Ireland to play Barbarians in June

Ireland will take on the Barbarians at Munster’s Thomond Park ground in Limerick on June 4 next year the Irish Rugby Football Union confirmed on Wednesday.

The IRFU said the match would serve as a warm-up for their June tour to New Zealand and Australia. The Barbarians will play England the week before.

The match will be the Six Nations champions’ first against the international invitational side since 2000. Invitations to play for the Baa Baas have already been issued to Munster’s Jean de Villiers, Doug Howlett and Paul Warwick

The Irish squad will depart immediately afterwards for New Zealand, where they are due to meet the All Blacks on June 12.

They will then head on to Australia for a Test against the Wallabies on June 26.

The most recent meeting between Ireland and the Baabaas also coincided with the last Southern Hemisphere tour Ireland undertook in 2008 when Ireland played the Barbarians in Gloucester, winning the game 39-14.