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Barbarians jokingly troll England on Twitter


Barbarians celebrate after 2018 win over England. (Photo by Henry Browne/Getty Images for Barbarians)
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Ahead of the annual England vs Barbarians match at Twickenham this Sunday, the BaaBaas have started some light verbal sparring with their opponents.

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After England posted a video of the team training this week, the Barbarians have questioned the choice in doing contact training.

The Barbarians is a club that are as well known for the antics off the field as they are on it, as it is a tradition built upon the camaraderie amongst the players. Training would perhaps be slightly less intense than England’s and contact would probably not be high on the agenda.

England, coached by former Northampton boss Jim Mallinder, have named an extremely inexperienced squad, lacking any of the players that have played under Eddie Jones over the past year.

On the other hand, the Barbarians have a squad littered with internationals, including Joe Marler, who will play against his teammates in an enticing affair.

Looking at the Barbarians squad, it is understandable that England are going all out in training this week.

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Phantom 33 minutes ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



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