Smit to lead the BaaBaas
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Springbok World Cup winning captain John Smit will lead the Barbarians when they open their mid-year matches against England at Twickenham on Sunday.
Smit will lead the side that contains two other South Africans, Anton van Zyl and Ernst Joubert, while there is likely to be a few South African-born players in the England matchday 22 as well.
Former New Zealand wing John Kirwan is coaching the BaaBaas for the three matches, and explained why he'd chosen Smit as captain.
"We have several natural leaders in the squad but with John's track record of captaincy at the highest levels of the game he was the obvious choice to lead us on this tour."
The Barbarians team has a number of high profile names including three men capped by England, Mike Tindall, Ian Balshaw and Paul Sackey.
The team also has five All Blacks including props John Afoa and Neemia Tialata, centre Casey Laulala, 100-times capped Mils Muliaina and World Cup-winner Stephen Donald.
Barbarians: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Mike Tindall, 11 Ian Balshaw, 10 Stephen Donald, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Akapusi Qera, 7 John Beattie, 6 Ernst Joubert, 5 Anton van Zyl, 4 Mark Chisholm, 3 John Afoa, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Neemia Tialata.
Replacements: 16 Benoit August, 17 Duncan Jones, 18 Pelu Taele, 19 Raphael Lakafia, 20 Jerome Fillol, 21 Felipe Contepomi, 22 Sailosi Tagicakibau.
Date: Sunday, May 27
Kick-off: 14.30 (13.30 GMT)
Venue: Twickenham, London
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
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