Ben Fenner poses with Baa Baas team-mates Drew Mitchell and Matt Giteau © Getty Images

We had our first team event in the hotel last night, a president’s reception hosted by Micky Steele-Bodger himself and then a team dinner. The Aussies were in particularly good form and are such friendly guys. It’s amazing when you see them on television and then there they are in front of you.

Looks like there will be no training today due to the bad weather, but we had a team meeting led by Nick Mallet, a very impressive speaker and coach and I’m picking up tips. The boys were then all given their kit in the team room and we had a full run down of what the week has in store for us. Not everyone here has played for the Baa Baas before so I guess some of us are in the same boat.

We’ve got a free afternoon today so a lot of the guys are heading into town...and to Winter Wonderland. There is talk of a ‘training on ice’ photo stunt later this week. Adam Ashley-Cooper seems keen but I think I’ll opt out if I can...

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Twenty five-year-old teacher Ben Fenner is spending this week as a Barbarian, staying with the star – studded team in their five-star central London hotel in the run up to the MasterCard Trophy game against South Africa at Twickenham on December 4. He’s writing an exclusive diary for ESPNscrum, detailing his week with the team as No.23...

To get all the behind-the-scenes action and news from Ben’s week with the Barbarians go to www.benumber23.com/priceless. MasterCard card holders can also get 20% off tickets to the big game at the site.