{"id":656032,"date":"2026-06-24T16:40:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T16:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/656032\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T16:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T16:40:12","slug":"barbarians-team-v-wales-faf-de-klerk-takes-over-captaincy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/656032\/","title":{"rendered":"Barbarians team v Wales: Faf de Klerk takes over captaincy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

A week on from facing them for the Springboks, Faf de Klerk will lead the Barbarians as captain when they face Wales this Saturday at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.<\/p>\n

The scrum-half takes over the role from TJ Perenara and features in a strong squad with 19 Test-capped players.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, British and Irish Lions hero George North is also set for his final appearance, which will come against the country he played for on 121 occasions across a glittering Test career.<\/p>\n

Faf de Klerk named Barbarians captain as Scott Robertson names team to face Wales<\/p>\n

BaaBaas<\/a> head coach Scott Robertson has named an exciting starting backline alongside the new skipper. Tom Spring gets the nod at full-back, while Andrew Kellaway and Virimi Vakatawa feature on the wings. Jeremy Ward and Alex Nankivell partner in the centres, while Harry Plummer joins De Klerk in the halves.<\/p>\n

The ex-All Blacks boss has also opted for a strong pack, with Nathan Hughes, Lachlan Boshier and Lukhan Salakaia-Loto in the back-row. Romain Taofif\u00e9nua and Izack Rodda form the lock pairing, while Vincent Koch, Elliot Dee and Giorgi Kharaishvili round off the run-on group.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Robertson has opted for a 6:2 split on his bench, with Harry Thacker, Jack Iscaro, Paul Alo-Emile, Yoan Tanga, Jordan Joseph, Santiago Arata and Liam McConnell joining the aforementioned North on the replacements list.<\/p>\n

Rassie Erasmus\u2019 take on \u2018fearless\u2019 England as Springboks boss praises \u2018awesome\u2019 Henry Pollock<\/a><\/p>\n

Commenting on his selection, Robertson<\/a> said: \u201cWe have a group packed with talent, who have come together from all over the world.<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cFaf is such a fierce competitor, he knows how to run a week, so he is driving the boys but he also fully embraces the Barbarian spirit and hits the right balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are looking forward to another great occasion at Twickenham and the fact that it\u2019s a double-header with the women is awesome.<\/p>\n

\u2018Can make stuff happen out of absolutely nothing\u2019 \u2013 Ex England star names Springboks biggest threat<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have picked a team to really challenge Wales. It\u2019s a big team, with a bit of a Top 14 core, but we also want to move the ball, play what\u2019s on and entertain what is hopefully a big crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an awesome opportunity for this talented group to show what they are all about. They are all here because they have a super talent and we want them to express themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barbarians team v Wales in full<\/p>\n

Starting XV: 15 Tom Spring, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Jeremy Ward, 12 Alex Nankivell, 11 Virimi Vakatawa, 10 Harry Plummer, 9 Faf de Klerk (c), 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 Lachlan Boshier, 6 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 5 Romain Taofif\u00e9nua, 4 Izack Rodda, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Giorgi Kharaishvili
Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Jack Iscaro, 18 Paul Alo-Emile, 19 Yoan Tanga, 20 Jordan Joseph, 21 Santiago Arata, 22 George North, 23 Liam McConnell<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Jordie Barrett: The \u2018biggest challenge\u2019 going into All Blacks camp as they could go away from \u2018Crusaders style\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A week on from facing them for the Springboks, Faf de Klerk will lead the Barbarians as captain…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[26971,348,3482,50,5903,17846,101,56,54,55,1220],"class_list":["post-656032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-barbarians","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-scott-robertson","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wales"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}