World rugby’s most experienced Test captain, former Springbok hooker John Smit, will skipper the Barbarians in their match against England on Sunday. Kick-off is at 15:30 SA time.

According to the allblacks.com website, Smit joins two fellow South Africans in Ernst Joubert (flank) and Anton van Zyl (lock) in the Starting XV.

In addition, five former All Blacks and three 2011 Rugby World Cup winners have been named in the run-on side.

Coach John Kirwan revealed the squad ahead of the BaaBaas first match, with fixtures against Ireland and Wales to follow in the coming weeks.

Rugby World Cup winners Mils Muliana, Stephen Donald and John Afoa will start for the invitational side, while Neemia Tialata and Casey Laulala have also been named.

“We have several natural leaders in the squad but with John’s track record of captaincy at the highest levels of the game he was the obvious choice to lead us on this tour,” Kirwan said.

Barbarians:

15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Mike Tindall, 11 Iain Balshaw, 10 Stephen Donald, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Akapusi Qera, 7 Johnnie Beattie, 6 Ernst Joubert, 5 Anton van Zyl, 4 Mark Chisholm, 3 John Afoa, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Neemia Tialata

Replacements: 16 Benoit August, 17 Duncan Jones, 18 Pelu Taele, 19 Raphael Lakafia, 20 Jerome Fillol, 21 Felipe Contepomi, 22 Sailosi Tagicakibau

England XV:

15 B Foden (Northampton Saints); 14 C Ashton (Northampton Saints), 13 B Barritt (Saracens), 12 O Farrell (Saracens), 11 C Wade (London Wasps); 10 C Hodgson (Saracens), 9 L Dickson (Northampton Saints); 8 M Stevens (Saracens), 7 D Hartley (Northampton Saints), 6 P Doran Jones (Northampton Saints), 5 M Botha (Saracens), 4 T Palmer (Stade Francais), 3 T Johnson (Exeter Chiefs), 2 C Fearns (Bath Rugby), 1 P Dowson (Northampton Saints, capt).

Replacements: 16 L Mears (Bath Rugby), 17 M Mullan (Worcester Warriors), 18 J Launchbury (London Wasps), 19 J Gibson (London Irish), 20 R Wigglesworth (Saracens), 21 J Joseph (London Irish), 22 A Goode (Saracens).