INTERNATIONAL TEST RUGBY: Wales v Barbarians

04.06.2011
Barbarians (UK) RFC v Wales in Cardiff

Venue: Millennium Stadium

Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)

Preview
The famous Barbarians RFC regularly plays internationals against Six Nation teams. Usually they are not matches in which test caps are awarded. For this match an exception has been made. The match is in honour of the 130th anniversary of the first rugby test match played by Wales. For the occasion, Wales will award test caps.

Gavin Henson, once the wonder boy of Wales, returns to the test side for the first time since 2009. Without a club affiliation this is virtually his last chance to force his way into Rugby World Cup considerations.

The Barbarians selection takes in players from no less than ten nations, from New Zealand to Norway, and for the first time, a player from Georgia

Prediction: Wales by 7 points

Teams

Wales
15 Morgan Stoddart, 14 George North, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Gavin Henson, 11 Aled Brew, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton, Capt, 6 Daniel Lydiate, 5 Luke Charteris, 4 Ryan Jones, 3 Paul James, 2 Huw Bennett, 1 Nathan Bevington.
Replacements
16 Lloyd Burns, 17 Scott Andrews, 18 Alun-Wyn Jones, 19 Joshua Turnbull, 20 Tavis Knoyle, 21 Rhys Priestland, 22 Nathan Williams.
Head Coach: Warren Gatland

Milestones
Stephen Jones will play his 100^th test cap for Wales.
Test debuts-Falatau and Bevington
Gavin Henson’s first test for Wales since 2009

Barbarians (UK) RFC
15 Isa Nacewa (Leinster & Fiji)
14 Paul Sackey (Toulon & England)
13 Seru Rabeni (La Rochelle & Fiji)
12 Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Francais & France)
11 Doug Howlett (Munster & New Zealand)
10 Brock James (Clermont Auvergne)
9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde (Castres Olympique & France)
1 Iestyn Thomas (Scarlets & Wales)
2 Sebastien Bruno (Toulon & France)
3 Carl Hayman (Toulon & New Zealand)
4 Iosefa Tekori (Castres Olympique & Samoa)
5 Paul Tito (Cardiff Blues)
6 Joe van Niekerk (Toulon & South Africa)
7 Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues & Wales)
8 Sergio Parisse (Stade Francais & Italy), captain
Replacements
16 Leonardo Ghiraldini (Benetton Treviso & Italy)
17 Davit Kubriashvili (Toulon & Georgia)
18 Erik Lund (Biarritz & Norway)
19 George Smith (Toulon & Australia)
20 Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues)
21 Willie Mason (Toulon)
22 Benoit Baby (Clermont Auvergne)