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Another Premiership club secures a fixture versus the Barbarians

(Photo by Steve Bardens/Getty Images for Barbarians)

The Barbarians have added yet another match to their upcoming September/October UK and Ireland tour, agreeing to return to Franklin’s Gardens just 11 months after they last played there against Northampton.

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With the start of the 2023/24 season delayed due to the Rugby World Cup in France, clubs have been firming up their pre-season calendars and the Baa-Baas are proving to be a popular choice.

A men’s squad that will be coached by a four-strong Australian contingent already had matches organised against Bristol (September 7), Scarlets (September 16), Munster (September 30) and Harlequins (October 7), and they will now also take on Northampton.

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Inside the Barbarians sheds at halftime | Being Barbarians

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Inside the Barbarians sheds at halftime | Being Barbarians

A statement read: “Northampton Saints are delighted to confirm that Barbarian FC will return to cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens later this summer, with the sides set to lock horns on Saturday, September 2 (kick-off: 3pm).

“Saints ran out 45-39 winners on a memorable afternoon when the sides met for the first time ever back in November 2022 – with likes of Saints legends Tom Wood and Luther Burrell joining international stars Danny Cipriani, Owen Williams and Francois Hougaard in the famous Barbarians hooped jerseys.

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“The Barbarians will be led by an Australian coaching quartet of Jason Gilmore, Laurie Fisher, Berrick Barnes, and Nathan Grey. Gilmore, the current NSW Waratahs assistant coach, has previously coached at Queensland Reds and the Australia U20s. Barnes, a former dual-code star and 51-cap Wallaby international, is a current member of NRL side Newcastle Knights’ coaching staff.

“The 35-cap Wallaby centre Nathan Grey is the former Australia and NSW Waratahs defence coach, while former Gloucester coach Fisher is the current assistant coach of the Brumbies.”

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Northampton CEO Mark Darbon said: “The visit of the Baa-Baas last year was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the season at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens, and given the brilliant feedback we had from our supporters following that game, we are delighted to welcome them back again.

“We were able to showcase a fantastic day of top-class rugby, creating a new piece of history for Northampton Saints as we played the famous side for the first time.

“We also, as is the case this season, were able to ensure our supporters were not left out-of-pocket with fewer Gallagher Premiership fixtures on our calendar, and we remain committed to delivering unmissable entertainment at great value for all our season ticket holders and hospitality guests.

“Everyone at the club is thrilled about the prospect of welcoming Barbarian FC back to Northampton, and we would like to thank everyone involved for helping to make it happen. It should be an excellent way to kick our season off on home soil, combining the Baa-Baas’ world-famous flair with Saints’ exhilarating brand of rugby.”

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Baa-Baas assistant Gilmore added: “To coach the Barbarians on a UK tour is an exciting challenge and one I can’t wait for. The opportunity to bring the Barbarian style of play to a full house at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens will make for a great match.”

Fisher added: “I’m very excited to be returning to the UK. Time passes quickly and the quality of rugby in the northern hemisphere has continued to rise.

“To have the opportunity to be associated with the Barbarian name in rugby is a true honour and I look forward to seeing some old faces and meeting new ones as my rugby journey continues.”

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2 Comments
i
ian 519 days ago

@bears fan here. Less teams, same, if not higher ticket price and we have to pay extra to watch Barbarians!

A
A 519 days ago

All this jumping up and down about a ten team league to minimise games and increase player welfare ... is the realisation that ten teams means less revenue so teams now have to play invitational teams?

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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