Brooke relishes Baa-Baas battle with Tigers

Former New Zealand star Zinzan Brooke is relishing the prospect of coaching the Barbarians against Leicester in the NIG Challenge match on Wednesday.

The 39-year-old, capped 58 times by the All Blacks, also played three times for the Barbarians, with two of those appearances coming against Leicester.

Brooke said: “Barbarians rugby is not really about structure, it’s about instinct and combinations.

“The Barbarians like to play with great freedom. People want to see tries, but you have to get in a position to score them, so we’re not totally neglecting the basics.

“We have to build some momentum in the first 15-20 minutes and get good ball from our starting positions, like scrums and lineouts. We’ll have a team meeting before the game and go through some basic moves.”

The Baa-baas squad includes Wales points-scoring record holder Neil Jenkins, South Africa’s caps record holder Joost van der Westhuizen and arguably the greatest Sevens player of all-time, Fijian legend Waisale Serevi, who had a spell at Welford Road.