The Barbarians play in black and white hoops, though players wear socks from their own club strip.

[12] The team was given the motto by Walter Julius Carey, former Bishop of Bloemfontein and a former member of the Barbarians: Rugby Football is a game for gentlemen in all classes, but for no bad sportsman in any class[13][14]The concept took hold over the years and the nearest thing to a club home came to be the Esplanade Hotel at Penarth in South Wales, where the Barbarians always stayed on their Easter tours of Wales.

[15] The annual Good Friday game against the Barbarians was the highlight of the Penarth club's year and was always attended by enthusiastic capacity crowds.

Gary Teichmann, captain of South Africa and the Barbarians, unveiled a plaque at the clubhouse to mark the event.

[12] This started the tradition of the "Final Challenge" – played as the last match in a tour of Britain and Ireland by Australia, New Zealand or South Africa.

The Barbarian 'Final Challenge' match with the All Blacks at Cardiff Arms Park on 27 January 1973 is celebrated as one of the best games of rugby union ever played.

[17] It was a game of attack and counterattack, and the Barbarians won the match 23–11, handing the All Blacks their fourth defeat of the tour.

[18]Gareth Edwards said of the match: People tend only to remember the first four minutes of the game because of the try, but what they forgot is the great deal of good rugby played afterwards, much of which came from the All Blacks.

For us after the success of the 1971 British Lions tour, which captured the imagination of the whole country, it was an opportunity to bring a lot of that side together again.The nature of the Barbarians as a touring side made for a diverse fixture list, but at a number of points in the club's history they have settled for a time into a regular pattern.

Most of these regular matches have fallen by the wayside, whilst others continue to the present day: They typically compete against teams from the home nations (England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland) as well as other international sides.

Australia was approached by the British Olympic Association to play the Barbarians at Wembley Stadium on 3 December 2008.

The match formed part of the BOA's programme of events to celebrate the centenary of the first London Olympic Games where Australia defeated a Great Britain (Cornwall) side in the final 32–3.

The break with the tradition was highly regarded by the secretary of the Cornwall Rugby Football Union, Alan Mitchell, who was said to have been humbled by the honour.

[32] Their first-ever match against international competition saw six tries scored in a 34–33 victory against the USA at Infinity Park in the Denver suburb of Glendale, Colorado.

Head coach: Eddie Jones Note: Bold denotes players that have represented the Barbarians in previous matches.

The club's current president is former England and Barbarians player John Spencer, who was named in the position in December 2019.