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Former New Zealand rugby league international Sonny Bill Williams will return to Australia to play for the Barbarians against the Wallabies in June.
Williams, who switched codes in a blaze of publicity to join the Toulon club in France last year, is the first Barbarians invitee announced for the historic
showdown at the Sydney Football Stadium.
The match will be the first for the world-famous Barbarians Club on Australian soil, and doubles as the 2009 season-opener for the Wallabies.
The remainder of the international contingent will be confirmed in May.
"I'm looking forward to playing for the Barbarians in Sydney and being on the field with some of the best rugby players in the world," New Zealander Williams said in a statement.
Australian Rugby Union CEO John O'Neill said the match would provide an opportunity to see how Williams' career had progressed since switching codes.
"He was a rugby league player of rare talent who is now midway through his first season of rugby in France," said O'Neill.
"At Toulon he is playing alongside a former long-serving All Black in Jerry Collins and against some of the finest players in the game on a week to week basis.
"I'm sure many people will look forward to seeing how his career in rugby has developed when he arrives with a Barbarians team that will be world-class and ready to take on our own Qantas Wallabies."
Tickets for the match go on sale next month.
- AAP
