Alfie Barbeary will make his return to the Bath Rugby side when they face RC Toulon in the south of France on Sunday 14th December (3.15pm).
Alfie Barbeary – here stripped down to his swimwear during Bath’s victory parade in June – will return to the starting XV on Sunday 14th December when the Blue, Black & White take on RC Toulon | Photo © Richard Briggs
The popular number 8, who achieved cult status after stripping down to his swimming trunks during the club’s victory parade in June, has been named in the Blue, Black & White’s starting XV for the Investec Champions Cup Round 2 clash at Stade Mayol.
Former Wasps player Barbeary suffered a hamstring injury during Bath’s 49-19 success in the PREM Rugby Cup against Bristol Bears at Ashton Gate Stadium on Friday 31st October.
He recovered in time to be available for selection for the Champions Cup Round 1 fixture against Munster Rugby on Saturday 6th December.
Barbeary was not in the matchday 23 for the 40-14 win over the Irish side but will be back as Bath look for victory over Top 14 outfit Toulon, who were beaten 33-20 at Edinburgh Rugby on Sunday 7th December in their Champions Cup opener.
He will be joined in the back row at Toulon by Ted Hill and Sam Underhill.
Beno Obano, Tom Dunn and Vilikesa Sela will line up in the front row.
Quinn Roux remains in the tight five, with Ross Molony moved into the starting second row.
Scrum-half Tom Carr-Smith will earn his first European start in Bath colours. He will be partnered by fly-half Finn Russell, who will be captain.
Bath’s centre pairing of Cameron Redpath and Max Ojomoh will retain their jerseys, with the back line featuring just one change from that which turned out against Munster.
Henry Arundell and Joe Cokanasiga will again play on the wings, and Santi Carreras will come in at full-back.
After bringing their impact from the bench in the second half against Munster, Francois van Wyk, Kepueli Tuipulotu and Thomas du Toit will make up Sunday’s replacement front row.
Charlie Ewels, Miles Reid and Arthur Green will complete the replacement forwards, with 21-year-old Green set to make his European debut.
Neil le Roux will also make his European debut – and Louie Hennessey will take the remaining bench position, completing a six-two split.
Bath starting XV: 1 Beno Obano, 2 Tom Dunn, 3 Vilikesa Sela, 4 Quinn Roux, 5 Ross Molony, 6 Ted Hill, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Alfie Barbeary, 9 Tom Carr-Smith, 10 Finn Russell, 11 Henry Arundell, 12 Cameron Redpath, 13 Max Ojomoh, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 15 Santi Carreras.
Bath replacements: 16 Kepueli Tuipulotu, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Miles Reid, 21 Neil le Roux, 22 Louie Hennessey, 23 Arthur Green.
Former Bristol and British & Irish Lions man Kyle Sinckler will start at tighthead for Toulon, who have named current Lion Ben White on their bench.
Toulon starting XV: 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 4 Swan Rebbadj, 5 Brian Alainu’uese, 6 Lewis Ludlam, 7 Charles Ollivon, 8 Zach Mercer, 9 Baptiste Serin, 10 Matéo Garcia, 11 Setariki Tuicuvu, 12 Jérémy Sinzelle, 13 Nacho Brex, 14 Gaël Drean, 15 Mathis Ferte.
Toulon replacements: 16 Teddy Baubigny, 17 Leo Ametlla, 18 Dany Priso, 19 Corentin Mezou, 20 Esteban Abadie, 21 Ben White, 22 Mathieu Smaili, 23 Joe Quere Karaba.
The Blue, Black & White are top of the six-team Pool 2. Toulon lie in fourth place.
Playing at Stade Mayol against one of the leading French sides in forecast Mediterranean winter sunshine will be very different from playing against Newcastle Reds Bulls at a likely bitterly cold Kingston Park Stadium, as Bath will do when they resume Gallagher PREM action on Sunday 21st December.
But Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan said at his pre-Investec Champions Cup Round 2 press conference on Wednesday 10th December: “The game gives you many different things that you’ve got to adapt to.
“You’ve got the referee, you’ve got the opponents, you’ve got the crowd, you’ve got weather conditions, you’ve got a card, you’ve got a lucky or an unlucky bounce.
“So I think one of the things that we’ve become good at is being calm and understanding that rugby is an 80-minute game.
“Two weeks ago [against Saracens in the PREM], we were 14-0 behind, and [on Saturday 6th December against Munster] we were 28-0 up. We didn’t do anything different in our planning or in our training, that’s just the way the game goes.
“What we can control is our reaction to whatever the game brings to us and it’s something we do in training. It’s something we discuss a lot, but ultimately it comes down to the players on the pitch.
“We’ve got a fantastic group of players who’ve become really good at staying calm and sometimes things will go for you and sometimes they won’t, we’ve just got to make sure that we control the things we can.”
Reflecting further on the 40-14 victory over Munster in Round 1, van Graan said: “It’s five points to zero. If you look at the pool, three teams got five and three teams got zero. Bonus points are important and points difference is important.
“I think the way that we started, obviously we got the bonus point in around 18 minutes, Munster’s a very good side and it was terrible conditions. It was really nice when we walked down from the hotel, but in the warm-up it drastically changed.
“One thing that the players are doing really well is being adaptable and we made a few changes and we stuck to it.”
