Patrick Lambie has been selected as the starting flyhalf for the Barbarians side, coached by All Black coach Steve Hansen, to take on Fiji this Saturday at Twickenham. Lambie is joined by 6 of his Bok teammates in the starting line-up, while Coenie Oosthuizen and Willie le Roux have been added on the bench.
Lambie will play alongside promising young All Black and Hurricanes scrumhalf TJ Perenara in an exciting halfback combination. The Barbarians team will be captained by Jean de Villiers, finishing a long year for the Springbok captain.
This Barbarians side has a distinctly Green and Black feel to it, with the 7 Springboks joined by 5 All Blacks in the starting line-up and another 3 on the bench, completing a 23 with 16 players from the Springboks and All Blacks combined. The remaining 7 players are all Southern Hemisphere players, mainly from Argentina.
Flip van der Merwe has replaced the injured Eben Etzebeth in the team, where he will be combining with Dominic Bird, but the most exciting selection of all, must be that of Schalk Burger in the number 7 jersey, in his return to international rugby from a 2 year absence.
This is a rematch of one of the most memorable matches played by the Barbarians back in 1970, when Fiji produced a shock 29 point win against a star studded Barbarians team and promises to be an exciting encounter.
Barbarians: 15 Santiago Cordera, 14 Frank Halai, 13 Gavin Williams, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Charles Piutau, 10 Patrick Lambie, 9 T J Perenara, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Steven Luatua, 5 Dominic Bird, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Matias Diaz, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Guillermo Ruan, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Manuel Carizza, 20 Luke Whitelock, 21 Martin Landajo, 22 Tom Taylor, 23 Willie le Roux.
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I’m excited.
Looking forward to seeing Lambie next to Perenara
Shouldhave lots of tries, running rugby. Perenara #class
@Bokhoring (Comment 2) : yeah – that might just be extra special
Any ideas on why he might have benched le Roux and played Cordera?
Lol, poor Lambie just cant catch a break.
Playing flyhalf for the Barbarians is about as close as you can get to the sort of game that a “running” flyhalf like Lambie should excel in.
Then he gets selected with half the SA team around him, including JdV at centre.
@VinChainSaw (Comment 6) : The problem is not de Villiers, it’s the game we play, especially due to the way we use our 9. With Hansen’s coaching and Perenara at 9, Lambie SHOULD do nicely, but we will see.
Well at least the majority of the side is english speaking so communication should be easier. We wont see much structured play at the Baabaas havnt had time to practise and Fiji hate structure. Keen to see if Burger is up to the pace. Very good bench as well.
@David12246 (Comment 7) : That is so true, and I said it before as well. Lambie is at his best when he is the main decision maker in the backine, with a 9 that clears the ball fast and allows him (Lambie) to make the plays. Where at the Boks Fourie DuP makes the plays and decisions and the 10 is mainly used to kick for territory or shuffle the ball on to Jaen DiV.
Nothing can be read into any player’s performance from this match. It’s an excuse for the pro’s to have a ‘social’ and then a run around Twickenham on a Saturday afternoon.
The coach has no influence.
Just hope Fiji keep the tackles legal. 👿
@VinChainSaw (Comment 6) : exactly my thoughts.
@McLovin (Comment 10) : But the players do get to spend time with the coach and any player would be a fool not to soak up any advice that a coach like Hansen can give them.
@David12246 (Comment 7) : I think the problem is def de Villiers, he is singled out as the best distributor in SA, yet the ball never goes past him.
@KingRiaan (Comment 12) : You think he will give SA players some “good” advise?
@KingRiaan (Comment 12) : They do, mostly whilst leaning on a bar, drink in hand. 😉 😈
If I remember correctly from interviews with previous coaches like Mallett etc., the most they do is work out a few basic line out calls and backline moves and that’s it. No time or energy for anything else.
@David12246 (Comment 7) : @KingRiaan (Comment 9) :
I believe someone commented the other day that South African teams over the years have always had better 9’s than the Kiwi’s because of the way we play of our 9’s – It seems that some of the younger players have shifted away from this style of play, maybe motivated by the kiwi style (I don’t know, playing like the kiwi’s is a good thing to aspire to for young players).
Suddenly we see SA with thinking 10’s and 9’s who deliver quick ball, think Reinach, Piet van Zyl, Groom, and Hougaard. And Jantjies, Goosen, Lambie – even young Zeilinga (I’m not trying to say these guys are better than anyone, I’m just throwing them into a certain style).
Lambie should enjoy playing with an All Black 9 under the All Black coach, as I believe he is a Kiwi-style 10.
@McLovin (Comment 16) :
Yeah, that’s true, what can you really do in a week, but at least we know how Perenara plays and that’s mostly a quick delivery to his 10.
@Letgo (Comment 17) : I am a firm believer that your flyhalf should be doing the playmaking on the field as he is a bit further away from the chaos of the maul and thus able to get a clearer picture of what options are available where on the field. Having said that, the number 9 must be a quick thinker as well, as he has to be able to identify the options available to him before he gets to the ruck/maul. The 9 should know before he even gets there, if it will be clean ball for his 10, or if he should do the box kick, break around the edges or offload to a forward. That is one area where I think Pienaar and to an extent Hougaard is lacking. They seem to only try and decide what to do with the ball once they get have the ball in their hands, thus the double step before passing. But if you have 9’s like them, then the next play should already have been called by the flyhalf, thus eliminating the potential slow decision making by the 9 and resulting in more fluid play.
@McLovin (Comment 16) : You don’t need to be on the training field to be able to listen to someones advice, someone like Hansen has analysed the hell out of our players before, so he should be able to give them advise from a different view point. And I really don’t believe that any true rugby man will deny any player some advice.
@KingRiaan (Comment 19) :
Ruan definitely seems guilty of having to look up and find options only after the ball becomes available. That’s why I believe you see the ball squirting out the ruck through his legs so many times. A scrummy should (most of the times) play the ball, as soon as it becomes available, not decide what to do when it does.
Lol! Just the game lambie likes. No structure….No pressure! He’s got the best pack of forwards on the field. If he doesn’t look good in this game he never will.
Surprised Le Roux is not starting (this game should suit him to the tee), but I guess the team is already very loaded with Boks
Will the match be shown on tv ?
TBH I can’t think of a LESS exciting selection than Schalk Burger at 7. Would much rather see Kolisi there.
@rhineshark (Comment 25) : yes I think this game would have fitted kolisi to the T
@KingRiaan (Comment 19) : @Letgo (Comment 21) : My issue with Pienaar and Hougaard is their utility value. I completely agree with Letgo. The way I see it, Pienaar plays scrumhalf from a flyhalf point of view. With Hougaard, him being used on the wing has hampered his kicking development. He has flair, but isn’t very accurate and makes his fair share of mistakes.
@David12246 (Comment 27) : You are spot on about Pienaar. He is not a instant decision maker, but needs that extra fraction of a second to make a decision. I am not one to want to change a player’s position because I believe that a player knows best at what he feels comfortable playing, but I think Pienaar was born to be a fullback in my humble opinion. Hougaard is a bit too much of a renegade with a hero complex. He has so much potential, but until he realizes that there is 14 other guys with him on the field and eats a bit of humble pie, he will never reach his full potential.
@KingRiaan (Comment 28) : i think Pienaar was born to play Irish club rugby 😀
@West Indies Cricket Board (Comment 29) : Haha well they do see him as the ‘best’ player in europe 🙄
Fiji = injuries
@vanmartin (Comment 31) : Yip. Know its a honor, but would rather have seen some of our younger players in this game…..kolisi, coetzee, jj, strauss and so on, instead of jdv, vermeulen and bissie……
Hear flip would have played in eben’s place, but bulls said no. He’s their main man in the tightfive and they scared he gets injured. Does make sense in a way…..but flip’s missing out on about R100 000
Flip Van Der Merwe has been withdrawn from the team by bulls management. Spoiled Sports hey! Poor guy was probably so looking forward to it!
@[email protected] (Comment 34) : And the Bulls wonder why their players all jump ship to play overseas when their contracts are up.
Well Flip is one of the last Boks they hve, no wonder they re frid he gets injured.
@KingRiaan (Comment 36) : shame man, if u put it that way u can understand their reason. Flip is probably gonna play 80min in almost every game next year!
Well done to bissie on getting motm in the baabaas game.
Didnt see the game sadly; how did PatLam get on?
@VinChainSaw (Comment 39) : unfortunately i only caught a few highlights of the game.schalk burger delivered a top-class off-load in the tackle(drew 2 or 3 fijians) to put a baabaas player in for a try.
@VinChainSaw (Comment 39) : Good but not great.
@MysticShark (Comment 41) : didnt willie le roux create 2 baabaas tries from the fh position?one the stab-kick thru and the cross-kick for wing?
@50shadesofblackandwhite (Comment 42) :
Ah, you are joking!
Please tell me WlR didnt outshine PatLam!
LetGo will never let that one go!
@50shadesofblackandwhite (Comment 40) :
Thanks mate – keo was full of praise for Burger.
@MysticShark (Comment 41) :
Thanks champ.
@VinChainSaw (Comment 39) : Lambie did ok but is still prone to the odd really silly mistake and kicking for goals was poor. Burger looked fit and has somehow learnt to pass during his time off the field- he looked very good. JDV also looked class- in my opinion he is the best centre in world rugby at the moment.
@SheldonK (Comment 46) :
Much obliged.
Saw a pic of Burger the other day in the pool. The dude looks cut!
@VinChainSaw (Comment 47) : He has definitely dropped weight and is more mobile. Burger, Vermuelen, Kolisi and Fourie will be very good loosies for WP.