Day 4
Following our previous evening at Winterton Rugby Club for Legends Day it was a rather slow morning as some of our touring squad enjoyed the local hospitality a bit more than others. Up ahead of us was a 3 hour bus trip to Ballito for our stay at Relax Inn. Some of the players were using every fibre of their being to avoid motion sickness throughout the journey but overall we arrived in Ballito which is a coastal town just past Durban. It definitely is a nice location next to the beach however unfortunately the day was rather overcast. After arriving the boys went down to the local mall to explore and check it out before returning to the hotel for a quiet(er) evening.
Day 5
A free day was ahead of us which we decided was a good opportunity for the players to get their bodies moving with some active recovery which involved a short walk down to the beach for some stretching as well as some cold water immersion. This was followed by a short stroll with some of us stopping by Salt Café Ballito for a morning coffee. We were welcomed in by the owner who was eager to post our visit and this was greatly welcomed by our players.
Following this we went to the local mall where the boys wanted to do some shopping with some choosing to investigate the local culture and others tried local cuisines such as KFC and McDonalds. After a couple of hours it was time to change the scenery up with us hopping on the bus to Umhlanga which is a resort town north of Durban. Unfortunately the heavens opened up with rain dropping however it didn’t dampen our spirits with a pre-dinner beverage at Hooters before our dinner at Steak & Ale. This definitely proved to be a popular choice as most players tucked into a 600g T-Bone or 500g Rump steak.
Day 6
Waking up to a beautiful sunny morning it was definitely game-day and our boys were ready to face Sharks Rugby Academy. Arriving at Kings Park was definitely an experience the side will never forget. A huge stadium steeped in history hosting the 1995 World Cup semi-final between the Springboks and France.
After a quick look at the main playing surface and the size of the 55,000 seat stadium we were getting ready to play. This time our side didn’t start too well with some early errors as both sides were feeling each other out and the opposition providing a significantly increased physicality in the early exchanges. However our side spurred into action with Reilly Canning breaking through to set up the first try for Hunter Hosking in the corner with the conversion from Mackenzie Munro giving us a 7-0 lead. This was followed up a second try in succession giving Eastwood a 14-0 lead before Jack Tierney crossed over giving us a 19-0 lead after 28 minutes. At this stage we were looking to close the half out (prior to the game it was agreed we would play 30 minute halves) with Hunter Hosking kicking the ball out. At this stage the referee decided to extend the halves to 40 minutes which didn’t deter the boys effort as we repelled them time and time again to take a 19-0 lead into half-time.
The second half was up and this half we were running into a very strong breeze and we struggled to adapt to it early on with the Sharks scoring first to bring the game back to 19-5. This woke our side up as we started to understand how to play into a strong breeze scoring the next two tries to take a 31-5 lead. The Sharks hit back next to bring it to 31-10 however they were unable to stop the try of the day with a Jono Wehbe line-break followed up by an excellent offload to Jamie Donovan to score under the posts. The side dug in and fought to the end with Alex Metaxoulis getting rewarded for his effort with a late try before winding himself in the process of scoring. The end score 41-10 which highlights how well the side played as this team was significantly stronger than our first opponents.
Following the game we were invited in for lunch overlooking Kings Park and had some post-match formalities with sides exchanging gifts and mingling with one another over lunch. This was followed up by a quick tour of Kings Park where we were taken through the change-rooms (most popular photo was in Eben Etzebeth’s locker) and up through the media suite where a post-match press conference was held with Captain Sam Pickard and Assistant Coach Jett Peters. Next we travelled up to the President’s suite before heading to the ever popular Shark Cage (merchandise store) which definitely would have been very happy to see us.
There were lots of sore bodies and tired faces as we arrived back to Relax Inn with dinner involving a local delicacy of bunny chow (loaf of bread hollowed out with curry put inside) before heading down to the local watering hole for a few quiet beverages with most aware we have an early start as we head to Cape Town for the next leg of our journey.
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