New departure:Ireland will play the Barbarians at Kingsholm on May 27th ahead of their summer tour to New Zealand and Australia. This unusual fixture was confirmed by Barbarians president Mickey Steele-Bodger, writes John O'Sullivan.
"This is a new departure for us but a very interesting one. Ireland were keen to add a fixture in Europe to their summer tour before travelling on to New Zealand and Australia. With Lansdowne Road and Thomond Park still under redevelopment, we are playing at one of the traditional hotbeds of rugby union in the west of England. Kingsholm was an obvious choice and one we are sure will prove to be a great success for players and fans."
The Barbarians have played Ireland on two previous occasions in 1996 and 2000 and will be defending an unbeaten record.
Rugby union's great entertainers confirmed their fixture list for the coming months, included games against England at Twickenham and Belgium at the Heysel stadium in Brussels.
Barbarian Fixtures - March 18th: Barbarians v Bedford, Goldington Road; April 9th: Barbarians v Edinburgh Academicals, Raeburn Place (150th Anniversary Match); May 24th: Barbarians v Belgium International XV, Heysel Stadium, Brussels; May 27th: Barbarians v Ireland, Kingsholm, Gloucester; June 1st: Barbarians v England, Twickenham.
Perugini wins 50th cap
Italy coach Nick Mallett has made four changes for Saturday's Six Nations match against Wales in Cardiff, including selecting scrumhalf Simon Picone ahead of Pietro Travagli. Reserve outhalf Andrea Marcato replaces the injured David Bortolussi at fullback and will take the place kicks while Alberto Sgarbi takes over from winger Kaine Robertson, who has a thigh injury. Mallett has dropped Andrea Lo Cicero and handed prop Salvatore Perugini his 50th cap.
ITALY: A Marcato; A Sgarbi, G Canale, Mi Bergamasco, Ezio Galon; A Masi, S Picone, S Perugini, A Ghiraldini, M Castrogiovanni, S Dellape, C Del Fava, J Sole, Ma Bergamasco, S Parisse (capt). Replacements: C Festuccia, A Lo Cicero, M Bortolami, A Zanni, P Travagli, P Buso, E Patrizio.
Healy withdrawn
There has been one change to the Ireland A team that will play Scotland A tomorrow in Perth. Cian Healy picked up a minor neck strain training with the Ireland senior squad and as a precaution he has been withdrawn from the A team. Munster prop Darragh Hurley has replaced Healy and will go straight into the team at loosehead.
Connacht hooker Adrian Flavin is clear to sit on the bench after an IRFU disciplinary decided not to impose any further sanction following his red card against the Ospreys.
Three changes for Irish
There are three changes and one positional switch to the Ireland Under-20s side that will take on Scotland tomorrow evening in Athlone.
Jason Harris-Wright comes in at hooker instead of Stephen Douglas and James Sandford replaces David Nolan in the secondrow. Ian Porter comes onto the bench as Kris Greene drops out of the squad. The positional switch sees David Kearney move to fullback from the right wing and Shane Scanlon take over the number 14 jersey.
IRELAND UNDER-20: D Kearney (Lansdowne); S Scanlon (UCC), E O'Malley (Old Belvedere), E Sheridan (Lansdowne), C Cochrane (Queen's); M Dufficy (Dublin Univ), D Moore (Blackrock); P Karayiannis (Queen's), J Harris Wright (Greystones), B Barclay (UCD), J Sandford (Queen's), E Sheriff (Lansdowne), K Essex (ULBohemian), P Ryan (Blackrock, capt), P Mallon (Lansdowne). Replacements: S Douglas (Ballymena), S Archer (UCC), D Nolan (Galwegians), I Nagle (UCC), I Porter (Queen's), I Madigan (Blackrock), C Cleary (Greystones).
