Veteran Ireland international Peter O’Mahony will return to the scene of his greatest triumph at club level as captain of the Barbarians team that tackles the Springboks at DHL Stadium on Saturday.
Two years ago O’Mahony was the captain of the Munster team that came to South Africa and Cape Town as rank underdogs in their Vodacom United Rugby Championship final against the DHL Stadium.
He ended the game as a feted hero as he and his teammates celebrated a 19-14 win that broke a long trophy drought for the Irish province.
With this being O’Mahony’s last game of rugby at this level he will be eager to go out on a high by leading a team to victory over the Boks and that may have been Barbarians coach Robbie Deans’ motivation in giving him the leadership role.
#ICYMI ⬇️
— Barbarian FC (@Barbarian_FC) June 26, 2025
Our team v @Springboks 🇿🇦
Saturday 28 June
Cape Town #QatarAirwaysCup 🏆 pic.twitter.com/uf7EaegaTX
O’Mahony is part of a start quartet of loose-forwards who are playing for the Barbarians, with the others being Sam Cane, the captain of the All Blacks in the most recent World Cup final, and fellow All Black Shannon Frizell, while another Kiwi, Blues No8 Hoskins Sotutu, provides cover from the bench.
In an interesting twist. O’Mahony teaming up with Cane brings together the two players involved in one of rugby’s most famous sledges, with O’Mahony alleged to have chirped Cane “You are just a s*** Richie McCaw” in one of the tests in the tightly fought British and Irish Lions series in New Zealand in 2017.
Cane and O’Mahony will have been reminded of the bond that brings even fierce rugby rivals together when they play for the Barbarians during the course of the buildup week.
'EXPRESS OURSELVES'
The Barbarians are staying in Camps Bay, a great venue for a summer holiday, but it has been a torrid week from a weather point of view so the players would have seen a lot of each other.
Another All Black in the Barbarians unit is scrumhalf Tamera Kerr-Barlow, while England’s ‘Saffa’, David Ribbans, is the second row partner of Stormers lock Ruben van Heerden.
Jacob Jacomb plays flyhalf and while we know he is a promising 23-year-old flyhalf/fullback from New Zealand, where he has represented the Chiefs and Taranaki, this will be the first the Boks have seen of him.
The controversial former France fullback Melvyn Jaminet lines up at fullback, with All Black Mark Telea lining up on the right wing.
Another Frenchman, Camille Chat, is at hooker, alongside Ireland Test centurion Cian Healy, who will be joining countryman
O’Mahony in making this game his sendoff from international rugby.
“This side is packed with experienced and exciting players and we are looking forward to going out there and expressing ourselves on Saturday,” said Deans after announcing his side.
“This is the first time a South African crowd have got to see the Barbarians face the Springboks on home soil and it’s going to be a great fixture. The boys have come in and connected really well, those connections are helping drive us on the field and we are looking forward to showing that against the world champions on Saturday.
The Qatar Airways Cup that the Springboks and Barbarians will be playing for on Saturday night 🔳🏆🇿🇦 pic.twitter.com/N4PAHssslF
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) June 25, 2025
Barbarians team: Melvyn Jaminet, Mark Telea, Liecester Fainga’anaku, Peter Umaga-Jensen, Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkins, Jacob Jacomb, Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Shannon Frizell, Sam Cane, Peter O’Mahony, David Ribbans, Ruben van Heerden, Paul Alo-Emile, Camille Chat, Cian Healy.
Replacements: Ricky Ricatelli, Hassane Kolingar, Will Collier, Josh Bechre, Hoskins Sotutu, Santiago Arata, Joe Marchant, Lachlan Boshier.
