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5 SA players start for BaaBaas

Cape Town - Shane Jennings will captain the Barbarians against Ireland at Thomond Park on Thursday.

The Leinster and Ireland flank is set to retire from the professional game after a distinguished career in which he has won 13 caps for Ireland, Pro-12 and European Cup titles for Leinster and a Premiership title with Leicester Tigers.

He captains a starting side containing nine different nationalities with 466 international appearances between them for the game in Limerick on May 28.

Five South Africans - Zane Kirchener, Wynand Olivier, Ruan Pienaar, Gerhard Vosloo and Deon Fourie - are in the starting team, while Gio Aplon features on the bench.

 “It’s an honour to lead out such an illustrious team. It’s a great highlight in my career and we’ll be determined to do the Barbarians' jersey justice against Ireland,” said Jennings.

Head coach Robbie Deans has assembled a side with a sharp cutting edge containing the likes of Toulon’s leading try-scorer David Smith, New Zealand’s Joe Rokocoko and British & Irish Lions wing Alex Cuthbert in the backline.

Lions tighthead prop Adam Jones anchors a scrum containing a powerful second row combination in Uruguay’s Rodrigo Capo Ortega and Georgia’s Konstantin Mikautadze. Japan’s Ryu Koliniasi Holani is a dynamic No 8 from Deans’s club side Panasonic Wild Knights.

Barbarians XV:

15 Zane Kirchner (Leinster & South Africa), 14 Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues & Wales), 13 Joe Rokocoko (Bayonne & New Zealand), 12 Wynand Olivier (Montpellier & South Africa), 11 David Smith (Toulon), 10 James Gopperth (Leinster), 9 Ruan Pienaar (Ulster & South Africa), 8 Ryu Koliniasi Holani (Panasonic Wild Knights & Japan), 7 Gerhard Vosloo (Toulon), 6 Shane Jennings (Leinster & Ireland, captain), 5 Konstantin Mikautadze (Toulon & Georgia), 4 Rodrigo Capo Ortega (Castres & Uruguay), 3 Adam Jones (Cardiff Blues & Wales), 2 Deon Fourie (Lyon), 1 Roberto Tejerizo (Tucuman & Argentina)

Substitutes: 16 David Ward (Harlequins), 17 Saimone Taumoepeau (Castres & New Zealand), 18 Matias Diaz (Pampas & Argentina), 19 George Whitelock (Panasonic Wild Knights & New Zealand), 20 George Smith (Lyon & Australia), 21 Tomas Cubelli (Belgrano Ath & Argentina), 22 Tusi Pisi (Suntory Sungoliath & Samoa), 23 Gio Aplon (Grenoble & South Africa)

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