scotland Head Coach has players from 11 different countries with 599 international appearances between them in the starting line-up led by France’s Thierry Dusautoir.
The back line includes Australia’s 2015 World Cup finalist Adam Ashley-Cooper, South Africa centre Frans Steyn and Ireland’s Bristol-bound fly half Ian Madigan.
In the forwards are Gloucester duo Richard Hibbard and Jeremy Thrush, and a powerful back row that sees Dusautoir and Armitage combine with Argentina’s athletic No.8 Facundo Isa.
World Cup winners Ben Franks and Ruan Pienaar are on the bench along with Scotland prop WP Nel, on the comeback trail after recovering from the neck injury that ruled him out of this season’s Six Nations.
Bath’s Robbie Fruean and Toulouse’s Gillian Galan are the Barbarians’ two uncapped players.
HEAD COACH VERN COTTER
The Barbarians are facing England for the 16th time – England lead the series 8-7 – before taking on Ulster at the Kingspan Stadium in Belfast on June 1.
Tickets for the Old Mutual Wealth Cup – England v Barbarians – are available from £5 for kids and £25 for adults. Visit www.englandrugby.com/tickets
Tickets for Ulster v Barbarians, priced from £20 for adults and £12 for juniors, are on general sale at
ulsterrugby.com/buytickets For group offers and hospitality packages call (028) 9049 3222.
BARBARIANS (v England, Twickenham Stadium, May 28, 3pm)
15 Alex Goode (Saracens & England) 21 caps
14 Timoci Nagusa (Montpellier & Fiji) 24
13 Yann David (Toulouse & France) 4
12 Frans Steyn (Montpellier & South Africa) 53
11 Adam Ashley-Cooper (Bordeaux-Begles & Australia) 116
10 Ian Madigan (Bordeaux-Begles & Ireland) 30
9 Kahn Fotuali’i (Bath Rugby & Samoa) 31
1 Mikheil Nariashvili (Montpellier & Georgia) 41
2 Richard Hibbard (Gloucester & Wales) 41
3 Census Johnston (Toulouse & Samoa) 59
4 Patricio Albacete (Toulouse & Argentina) 57
5 Jeremy Thrush (Gloucester & New Zealand)12
6 Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse & France, captain) 80
7 Steffon Armitage (Pau & England) 5
8 Facundo Isa (Lyon & Argentina) 25
Replacements
16 Schalk Brits (Saracens & South Africa) 10
17 Ben Franks (London Irish & New Zealand) 47
18 WP Nel (Edinburgh & Scotland) 15
19 Joe Tekori (Toulouse & Samoa) 34
20 Gillian Galan (Toulouse)
21 Ruan Pienaar (Ulster & South Africa) 88
22 Robbie Fruean (Bath Rugby)
23 Horacio Agulla (Castres & Argentina) 63
