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The sentimental reason behind Baa-Baas midfield selection

By Chris Jones
Virimi Vakatawa (Photo by Frederic Stevens/Getty Images)

Fabien Galthie, who led France to the Six Nations Grand Slam, has revealed he ripped up his plans for the Barbarians team to face England at Twickenham on Sunday after the players held their first dinner during their training camp in Monaco.

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Galthie had decided to use Fijian Levani Botia, who can play in the backs and forwards for La Rochelle, as flanker against England until he heard about the player’s schoolboy rugby career. Botia, nicknamed “Demolition Man”, was in the same school team as fellow Fijian Virimi Vakatawa and they were centre partners. Vakatawa is now a key member of Galthie’s French team and on discovering the link between the players he decided to reunite them in the Barbarians mid-field which means England are going to face two of the most potent attackers in European rugby.

Galthie said: “Yes, I hope it is a dangerous midfield for us. At the beginning we wanted to put Botia at No.6 position but after one dinner we learned that Botia and Vakatawa played together in the same school team in Fiji. They have never played since then and so it is like a present for them and for us for them to play together against England at Twickenham. So we changed our plan and so they are in their school positions when they were eight or nine years old.

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Will Skelton on Champions Cup celebrations and playing for the Barbarians | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 38

The big rig Will Skelton joins us from Monaco this week where he’s on tour with the Barbarians and rooming with George Kruis. He fills us in on the tour so far, hanging out at the palace with the Prince and who’s leading the charge off the pitch. We also hear about his man-of-the-match performance for La Rochelle in the Champions Cup Final, that famous open-top bus celebration and what it’s like playing for coaches like O’Gara and Cheika.

Video Spacer

Will Skelton on Champions Cup celebrations and playing for the Barbarians | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 38

The big rig Will Skelton joins us from Monaco this week where he’s on tour with the Barbarians and rooming with George Kruis. He fills us in on the tour so far, hanging out at the palace with the Prince and who’s leading the charge off the pitch. We also hear about his man-of-the-match performance for La Rochelle in the Champions Cup Final, that famous open-top bus celebration and what it’s like playing for coaches like O’Gara and Cheika.

“In the Barbarians team we have some nice stories like this and we are very happy about that.“

One of the other “nice stories” involves Will Skelton who has not been selected by the Wallabies which is bad news for the England pack with the La Rochelle lock able to partner fellow former Saracen George Kruis, playing his final game before retiring. “He is an international player and I do not know what the position is with the Australian Union and maybe they try to pick players who are in the country and not pick (Skelton) because it is not politic? :” said Galthie. “But, in this case it is an opportunity for him to play with George and they are back together.

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“We spent three days in Monaco with a nice view of the sea and then in Nice we played the French U20 and then we had a session with Esher, it was very friendly, and we mixed the two teams up.

“The French staff (the entire France coaching unit is with the Barbarians) are preparing for two tests in Japan (in July) using the same methods and so with 19 French players it is a good experience. This is the British Barbarians with a French accent – it is a bit eccentric. Will we be more flamboyant? We will try our best on Sunday and we have a good mix of young talented players and it can be a French development with players like George Kruis, Will Skelton and Botia. Charlies Ollivon is back after recovering from his injury.

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“At the start of the week we told the players about the history of the Barbarians and showed some of the tries and the one Phil Bennett started in 1973. He was French! Sometimes the French and Welsh are the same.”

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Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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john 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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