St.George Queensland Reds hooker Andrew Ready has been selected to represent invitational side Barbarian FC in their upcoming matches against South Africa, Czech Republic and Fiji.
The 23-year-old rake said he was honoured to be called into the historic representative side, which will be coached by former Crusaders and Wallabies coach Robbie Deans.
"I'm absolutely humbled to be called into the Barbarians. They're one of the oldest invitational teams in the world. It's such a great opportunity” Ready said.
“They’ve got such a rich history and a great record against international teams, so I’m really looking forward to the experience. They play tough, but they look they have a lot of fun on the field as well. It’s a bit old school, which is what I like.”
The Barbarians have a storied history as an invitational representative side, dating back to 1890 and have notched famous victories against Test sides, including defeating England at Twickenham as recently as 2014.
Ready’s selection in the squad is a reflection of his strong form for the Reds in 2016, where he earned the starting Number 2 jersey for all but two of the side’s Super Rugby games this year.
Ready will play alongside a slew of stars including fellow Australians Wycliff Palu, Will Skelton and Taqele Naiyaravo, as well as All Blacks scrumhalf Andy Ellis and Springboks player Ruan Pienaar.
"I don't really know the guys I'll be playing with, but they always have such a high caliber of players. I'm sure I'll learn a lot from playing alongside them,” he said.
As is tradition with Barbarians sides, the players wear their own club socks while on the field and Ready will don the blue and yellow stripes of Brisbane’s Easts Tigers.
"It's definitely a nice touch to be able to wear your club socks. Easts gave me that pathway to higher honours, so I'll be wearing their socks with pride. It will be good to pull them on and reflect on where I was six or seven years ago, playing for Easts."
