27 May 2010

Rush to captain Baabaas

11:42 am on 27 May 2010

The former Auckland captain Xavier Rush will captain the UK Barbarians in their rugby clash with England at Twickenham this weekend.

Baa-Baas coaches Philippe Saint-Andre and Kingsley Jones have also included Rush's All-Blacks team-mates Byron Kelleher and Rodney So'oialo in their starting line-up, with recently retired Wallaby flanker George Smith on the bench.

Rush also has Cardiff Blues' club-mates Martyn Williams and Casey Laulala in the team, while English internationals Paul Sackey, Julian White and Ben Kay will line-up for the Baa-Baas against their own country.

All Black halfback Kelleher, Cedric Haymans and Florian Fritz will all come into the match fresh from their European Cup victory with Toulouse over Biarritz, who are represented by Jerome Thion and Benoit August.