Top international referee Wayne Barnes will swap his whistle for a gumshield for his annual charity match which this year will take place at Lydney.

Organised by his schoolboy friend Dave Emery, a Wayne Barnes Invitational XV will take on a Forest Invitational XV with all the proceeds from the game going to Breast Cancer Now.

Some of the names who are set to line up in Barnes’ team on Sunday include England coach Rory Teague, ex-England and Bristol scrum-half Shaun Perry, Harlequins scrum-half Karl Dickson, former Gloucester prop Nick Wood, ex-Bath and England prop Duncan Bell, former Gloucester and Wales flanker Kingsley Jones, ex-Wales and Harlequins prop Ceri Jones and an array of the current Premiership referees, while Emery’s Forest side includes players from Lydney, Bream, Newent, Berry Hill, Drybrook, Cheltenham Saracens and Stroud.

Barnes, 38, a second row before a knee injury ended his playing career, will be in the starting line-up at Regentsholme.

So how good a player was Wayne Barnes?

“Not very,” joked Emery, who was a back row and played rugby with Barnes at Whitecross School in Lydney and at Bream Rugby Club. “He’s definitely a better referee although a few Kiwis and Welsh supporters might not agree!”

Barnes, who was born in Bream, will “play for as long as he can” on Sunday added Emery, who is unable to play himself because of damaged knee ligaments.

This is the fourth year that the charity match has been played and the three previous games took place at Bream where Emery was head coach.

Barnes’ team won the first match “in controversial circumstances” joked Emery, but Emery’s team has won the last two.

Emery was particularly pleased with last year’s win because Barnes’ team had been given some expert tips by former Bath head coach Mike Ford, who watched the game from the sidelines.

Emery’s men may have to up their game even more this year, however, because Barnes has enlisted the help of England head coach Eddie Jones, who will be at Regentsholme on Sunday.

So what can England’s 2016 Grand Slam-winning coach expect?

“Well, if Wayne’s team are winning a half lasts only 30 minutes,” laughed Emery, “but if his side are losing it can go on for 45 minutes!”

Past matches have been refereed in part by former top officials Chris White, Tony Spreadbury and ex-prop Nick Wood.

The match on Sunday (30th April) kicks off at 2pm – organisers are hoping for a crowd of over a thousand – but the entertainment starts at 11am when a combined Lydney under-13 and under-15 girls’ team take on Kingswood from Bristol.

A Lydney under-12 and under-13 boys’ team will play Llandaff at noon and at 1pm Lydney’s under-10s tackle Avonmouth.

The fun doesn’t end there because during half-time of the main match, Lydney’s under-8s will play two seven-minute halves against Thornbury and the youngsters had better behave themselves because the game will be refereed by a certain Mr Barnes.

The post-match entertainment includes half-a-dozen bands playing on an outdoor stage until 9pm and there will be another band playing in the clubhouse after 9pm.

Tickets for the whole day cost £6 and include a raffle ticket, the prize for which is two tickets for the Premiership final at Twickenham. Barnes will also conduct an auction at about 5pm and lots will include a signed England 6 Nations shirt, signed Gloucester and Bath shirts and tickets to an England international.

Barnes, who lives in Twickenham and is married to Polly, lost his mother-in-law Debbie Broderick to breast cancer. At their wedding, instead of a gift list, they asked for all donations to be made to Breast Cancer Now and Emery’s idea started from there.

Forest invitational squad: Aden Peacey (Lydney), Ben Lewis (Berry Hill), Max Parry (Bream), Ian Morgan (Berry Hill), Jimmy Roberts (Lydney), James Bashford (Stroud), Jim McMahon (Cheltenham Saracens), Mark Lee (Bream), Andy Cooper (Bream), Ross Webb (Newent), Rob Newton (Lydney), Brett Scriven (Lydney), Matt Taylor (Cheltenham), Liam Brady (Bream), Dan Parry (Cinderford), James Cooper (Cinderford), Pete Pritchard (Bream), Tom Webb (Newent), Chris Holder (Lydney), Paul Hunt (Berry Hill), Chris Rawlings (Drybrook), Mitch Baldwin (Lydney), Josh Hannam (Lydney), Tai Lakibuka (Lydney), Jack O’Connell (Cinderford), Nicky Gait, John Barker (Lydney), Curt Russell (Lydney), Chris Dean (Old Pats), Paul Scott (Lydney).

Music line-up: The Funky Mojos featuring Miss Fusion; 70s disco funk band NFA; techno punk act Tequila Mockingbird; rock band Rusty Nail (covers and own music); Robert Zimmerman; Dylan, Bob Dylan and his electric show band Baddoos 5 (covers).