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Boks need to end on a high rugby365s Robbie Fleck is back from Bermuda and he looks ahead to this weekend's Springbok Test against England at Twickenham. It's great being back home, despite spending a great 12 days in Bermuda with the Elan South African Legends where we attempted to defend our World Classics title. We came very close, going down 19-5 to the British Lions in the Bermuda World Classics Final on Saturday night (early Sunday morning SA time) and it was rather disappointing to be part of a losing side. But all credit to the Lions - who had the likes of Andy Ward, Shane Byrne and Anthony Foley in their side - they deserved the win, even if we were a bit depleted due to injuries by the end of the tournament! We did well to make it into the final with wins over France (12-5) and Australia (21-0), but the last game - between the best two sides on offer at the tournament - was just a bridge too far for us. Yes, it was a huge pity, but it still could not detract from a very good few days spent in Bermuda. As I said in last week's column, everybody made us feel very, very welcome and we had a fun time of it; both on and off the field. We had a bit of niggle in our game against France, but the tournament was played in a fantastic spirit throughout. On a personal level, I would love to see a tournament of this nature come to South Africa or, in particular, Cape Town, but at least we have the Cape Town Tens to look forward next February! Bob and I learnt plenty from our time in Bermuda and we were able to chat to a bunch of guys about possibly coming out here to play in the first ever Cape Town Tens. The likes of Scott Robertson and Keith Lowen from New Zealand, Australia's Jeremy Paul and a bunch of the Lions players seemed genuinely keen to come out and play, but there are obviously costs involved, so the guys will have to head home first and do some sums before committing properly. The good news, however, was that a lot of the SA Legends players like Jannie Brookes, Joe Beukes, Piet Joubert, Craig McIntosh and Neil Cole are all dead keen to make it down to the CT Tens and with John Allan having promised two SA Legends team for the event, it will be great to see some familiar faces around. (I just hope Craig McIntosh is a bit more careful riding a bike in Cape Town than he was in Bermuda!) The only downside to spending 12 days in Bermuda was me having to spend 12 days away from my wife and kid, but a few days abroad playing social rugby is not as bad as spending virtually all year long on the road - like the top Springboks have been doing in 2008. Read the full article: http://www.rugby365.com/opinion/robbie_fleck/1317380.htm Read the first installment here |
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