Bloem

Ok so I expected Bloemfontein to be packed full of massive and not particularly nice Afrikaans who pretty much wanted to beat us up and smash our beloved Lions side into oblivion........well I was partly wrong, they are massive in general and they did want to smash the Lions but in general they were seriously nice okes and very welcoming. You get the odd one who will walk up and just shout to your face 'Fuck the Lions' but I think that half of it is at least banter and their way of getting into a bit of a convo.

So back to where I was yesterday - arrival in Bloem with Nick von Shark, Sarah, Luke & Strange Goeff the Old Irish man (more later on him!) - got a few beers and food in for supper, met up with the properly amusing and immense Scots Colin & Euan, who are also staying in our guest house.

A simple choice is made to head out for 'just a couple of pre-game beers' - hit the supposed place to be The Mystic Boer which just so happened to be dead as a Bok vs a Lion.......Luckily enough for us we hit the bar on the corner - Seconds. Jesus what a welcome we got there, seriously we walked in and the lads next to us just went bonkers and wanted us to have a cpl of 'drink-offs' with them, which of course we had to accept esp after they bigged up their big drinker! So Straw-pedo's were the call of the hour, a rather nice bottle of Brutal Fruit, sounds harsh yet exotic doesn't it, hey?! Unfortunately I came in second to their downing champ but only just - the rest of the team faired fairly well bar Colin, who had apparently never Staw-pedo'd, I mean come on, what sort of a just-finish-uni-student has never Straw-pedo's?! hmmm. I think he even lost to Sarah.......poor C-Dogg, poor!

I have to say it was a classic nice in which we absolutely ruled the bar and then the upstairs club - everyone was digging the Lions tops and lovin' the banter more importantly! The great show off move of 'Gunning' one's drink was brought out my a certain seriously cool dude, to great fanfare and applause - promptly followed by the rest of our touring party and massively impressing the local talent.......one of whom just could keep here hands off said tall man!! Gunning wasn't the only new trick we introduced to the Saffa public - 'The Wave' had to be introduced and utilised on the unsuspecting talent in Seconds! A large shout out has to go to the Parrats at this point as it is one of our little party pieces from the infamous and epic Cornwall weekenders we head on yearly - Berg, Carlos, Bezza, Dre, Angry Steve & this year Boy George, top work lads! Anyway the waving was absolutely classic, altho we did break the cardinal rule of The Wave - never pick a girl too close, it looks a bit bloody strange (that a a minimum need for 5-6 people) but hey it worked and Lee-Ann was snagged. However the big saffa oke we send in to do the hard work for us decided to call her 'tasty' which she wasn't a big fan of and I'm going to blame him for her not replying to either of my texts...........hmmm!! haha

Had a crazy/weird time on the way home as a cpl of saffas, the big oke from before and a dude called Nick, decieded that a strip club was in order and of course this being SA and 4am, how better to get their than car and a pissed driver - not so good! Anyway we cruised around on the outskirts of Bloem for a good hour and I have to say Thank God, we didn't find anything as I reckon these saffas weren't just looking for a strip joint and it was all freaking me out a little bit - very very random I have to say!

Next up was Weds and the Lions vs Cheetahs game - ooh this is going to be a biggie fo shizzle! I still didnt have a ticket but wasn't too concerned as none of the games had been full yet and neither was this one - so on route to the ticket office I just happened to walk into the stadium car park without anyone asking any questions and before I knew it I was within the barrier and thus didnt need a ticket as no one really checks your tickets int he stadium or cares where u side - SWEET!! So it was time to get back on it, beers flowed, new friends were made - Oli & Max on their gap yr with a classic english flag with 'Born in England, Live in England, Die in Englang' on it and a very very old school Union Jack - good work lads, Mike & his son Charlie who we'd met at both the last two games, and of course the 3 scots in kilts (do they ever take them off or wash them........hmmm?!) and the micks Conor & Simon, who keep getting on TV the lucky sods! Plus the crazy saffas from my lift last night were there in Lions tops (they dont like the cheetahs, so are supporting the Lions - crazy I know) and having a braai, so a bit of chow and a few beers go down nicely. However no beer is allowed to be taken into the stadium which is a massive arse as not only does it mean I have to down 2 drinks before legging it for kick off but we all get bloody thirsty during the game grrrrr!

For the game Nick von Shark, Luke, Colin & Euan had made the brilliant decision of painting up their bodies in quarters with the 4 colours and the crest in the middle - an ingenius look and it had already got us a lot of attention around the stadium pre-game but it was during the game when it really paid off as we managed to side right next to the rest of the Lions squad - there was BOD, Mearsy, Wyn-Jones, Crofty etc etc and we were right in front of the subs bench - Shawsy is an absolute monster, he even makes Hines look a bit little....! The banter was flowing and the players were fairly amused by it - bar the Riki, Riki sing us a song - not such a good reaction!

The camera men loved us and we loved them right back! We made it into the Mercury paper and the 4 lads made it onto the BBC Sport side - check this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/8087050.stm - photo number 6.

The game was a cracker too - we ruled the first half and prob should have got a few more points but Ferris' sin binning took a lot out of us and we shipped a few points then, not so good. However Ferris had scored another try and had an outstanding game alround - I'm gutted he is now out of the tour, poor lad, I think he was really starting to look like a Test Starter.

The game finished in amazingly tense style when they missed a drop goal that I thought was over from the 10 metre line and would have clinched the game by a point, jesus that was a hell of a worry and the Cheetahs put up an immense effort esp Brussow - epic game slowing down ball. Also we gave Wayne Barnes some good banter which he liked - and then met him in Durban and had high fives alround!

Enjoy the game tonight - the Shark Tank will be frickin tops!