Peter O’Mahony captains star-studded Barbarians with six All Blacks set to tackle the Springboks

Legendary Ireland back-rower Peter O’Mahony will skipper a powerful Barbarians team when they take on the Springboks in their Qatar Airways Cup clash in Cape Town on Saturday.

The match will be a significant one for O’Mahony and fellow Ireland great Cian Healy as it will be the last time the duo take to the field as professional rugby players. Fans can calculate the odds on this match using platforms such as AceOdds.com and others.

Six All Blacks in Baa-baas starting line-up

The rest of Barbarians head coach Robbie Deans‘ starting line-up consists of plenty of stars with international quality throughout their ranks including six All Blacks.

O’Mahony has been named on the blindside flank and is joined in an experienced back-row by former New Zealand skipper Sam Cane, who starts on the openside, and fellow All Black Shannon Frizell, who lines up at number eight.

Meanwhile, Healy packs down at loosehead prop and is joined in the front-row by France hooker Camille Chat and Samoa tighthead Paul Alo-Emile, with England’s David Ribbans of Toulon and Ruben van Heerden of the Stormers completing the pack as the starting locks.

In the backline, former New Zealand scrum-half Tawera Kerr-Barlow partners Josh Jacomb of the Chiefs as the starting half-backs with All Blacks duo Peter Umaga-Jensen and Leicester Fainga’anuku starting together as the centre combination.

France and Toulon star Melvyn Jaminet gets the nod at full-back and is joined in the back three by All Blacks star Mark Tele’a, who was 2023’s World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year, and fellow New Zealander Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkins of the Highlanders.

The star-studded line-up continues on the replacements bench with Ricky Riccitelli (hooker), Hassane Kolingar and Will Collier (props) providing the front-row cover.

All Blacks great talks up Springboks snub ahead of Barbarians clash

The forward cover amongst the replacements is completed by Josh Beehre, snubbed All Black Hoskins Sotutu and Lachlan Boshier, while Santiago Arata and England’s Joe Marchant are the backline reserves.

“This side is packed with experience and exciting players and we are looking forward to going out there and expressing ourselves on Saturday,” said Deans.

“This is the first time a South African crowd have got to see the Barbarians face the Springboks on home soil and it’s going to be a great fixture.

“The boys have come in and connected really well, those connections are helping drive us on the field and we are looking forward to showing that against the World Champions on Saturday.”

Barbarians team to face the Springboks

Barbarians: 15 Melvyn Jaminet, 14 Mark Tele’a, 13 Leicester Fainga’anuku, 12 Peter Umaga-Jensen, 11 Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkins, 10 Josh Jacomb, 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8 Shannon Frizell, 7 Sam Cane, 6 Peter O’Mahony (c), 5 David Ribbans, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Paul Alo-Emile, 2 Camille Chat, 1 Cian Healy
Replacements: 16 Ricky Riccitelli, 17 Hassane Kolingar, 18 Will Collier, 19 Josh Beehre, 20 Hoskins Sotutu, 21 Santiago Arata, 22 Joe Marchant, 23 Lachlan Boshier

Venue: DHL Stadium, Cape Town
Date: Saturday, 28 June
Kick-off: 17:10 (local), 16:10 (UK)
Broadcaster: SuperSport, Sky Sport
Referee: AJ Jacobs
Assistants: Christopher Allison, Stephan Geldenhuys
TMO: Egon Segonds
FPRO: Ben Crouse

READ MORE: Tony Brown: Springboks aiming to ‘live up to the standards’ against ‘very unpredictable’ Barbarians