Four Huge Stars Commit To Barbarian's End-Of-Year Tour
Four Huge Stars Commit To Barbarian's End-Of-Year Tour
Mathieu Bastareaud, Tendai "The Beast" Mtwarira, Herschel Jantjies, and Ramiro Herrera highlight early Barbarian's commitments.
Following the intensity of this autumn's Rugby World Cup in Japan, the world's greatest social side, the Barbarians, will be touring to Brazil and Wales to enjoy some good fun and some good footy.
The Baabaa's are one of the oldest traditions in rugby. Every year, a collection of international stars from all around the globe come together and tour various countries to play their national sides.
Watch the Barbarians take on Fiji LIVE and On-Demand Nov 16 on FloRugby
Watch the Barbarians take on Wales LIVE and On-Demand Nov. 26 on FloRugby
It's an event that reminds us, even in this professional era, that some of the core values of rugby are still alive and well. It's about having fun and acknowledging the mutual respect between teams and players from opposing sides that makes this sport wonderful.
The 2019 tour has already gotten some big commitments from some of the world's biggest stars.
For starters, England boss Eddie Jones will coach the team as they venture to Sao Paolo and Cardiff in November. Jones hopes it will be a honeymoon tour for him following a World Cup victory.
Springboks legend Tendai Mtawarira will travel with the team as well, and he too will be hoping he's on a post World Cup-title vacation. The 111-cap prop is one of the sport's living legends, and will be a welcome addition to the Barbarian's efforts.
His World Cup teammate, Herschel Jantjies, will also be apart of the squad. Jantjies has been the unquestioned breakout star of 2019.
Having failed to make it professionally in South Africa at a young age, the little halfback moved overseas to Wales, where he played for the Scarlets. However, he never caught on in Llanelli either, getting only one cap during his spell there.
So he packed his bags and moved back to South Africa to join the Stormers. It was then that he found his form, and was so good in the 2019 Super Rugby season that he was called into the Springboks side for the Rugby Championship.
The big stage seemed to bring out the best of Jantjies, as he lit up the Championship and earned himself a place on Rassie Erasmus' 31-man World Cup squad.
French rugby star and future Rugby United New York center Mathieu Bastareaud will be joining the cause as well. After just missing out on a third Rugby World Cup selection, the 30-year-old will most likely have to wait until November to see another international fixture.
However, the enormous backline player is a joy to watch, and his presence brings a lot of excitement to this Barbarians unit.
The next big player to commit for the 2019 tour is Argentinian prop Ramiro Herrera. Although he was not selected for this year's World Cup, Herrera played in every one of Argentina's seven games at the 2015 World Cup, helping them to a fourth-place finish.
This tour figures to be fun and entertaining, just like Baabaa's tours generally are. The pressure of preparing for a World Cup will be off, meaning it should be a try-fest of full of running rugby.