Baa-baas add Pienaar, Piutau and more
South Africa’s Ruan Pienaar and New Zealand’s Charles Piutau are the latest star recruits joining Vern Cotter’s Barbarians squad.
The Ulster duo will be on duty against England in the Old Mutual Wealth Cup match at Twickenham on 28 May.
They will be joined by England flanker Steffon Armitage (Pau), Samoa lock Joe Tekori and France centre Yann David (both Toulouse).
The latest call-ups take the number of players at Scotland boss Cotter’s disposal to 14 with more invitations to follow, particularly for the key fly-half role.
Scrum-half Pienaar and utility back Piutau have enjoyed outstanding campaigns for Ulster, both featuring in the PRO12 dream team with Piutau picking up the highly coveted PRO12 players' player of the year award.
Pienaar, capped 88 times for the Springboks, will be making his final appearance for Ulster against the Barbarians, following a seven-year spell in Belfast that has seen him become a fans' favourite at the Kingspan Stadium.
David, Pienaar and Piutau join a back division alongside Australia’s Will Genia and Adam Ashley-Cooper, and Connacht’s Bundee Aki.
Armitage and Tekori are part of a powerful forward group with experienced internationals from five different countries that also includes Argentina’s Patricio Albacete and Facundo Isa, New Zealand’s Corey Flynn and Jeremy Thrush, and France great Thierry Dusautoir.
The Barbarians will face England for the 16th time since 1990 this month, having won seven and lost eight in the overall series.
Barbarians squad (players named so far)
Backs: Bundee Aki (Connacht), Adam Ashley-Cooper (Bordeaux-Bègles and Australia), Yann David (Toulouse and France), Will Genia (Stade Français and Australia), Ruan Pienaar (Ulster and South Africa), Charles Piutau (Ulster and New Zealand)
Forwards: Patricio Albacete (Toulouse and Argentina), Steffon Armitage (Pau and England), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse and France), Corey Flynn (Glasgow Warriors and New Zealand), Facundo Isa (Lyon and Argentina), Census Johnston (Toulouse and Samoa), Joe Tekori (Toulouse and Samoa), Jeremy Thrush (Gloucester and New Zealand)