Given the presence of so many New Zealanders in the Barbarians squad, Saturday’s fixture against the All Blacks could have been played in Auckland.

Only one European player was named in the Barbarians squad, a far cry from only a few years ago when clubs were more relaxed about making their players available. That European player in question, Simone Favaro, happens to have a unique story to tell.

It is less than a year since Favaro captained Italy against Tonga, and the 29 year-old has now left the professional game behind following his release by Glasgow Warriors at the end of last season.

Sitting down at the start of 2017 once he knew Glasgow did not plan to keep him under new boss Dave Rennie, and uninspired by the new offers on the table, he made a radical decision to join the Italian police force.

“I had lots of offers after November last year, after [Italy’s] victory over South Africa, which was very big,” Favaro told the Telegraph. “There were some decent clubs but I waited to hear from Glasgow first, because I would have loved to have stayed there.

“I had offers but to be honest... I decide to play rugby because of motivation. I wanted to improve myself and I found the offers of the others clubs were not interesting, and I don’t mean only in terms of salary.