The Barbarians have confirmed that they will play South Africa at Twickenham on Saturday 4 December 2010.The MasterCard Trophy match, will continue the traditional and high-profile rivalry between the Barbarians and Springboks.

Barbarians' president Micky Steele-Bodger said, “Our teams have been locking horns in front of big crowds since 1952 and, to date, the spoils in the six encounters have been equally shared. We also toured South Africa on two occasions and the links between us continue to be strong.”

In the most recent fixture in December 2007, also at Twickenham, the Baa-Baas defeated the recently crowned Rugby World Cup champions 22-5.

The pre-Christmas event has been a popular attraction for the rugby public with the victory over the Springboks three years ago followed by the London Olympics' celebration game against Australia at the new Wembley Stadium in 2008. Last December in the inaugural MasterCard Trophy match the Barbarians beat New Zealand 25-18, also at Twickenham.

Andy Marinos, national teams manager of the South African Rugby Union commented. “The Barbarians fixture has become the grand finale of the European autumn series and we’re delighted to be taking part once again. The fixture has a character all of its own and is an opportunity for the players to demonstrate their skills against the very best international players but with different pressures to that of the Test arena. The Barbarians routinely produce an outstanding combination as they showed when a team featuring several Springboks beat the All Blacks last season. There’ll also be plenty of incentive for our players following our last game against them in 2007.”

Mr Steele-Bodger added, “As the years go by, our long-established fixtures against the major powers of the southern hemisphere are, if anything, becoming more and more popular. Success breeds success, not necessarily in terms of match results but in providing an attractive environment where true followers are almost guaranteed an entertaining afternoon of top-class sport. We look forward to another such occasion next December.”

Tickets are now on sale via TICKET MASTER / 0844 847 2492. Prices range from £35 to £65 for adults, £17.50 to £32.50 for juniors (under-16) and special family tickets (two adults, two juniors) are available.

BARBARIANS V SOUTH AFRICA 1952-2010
PREVIOUS MATCHES:
1952 : CARDIFF ARMS PARK               BARBARIANS 3 SOUTH AFRICA 17
1961 : CARDIFF ARMS PARK                BARBARIANS 6 SOUTH AFRICA 0
1970 : TWICKENHAM                        BARBARIANS 12 SOUTH AFRICA 21
1994 : LANSDOWNE ROAD, DUBLIN    BARBARIANS 23 SOUTH AFRICA 15
2000 : MILLENNIUM STADIUM            BARBARIANS 31 SOUTH AFRICA 41
2007 : TWICKENHAM                        BARBARIANS 22 SOUTH AFRICA 5

2010 : TWICKENHAM  :  BARBARIANS V SOUTH AFRICA FOR THE MASTERCARD TROPHY SATURDAY 4 DECEMBER, KICK-OFF 2.30 PM