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Forward power the answer
rugby365 columnist Robbie Fleck reports back from the World Classics in Bermuda, whilst also looking at the Springbok tour of the United Kingdom.
Hello from Bermuda - where the Elan Springbok Legends have just won their second match of the Bermuda World Classics.
On Sunday, we beat France 12-7 and on Wednesday night (the early hours of Thursday morning SA time) we beat Australia 21-0. As I write this, celebrations are about to begin, so I won't keep you too long...
We've had a good time in Bermuda and have - as always - been looked after really well. We arrived in Bermuda on Friday of last week and got the week off to a great start with a street party to 'open' the tournament and there have been a fair few cocktails enjoyed on the beautiful beaches since then, followed by a few more drinks at the various beer tents around here!
The whole vibe here has really been amazing and it's hard not to have a good time - on the field and in the bars... All the locals want to do is party with us - can you now see why we started to slowly against France?! - and everyone goes all out and dresses up when they come and watch the games.
That is something that we would like achieve at the Cape Town Tens next year; the fancy dress, the party atmosphere, and Bobby and I have taken some notes; as well as signing up guys like former All Blacks Scott 'Razor' Robertson and Keith Lowen to come and play in the CT Tens in February 2009.
Our SA Legends coach, the one and only Ian McIntosh, arrived on Sunday evening only, so he missed our first game, but we were quick to tell him how well we did without him! It's great, however, to have the 'Master' in the mix, he just adds so much more to the occasion.
Bob (Skinstad) was another late arrival (due to his LuvSport commitments), but he arrived at our game against France virtually straight off the plane and produced a typically masterful display. I hadn't played with Bob in quite a while, but I look forward to playing with him again this weekend.
I scored the second of our two tries against France, with Breytie Paulse scoring our first. France took the lead before half-time with a converted try, but my try put us ahead 12-7 at half-time, which ended up being the final score too in quite a heated match, with a few bust-ups along the way... I won't lie; we were lucky to come away with a win, but we showed typical South African determination - especially as defending champions - to pull through in the end.
Some of us out there might be a bit long in the tooth these days, but this was, in many ways, a typical French-Bok clash; all the French flair was there to be seen, but it was tempered by some pretty simple errors from Les Bleus.
Our game against Australia (who had David Knox and Jeremy Paul in their side) was a fun outing too and we did well to get in with another win. Don't be fooled by the 21-0 scoreline, it wasn't an easy as it seems...
Thanks to that victory, we are now into the World Rugby Classic Final, which is not bad for a few old folks trying to recapture their glory days! Our opponents will either the Classic All Blacks or the Classic Lions. (Of bigger consequence, however, to some will be Friday's World Rugby Classic Golf Tournament!)
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