London Wasps flanker Sam Jones has been selected to play for the Barbarians against the British and Irish Lions and England later this month.
The 21-year-old is one of the two traditionally uncapped player to be picked by the famous invitational side and will be part of a back row including Italy talismanic captain Sergio Parisse and the Basque Warrior Imanol Harinordoquy.
In the back, Ulster‘s Jared Payne will be the other uncapped player as the Kiwi as never represented the All Blacks.
The squad for this eagerly-anticipated tour has gone a step nearer completion with the announcement of 22 players who will form the nucleus of the touring party.
Included in the latest batch of star names to confirm their availability are former Lions James Hook, Dwayne Peel and Matthew Rees, All Blacks Joe Rokocoko and Nick Evans, four members of Italy’s Six Nations’ team – Parisse, Martin Castrogiovanni, Leonardo Ghiraldini and Alessandro Zanni – and Springboks B J Botha, Marco Wentzel and Francois Louw.
In all, ten different nationalities are represented, including two new flying wings, United States Eagle Takudzwa Ngwenya and Hong Kong’s sevens‘ skipper Rowan Varty plus world-class scrum-halfs Kahn Fotuali’i and Dimitri Yachvili.
Jones said: “Dai (Young) told me during the week and I was totally shocked! It was a massive surprise but an amazing one. I am going to learn an incredible amount playing with and against some fantastic players.
“Even when you look at some of the back-row names in there already like Imanol Harinordoquy and Sergio Parisse you can see what a great experience it will be for me to learn from these guys.
“Dai has shown a lot of faith in me by picking me and hopefully I can repay that and prove him right if I get a chance to play.”
“I am looking at it as a once in a lifetime opportunity. Not many people get to play for the Barbarians, especially not when they are young and uncapped so it’s a huge deal for me. I’ve had to cancel a couple of holidays but I had absolutely no problem with that! It’s a very special thing for me and my family and I can’t wait to get involved.”
Team manager Derek Quinnell said : “Our selection process has taken several months and is still not quite complete. Over the next week or so we will be monitoring the domestic play-off matches in Europe and the various national squads for the summer tours.
“Also, one or two players in the squad announced today may not be available for both of our matches so we expect to add other significant names to the team in the near future.”
The Barbarians kick-off their tour against England at Twickenham on May 26 before flying to Hong Kong for the historic encounter against the British and Irish Lions on Saturday June 1.
Backs: Jared Payne (Ulster), Rowan Varty (DeA Tigers & Hong Kong), Takudzwa Ngwenya (Bairritz Olympique & USA), Joe Rokocoko (Bayonne & New Zealand), James Hook (Perpignan & Wales), Nick Evans (Harlequins & New Zealand), Kahn Fotuali’i (Ospreys & Samoa), Dwayne Peel (Sale Sharks & Wales), Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz Olympique & France).
Forwards: Duncan Jones (Ospreys & Wales), B J Botha (Munster & South Africa), Paul James (Bath Rugby & Wales), Martin Castrogiovanni (Leicester & Italy), Matthew Rees (Scarlets & Wales), Leonardo Ghiraldini (Benetton Treviso & Italy), Marco Wentzel (London Wasps & South Africa), Jim Hamilton (Gloucester Rugby & Scotland), Francois Louw (Bath Rugby & South Africa), Sam Jones (London Wasps), Alessandro Zanni (Benetton Treviso & Italy), Sergio Parisse (Stade Francais & Italy), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz Olympique & France).
Coaches: David Young (head coach), Mike Tindall (Gloucester Rugby & England, player/assistant coach)
