Even when adopting a limited scope of perspective, the Barbarians are going to field a team of great players, who know the game inside and out, and who Springbuck youngsters are going to run out against as an amazing introduction to international rugby. It clearly has tremendous value.
Rugby has attained its status in our collective love for the game because of its depth of history, culture, tradition and excellence. When you tear away at one of these fundamental pillars, you cast asunder one of the game’s most elemental attributes. The Barbarians in everything they represent are a cardinal feature of the game. What’s more, it is not just a game for and about the spectators, it is also one for and about the players—the brotherhood that they forge. Barbarians rugby performs a unique role in bridging player traditions with wider traditions of the game, which renders it particularly special. When the Barbarians become meaningless, so will everything else in the game follow, whereafter we will, at best, be left with something akin to the horror of football.