George Kruis: Ex-England lock to bow out against former team-mates for Barbarians

Former Saracens and England second-row George Kruis will play his final competitive match when he starts for the Barbarians against his former international side at Twickenham on Sunday.

Kruis, who made 45 appearances for the Red Rose between 2014 and 2020, has plied his trade with Japanese outfit Panasonic Wild Knights for the past two years.

He will pack down alongside former Sarries team-mate Will Skelton in the Barbarians engine room.

Les Bleus in disguise

Baa-baas head coach Fabien Galthie’s run-on side is dominated by players who helped France to a Six Nations Grand Slam earlier this year, with 10 Les Bleus players named to start Sunday’s fixture.

The famous invitational side will be captained by Charles Ollivon, who missed out on France’s triumphant Six Nations campaign due to injury.

Fiji’s Levani Botia and Georgia duo Beka Gigashvili and Davit Niniashvili join Kruis and Skelton as the only players from other countries in the Barbarians line-up although the ex-England lock is the only one of the quintet who does not play his club rugby in the Top 14.

Galthie and the Barbarians were hard at training in Monaco this week and he is excited by the prospect of facing England with nine more Frenchmen amongst his replacements.

“It has been a good experience for us,” he said. “We have 19 French players, so we are the British Barbarians with a French accent! We have a good balance of very young players and experienced players.”

Galthie feels that playing alongside Skelton at Twickenham will be a fitting farewell for Kruis as he enjoyed domestic and international success at the famous venue.

“Will is big and good and clever. I don’t know why he is not an international player now – maybe they manage players in their country and overseas maybe not – but in this case it is an opportunity for us because he wanted to play with George Kruis.

“It is like a present for George because they played at Saracens years ago. It is a nice story.”

READ MORE: Danny Care: Rugby World Cup door very much open to recalled England scrum-half

The article George Kruis: Ex-England lock to bow out against former team-mates for Barbarians appeared first on Planetrugby.com.