Preview: England v Barbarians
Fri, 30 May 2008 14:44
Mark Regan, as hookers go, is a colourful character who often rubs people up the wrong way. In fact after England beat France 24-13 in Paris in the 2008 Six Nations championship, Regan was described by French coach Marc Lièvremont as a 'grotesque clown'.
However, the 36-year-old hooker has also has a remarkable record in his first class career, which includes 46 caps for England.
Having been left out of the England squad for the two-Test tour to New Zealand next month, Regan will look to add another victorious chapter to his career when he leads the Barbarians against England at Twickenham on Sunday - a game which serves as a pre-tour warm-up for the English.
It is six months since Regan captained the Baa-baas to victory over World Cup holders South Africa, but Sunday's game gives the Bristol hooker an opportunity to complete a unique double at the home of English rugby.
Regan spoke this week of looking forward to this weekend's match and also about the what it means to him and the squad.
"This Baa-baas squad has been together for over a week and our weekend in Brussels [where the Baa-baas beat Belgium 84-10] and then nearer home in Cheltenham has been a great success," Regan said.
"We were obviously disappointed with our defeat against Ireland [14-39] a couple of days ago, but we are working really hard to put on a much better performance against England."
Regan is one of four Englishmen in the Barbarians' match day squad and he also has alongside him three other members of the pack that shocked the Springboks – Italian prop Federico Pucciariello, Wallaby lock Justin Harrison, and All Black flank Jerry Collins.
The results of two late fitness tests on Stephen Larkham and Maama Molitika will decide the starting line-up with Glen Jackson and David Croft on stand-by.
This will be the eighth meeting between the sides, with the Barbarians currently ahead 4-3 in the series.
Teams:
Barbarians: 15 Thinus Delport (Worcester), 14 Gareth Thomas (Cardiff Blues), 13 Morgan Turinui (Queensland Reds), 12 Seilala Mapusua (London Irish), 11 Iain Balshaw (Gloucester), 10 Stephen Larkham (unattached)/Glen Jackson (Saracens), 9 Andy Gomarsall (Harlequins), 8 Pedrie Wannenburg (Blue Bulls), 7 Maama Molitika (Cardiff Blues)/David Croft (Queensland Reds), 6 Jerry Collins (unattached), 5 Justin Harrison (Bath), 4 Kris Chesney (Saracens), 3 Cobus Visagie (Saracens), 2 Mark Regan (Bristol, captain), 1 Fédérico Pucciariello (Munster).
Replacements: 16 Sebastian Bruno (Sale Sharks), 17 Patricio Collazo (Gloucester), 18 Santiago Dellape (Biarritz), 19 David Croft/Mitchell Chapman, 20 Michael Claassens (Bath), 21 Stephen Larkham/Glen Jackson, 22 Jaco Pretorius (Lions).
England: 15 Mike Brown (Harlequins), 14 Topsy Ojo (London Irish), 13 Mathew Tait
(Newcastle), 12 Toby Flood (Newcastle), 11 David Strettle (Harlequins), 10 Charlie Hodgson (Sale Sharks), 9 Richard Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks), 8 Nick Easter (Harlequins, captain), 7 Will Skinner (Harlequins), 6 Luke Narraway (Gloucester), 5 Nick Kennedy (London Irish), 4 Chris Jones (Sale Sharks), 3 Jason Hobson (Bristol), David Paice (London Irish), 1 Nick Lloyd (Saracens).
Replacements: 16 Dylan Hartley (Northampton), 17 David Wilson (Newcastle), 18 Stuart Hooper (Leeds Carnegie), 19 Tom Guest (Harlequins), 20 Danny Care (Harlequins), 21 Pete Richards (London Irish), 22 Ugo Monye (Harlequins).
Date: Sunday, June 1
Kick-off: 15.00 (16.00 GMT)
Venue: Twickenham
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Touch judges: Alan Lewis. (Ireland), Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
TMO: John Burtenshaw (England)
