There will be plenty of empty seats at Allianz Stadium on Saturday but Wales’ glass is half full for their double-header with the Barbarians.

After a 2025-26 season featuring a combined tally of just three wins in 19 international fixtures, Steve Tandy’s men (14:00 BST) and Sean Lynn’s women (17:00 BST) each get the chance for a morale-boosting success in Twickenham.

No caps will be awarded at the home of English rugby, where Wales are the away sides, and a crowd of around 20,000 is expected at an 82,000-capacity stadium.

Nonetheless, both Welsh bosses insist there is plenty at stake.

Tandy said: “We are treating it as a Test match and the training week has been no different in the mindset and intensity.”

Lynn, who is hunting just his second win since taking the reins in March 2025, said: “For us to go to Twickenham on Saturday and beat the Barbarians is everything.”

Wales men enjoyed a morale-boosting win against Italy last time out, ending a three-year Six Nations losing streak, and have not won successive games since the 2023 World Cup.

They now get a hit-out before a key Nations Championship opener against Fiji at Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday, 4 July, which is followed by away games in Argentina and South Africa.

The Barbarians fixture is outside World Rugby’s official window so Tandy is without 13 members of his squad that are on the books of English and French clubs.

The regular season of the United Rugby Championship (URC) ended in mid-May and the only member of the matchday squad that played beyond that is Cardiff loose-head Rhys Barratt, who started the quarter-final loss at Stormers at the end of the month.

Wales, with their mix of rusty and battle-hardened players, must gel quickly for three Tests against sides above them in the world rankings.

Tandy said: “We built through the Six Nations really well, so can we hit the ground running?

“I am happy with the group and the potential that we have, but we want to get better and we have to go faster in what we are doing.

“Momentum has been built but we are still nowhere near where we want to be, so it’s exciting to test ourselves against the leading nation in the world in South Africa, Argentina are up there and so are Fiji.”

Exeter’s Dafydd Jenkins, Saracens’ Rhys Carre, Gloucester’s Tomos Williams and Bristol’s Louis Rees-Zammit are among those likely to return for the Fiji game.

Wales will also assess lock Adam Beard, who lost his starting spot to Ben Carter in the Six Nations, when he links up with the squad after featuring for Montpellier against Toulouse in the final of the Top 14 on Saturday night.

The Barbarians fixture presents a chance for four uncapped players – lock or flanker Ryan Woodman, back-row forward Harrison Keddie, Barratt and tight-head Ben Warren – to stake a claim for the summer squad, which will be trimmed early next week.

Livewire Blair Murray gets an opportunity at full-back after a testing international season in an all-Scarlets set of three-quarters.

Cardiff lock Teddy Williams makes a welcome return from a dislocated right foot suffered in October, while Dragons tight-head Dillon Lewis makes a first international appearance in two years in a problem position for Wales.

“We want a competitive group and we want competitive selections,” said Tandy.

While the men have Tests on the horizon, Wales’ women take on the Baa-Baas and then have a short break before the WXV Global Series.

That has afforded Lynn the chance to have a look to the future with the incentive of earning spots in the squad to face South Africa and USA in Cardiff in September, which is followed by two October Tests in Japan.

After being condemned to back-to-back Six Nations Wooden Spoons, Wales are desperate for some gems to grasp their opportunity in Twickenham.

Five uncapped players feature, with Amy Williams and Kelsie Webster starting in the backs and Stella Orrin, Lucy Isaac and Lily Hawkins on the bench.

“I don’t want to be coming into pre-season where an individual has trained really well but we’ve got no evidence from a game, so that’s what the squad is selected on,” said Lynn.

“Certain individuals have put their hands up, and that’s why we’re going to give their reward.”

Wales are also lifted by the return of influential back-row forward Alex Callender, who captains the side after recovering from the ankle injury which meant she missed the Six Nations.

Kayleigh Powell gets the chance to put the pressure on Lleucu George after being moved from full-back to fly-half.

The hope is that those who are rested or unavailable after their Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) exertions will be sweating on their spots.

Wales announced their line-ups together with the tag line of “Two teams. One Wales”, but they have different challenges.

Some of Tandy’s squad have already had a few weeks off but all of them will take a breather in August.

Lynn & Co are at the end of a long run that featured last summer’s two Tests in Australia, the World Cup, PWR, Celtic Challenge and the Six Nations.

The head coach has won just one of 15 Tests since taking over – against the Wallaroos in Brisbane last July – and would love a success to springboard into September.

“You want to be playing against the best and learning from the best, but we also want to be making sure that we put our best foot forward.

“We all want to be winning, that’s what it comes down to in Test match rugby.

“For us to go to Twickenham on Saturday and beat the Barbarians is everything, but within that, we need to be making sure we are sticking to our processes.”

Wales men need a game before tough Tests but face a Barbarians side who were thrashed 80-31 by South Africa last weekend.

They did score five tries in what was a better effort than Tandy’s stretched squad managed when beaten 73-0 by the Springboks last autumn.

The Baa-Baas will not have over-trained in the London heat this week and will be keen to put on a show in a farewell fixture for Wales centurion George North.

“What we can expect is a skilful game and we’ll throw the ball round like we did last week,” said coach Scott Robertson. “It is a united group and the boys will play for each other.”

Nine nations are represented in the women’s invitational side that is captained by Australia flanker Emily Chancellor and features New Zealand World Cup winner Ruby Tui.

The Baa-Baas, playing their first fixture since 2024, will aim to make their experience show against a youthful Wales.

Barbarians men: Spring; Kellaway, Ward, Nankivell, Vakatawa; Plummer, de Klerk (capt); Kharaishvili, Dee, Koch, Rodda, Taofifenua, Salakaia-Loto, Boshier, Hughes.

Replacements: Thacker, Iscaro, Alo-Emile, Tanga, Joseph, Arata, North, McConnell.

Wales men: Murray; Rogers, James, Hawkins, Mee; Edwards, Hardy; G Thomas , Lake (capt), Lewis , Carter, T Williams, Plumtree, Morgan, Wainwright.

Replacements: Elias, Barratt, Warren, Woodman, Keddie, Morgan-Williams, Costelow, Grady.

Barbarians: Cramet; Tui, Pena, Tessier, Lund; McGovern, Mattinson; Delgado Duenas, Phillips, Belize, P Leitch, Bonar, Rule, Chancellor (capt), Marston-Mulhearn.

Replacements: Tuttosi, B Cleall, Jacob, Buckland-Hurry, Arrighetti, Maxwell, Tuima, Quansah.

Wales women: N Metcalfe; Webster, Keight, De Vera, Williams; Powell, Lockwood; Davies, Reardon, Tuipulotu, B Metcalfe, Aiono, A Joyce, Callender (capt), King.

Replacements: Jones, Baverstock, Orrin, A Pyrs, Isaac, Hawkins, Bevan, Bell.