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Rugby Union

Barbarians face England snub

06/11/2007

Mark McCafferty has told England's top clubs not to release their players for the upcoming match between the Barbarians and South Africa.

The chief executive of Premier Rugby, the governing body for rugby union in this country, has ordered the clubs not to give in to pressure from the Baa-Baas organisers because of the increasingly hectic domestic schedule.

The match, due to be played on December 1st at Twickenham, comes amid a particularly busy time as the final round of Anglo-Welsh Cup group games are played that weekend, before a heavy fixture list in the Guinness Premiership follows.

"They [the Barbarians] have to understand that during the season it is not possible these days," McCafferty said.

"We have no stake or interest in that game. Our message to the Barbarians has been for some time that we are very willing to work with them on post-season games during the summer, but it's very difficult, if not impossible, for us to release players during the season for those sort of representative fixtures."

The Barbarians have reportedly made individual approaches for various players plying their trade in England at the moment.

But McCafferty argued this had been done in spite of a discussion that had already taken place between the representative team's chiefs and Premier Rugby.

"I'm not surprised they've approached players, but I'm disappointed because they came to us centrally and we gave them the clear position that the board of the Premiership had confirmed," he continued.

"It's disappointing if players have been approached when that is the case but we still expect the clubs to support the position."

The international match itself was organised before the Springboks lifted the Webb Ellis Cup in Paris last month and is expected to draw a substantial crowd to the newly-expanded Twickenham.

The stadium was refurbished between June 2005 and November 2006 when the south stand was demolished and rebuilt, and South African captain John Smit said he was looking forward to running out at the improved venue.

"It will be a great occasion," he said.

"We really enjoyed playing at Twickenham last November and getting our first win there since 1997 (a 25-14 victory).

"It is a fantastic venue, especially with the new south stand, and we are all looking forward to returning to this world-class stadium."