The New Zealand Barbarians, nicknamed the "Baa-Baas", are an invitational rugby union team which has been a major part of New Zealand rugby since the team was founded in 1937 by two ex-All Blacks, Ronald Bush and Hubert McLean, who captained their first game in 1938. The club is based in New Zealand, at Eden Park in Auckland. The idea came from the concept of the Barbarian F.C.. To mark the club's 50th Jubilee, an unbeaten five match tour to the British Isles was undertaken in March 1987, two months before the inaugural RUWC, where they recorded wins against Leicester, Wanderers , Ballymena, Cornwall. They also produced a devastating performance in Cardiff, beating the UK Baa-Baas 68-16. There were thirteen All Blacks in the party of 22 and a further six future caps, with Wayne Smith being drafted in from Italy as a replacement for one game. New Zealand were emerging from a turbulent 1986, the year of the rebel Cavaliers tour to South Africa and the "Baby Blacks" tests, the subsequent reintegration of the Cavaliers into the Bledisloe Cup games, and the infamous Battle of Nantes. Eight players who had survived November in Nantes toured, as did four Cavaliers. Jubilee Tour Party 1987: Management: Peter Murdoch *, Kevin Barry *, D.E.Kirk Captain*, Clive Murdoch Back Three: G.J.L. Cooper *,C.I.Green *C, D.J.Halligan, J.J.Kirwan * Centres: B.J. McCahill F, N.J.Schuster F, J.T.Stanley * Half Backs: S.J.Bachop F, I.B.Deans F, W.R. Smith *C Front Row: J.A.S.Buchan F, W.G.Bunn, S.B.T.Fitzpatrick *, S.C.McDowall *C, B.McGrattan * Locks: B.L.Anderson *, M.Weedon, G.W.Whetton *C Back Row: M.R.Brewer *, M.N.Jones F, A.J.Whetton *C, D.A.Williams *= All Black, F= Future All Black, C= Cavalier Subsequent NZ Barbarian trips to the UK were undertaken in 1996 and 2003. The November 1996 matches were part of the ERFU's 125th celebrations with a warm-up fixture against the North Of England played in the snow at Huddersfield ahead of a "test" against England the week after.John Hart's 24-man squad, captained by Sean Fitzpatrick featured 19 All Blacks and four future All Blacks and won both fixtures, an 86-0 win against the North of England for whom twelve first choice selections had withdrawn from the team on the preceding Wednesday and a 34-19 victory against England at Twickenham. Tour Party 1996: Back three: J.T Lomu *, C.M.Cullen *,G.M. Osborne *, J.Vidiri F Centres: N.A.Ieremia *, M.R.Ranby F, L.Stensness * Half-backs: J.W.Marshall *, A.P Mehrtens *, C.J Spencer *, M.D. Robinson F Front Row: M.R. Allen *, O.M.Brown *, M.Collins, S.B.T. Fitzpatrick * A.D.Oliver * Locks: R.M.Brooke *, I.D. Jones *, G.L.Taylor * Back Row: A.F.Blowers *,C.S.Davis *, M.N.Jones *, D.G.Mika F, T.C.Randell * The 2003 match played at Twickenham was viewed at the time as something of a festival affair to celebrate the home country's recent RUWC success. Falling as it did during the British, Irish and European club championships, both sides struggled to assemble "full strength squads" indeed the England XV featured only five RUWC cup winners.Contractual difficulties with clubs releasing players resulted in the NZ Barbarians side being deemed - in comparison to previous touring parties - as at best only "competitive" and the England XV side ran out very comfortable winners, 42-17. Match day squad: Back three: G.P."Jorrie" Muller, R.L Gear F, E.Taione, D.R.Albanese Centres: D.L Gibson *, K.R.Lowren *, T.A. Vili Half backs: D.D. Lee *, G.W. Jackson, B.Willis Front row: A.K.Hore *, M.R.Hurter, D.T Manu, S.A.A."Ace" Tiatia, T.D.Woodcock * Locks: T.V.Flavell *, T.S. Mailing *, N.M.C. Maxwell * Back row: J.Blackie, S.Harding *, T.C. Randell *, X.J.Rush * The New Zealand Barbarians were also selected for the All Blacks trial replacing the 'Possibles XV' and in 2009 a New Zealand Barbarians under 85 kg Team toured Australia winning both of their games. The team played against the Māori All Blacks in 2010 at Okara Park, losing 31 – 37 before a crowd of 9,000. A Middleweight Barbarian side was also selected in 2011 to play four games. In 2015, the New Zealand Barbarians won over the Māori All Blacks 17–34.
The New Zealand Barbarians wear scarlet red jerseys with white shorts and socks. The symbol of the New Zealand Barbarians is a white leaping lamb covered in blood.
