Matt's Blog Day 10: The Second Legends Test

The day of our second game against SARLA. We packed up and checked out of the lodge early as we had a two hour drive to Pretoria where we were running another coaching clinic before preparing for the evening game.

On the bus, the realization hit us that many of our team were evidently too old to play two games in consecutive weeks and hadn't yet recovered from knocks they received last week. Suddenly, we were down to the bare minimum, with the option of rolling subs now appearing impossible. To make matters worse, the South Aficans were putting out a whole new squad of 30 players, all enormous Afrikaaners!

It also didn't take too much thinking to realize that, other than a lung busting, twenty minute game of touch, we had done no training and had done nothing but eat handsomely and drink messily since the last game. The signs were not good - time to get an hour's sleep on the bus to Pretoria - that would surely sort us out just fine!

We arrived at University of Pretoria to find our accomodation at their High Performance Centre (HPC). 5* game lodge to university digs - that's a bit of a come down! But I can't really complain, considering some of the housing we'd seen on the way down.

The HPC is a great facility with pitches and courts for every sport stretching as far as the eye could see. It's a centre for elite sport with all sorts of sports science and medicine facilities too. It was no surprise that, on arrival, our first function was lunch. The surprise, however was that it was a bowl of pasta and salad - the first semblance of a healthy meal since we arrived! You could tell we were at an elite sports centre.

After lunch, we ran another clinic at the University. It was great to be joined by members of the RFU who had brought a group of young leaders over for a week. These kids aged between 13 and 15 were selected for the work they have been doing in the Child Victims Of Crime programme. This is a programme where young children who may somehow be affected by crime in England are encouraged to, among other things, play sport, in the hope that it will encourage them not to get involved in crime themselves. Having spoken to some of them, and the RFU staff, today's session was a bit of an eye opener - to see the depths of poverty here compared to that back home.

A British Parliamentarians XV have also come out to play their South African counterparts after our game. They are a team made up of 4 MP's, 2 Lords and a number of people who have had some kind of involvement with the Houses of Parliament. Unsurprisingly, we suggested that our drinks for the night should be covered on their expenses tab. For some reason, this suggestion fell on somewhat deaf ears!

The 1st half of the game followed a very similar pattern to last week's. The South Africans scored an early try, the build up to which (surprise, surprise) involved another missed tackle by yours truly. In another South African foray into our 22, we managed to turn the ball over, with the ball ending up in my possession. Faced with a line of hungry defenders, self preservation mode kicked in. My trusty side-step managed to save me from the first couple of defenders. With a sigh of relief, I prepared myself for the inevitable, impending contact only to realize that I was in acres of space with 80 metres between me, the SARLA try line and certain glory, I set off like a startled rabbit. Unfortunately, somebody appeared to have put a fridge on my back as running seemed much harder than usual. I hit the sand after 20 metres, the treacle after 40 metres and the wall after 60 metres. As I planned the showboat dive over the line, my legs gave way, resulting in more of a collapse in a crumpled heap than a dive for glory!

I peeled myself off the floor, expecting to be enveloped by adoring team mates, in my moment of glory, to find them, all bar none, back in our half, hands on knees, gasping for air. As I trudged back, a lone bagpipe played 'Oh when the Saints' - a very proud (if surreal) moment!

Having turned around at 7-7, I lost count of the number of tries we leaked in the second half. We did manage to get a couple ourselves, including the last try of the game (last try wins!) and the score ended up a respectable forty something - 21. Although the game was marginally less physical than last week's, our ailing band slowly fell apart. We had 3 players go off with varying tears of calves (a proper old man injury!), a couple of hamstrings going and a head injury. By the end of the game, our 3 sponsors and two random locals were playing for us!

Unfortunately, the Parliamentarians were demolished, but we all managed to enjoy a beer afterwards. Cue the Pretorian nightlife which involves lots of testoterone filled Afrikaaners, listening to terrible music, telling you how great they and their country are and inviting you to come and shoot animals on their farm - a sweeping generalization, I know, but if the cap fits....

View links to all Matt's blogs here, and see the picture gallery of his tour here.