The weather put a bit of dampener on the Cape Town Sevens, but it didn’t deter the ‘Faf de Klerks’ from showing off their skimpy swimwear at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday, writes JOHN GOLIATH.
The sun normally shines brightly on the Cape Town Sevens. It’s definitely something that makes this tournament such a premier fixture on the South African sporting calendar.
It’s a weekend of exhilarating action on the field, and fun in the gorgeous Mother City sun off it. The beer flows freely, the costumes are colourful and wild and the entertainment is world class.
It’s truly Mzansi’s biggest sports party.
But on Saturday there was some rain around, the first showers at the tournament since it moved from Port Elizabeth in 2015. It was quite cool too. Cold, in fact, as quite a few people left the stadium halfway through the day was done.
But there were a few heroes who need our recognition. The guys who braved the weather to wear only the swimming underpants made famous by Springbok scrumhalf Faf de Klerk after the World Cup final.
Look, these costumes were probably in the pipeline weeks before they were actually supposed to go live at the sevens. There were probably no thoughts about the weather or that it would actually rain and be cold on Saturday. So the guys were going to wear it anyway.
To go through with it was heroic, and we salute these chaps, whose nipples were as hard as raisins in Upington in February, because of the cold. We won’t go below the below the belt, because, as we know, it was rather cold. If you know what I mean.
But these okes should as much grit and determination as the Blitzboks on the field on Saturday. The South Africans came from 14-0 down to win their pool match against Fiji, before beating the United States in their last fixture despite two yellow cards during the match.
The weather is going to be a bit better on Sunday. So, more ‘Faf de Klerk’ underpants are expected. The Blitzboks need all the support they can get …
REPORT: Gutsy Blitzboks top Pool A
Photo: Ziyaad Douglas/Gallo Images
