Sport

O'Kelly and Quinlan make Barbarians starting line-up

BARBARIANS HEAD coach Philippe Saint André has made 11 changes to his side for Friday night’s clash against Ireland at Thomond…

IAN BRANSFIELD in Limerick
Wed Jun 02 2010 - 01:00

BARBARIANS HEAD coach Philippe Saint André has made 11 changes to his side for Friday night’s clash against Ireland at Thomond Park.

Irish stalwarts Malcolm O’Kelly and Alan Quinlan feature from the start, while Paul Warwick retains his place at fullback.

The team will be captained by Xavier Rush, who declined to comment when asked about his proposed move to Ulster.

Elsewhere, Pierre Mignoni, Brock James, Seru Rabeni and David Smith all come into the back division, with David Barnes, Schalk Brits, Census Johnston, Jerome Thion and George Smith all included in the pack.

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Neither Florian Fritz nor Rodrigo Roncero were considered for selection due to international commitments.

The full Baa Baas squad was put through their paces in Dooradoyle, Limerick, yesterday where a sizable crowd turned out to view the all-star cast.

Toulouse hooker Census Johnston remarked how Limerick reminded him a lot of Hamilton, New Zealand, while Rodney So’oialo, who starts on the bench, labelled Munster fans “the best and the most passionate in the world”, all on the back of the All Blacks’ last visit to the Treaty County.

Saint André – or le Goret as he is known in France – has unhappy memories of Limerick from his time with Sale.

He and forwards coach Kingsley Jones were on the books with the Premiership club when they were outgunned by Munster at Thomond Park in 2006 and again in 2007.

Both, however, were in good spirits yesterday as they mixed freely with locals and took time out to sign autographs.

Speaking about the game, Saint André says he is hoping his team of luminaries can begin Friday night’s encounter in the same way as they finished against England last Sunday at Twickenham.

“The spirit is not a problem because the Baa Baas is the same as it was it was 100 years ago,” he said. “It is difficult to come together very quickly, but against England we played some very good rugby. We scored four tries and we had opportunities to score one or two others.

“The only thing was our defence, which was a little bit shaky in the first half. We have tried to put this right and make sure we switch on for 80 and not 45 minutes.”

Welsh-born Jones was of similar opinion, adding: “I think there will be a few new faces in the Irish side, so that can work both ways.

“Maybe the new Ulster locks will impress. Some of the other backrows too – John Muldoon is a good player, I saw him playing for the As and also for Connacht. They’ll all be keen to impress.

“But in such a short space of time, we just have to worry about ourselves, make sure we get things right.

“The biggest thing about the Barbarians is that you enter the camp and you have so much respect for each other.

“But with any player, if you play a bad 30 or 40 minutes, you quickly lose that respect.

“If anything they want to gain even more respect for each other. Winning is the best way to do that.”

BARBARIANS:P Warwick; D Smith, C Lualala, S Rabeni, C Heymans; B James, P Mignoni; D Barnes, S Brits; C Johnston, J Thion, M O'Kelly; A Quinlan, G Smith, X Rush. Replacements:B August, J White, R So'oialo, M Williams, B Kelleher, J-B Elissalde, F Estebanez or P Sackey.