17 May 2014

Sivavatu set for Barbarians debut

7:48 am on 17 May 2014

Six former All Blacks have been named for the Barbarians side to play England at Twickenham at the start of June, including former star winger Sitiveni Sivivatu.

Next month's match will serve as a warm-up for England ahead of their three-Test series away to World Cup winners New Zealand.

Sivivatu is in line to make his first appearance for the invitational side in the non-cap international on June 2nd.

Now with French club Clermont, Sivivatu boasts an impressive record of 33 tries in 48 Tests, and he was one of 12 players named in an updated group featuring six All Blacks and including representatives from five other countries with the distinguished dozen, who boast more than 400 caps between them.

Also selected are New Zealand's Jimmy Cowan of Gloucester, the unattached hooker Andrew Hore, Benson Stanley of Clermont, Joe Rokocoko of Bayonne and Hosea Gear of Toulouse, as well as Australia's James O'Connor, Argentina captain Juan-Martin Leguizamon, Samoa lock Joe Tekori and powerful props in Tonga's Sona Taumalolo and Georgia's Davit Zirakashvili.

By tradition, a Barbarians XV always includes at least one uncapped player and Brock James is set to be that man against England, with the Australian first five having scored more than 2,200 points in his eight seasons at Clermont.

Updated Barbarians squad (country code indicates Test player):

Backs: Jimmy Cowan (Gloucester/NZL), Hosea Gear (Toulouse/NZL), Brock James (Clermont), James O'Connor (London Irish/AUS), Joe Rokocoko (Bayonne/NZL), Benson Stanley (Clermont/NZL), Sitiveni Sivivatu (Clermont/NZL)

Forwards: Andrew Hore (Unattached/NZL), Juan-Martin Leguizamon (Lyon/ARG), Sona Taumalolo (Perpignan/TGA), Joe Tekori (Toulouse/SAM), Davit Zirakashvili (Clermont/GEO)