With our enlarged group we travelled to Piketberg for our 4th fixture against Piketburgh High School. We palyed the game in beautiful surroundings, this was by far the most stunning rugby pitch we had played on, Mountains behind us and a lush green valley below set the scene for what was to be our first defeat. The local team were not that big but made up for this with their speed agility and general desire to destroy every one of the Donny lads. Piketberg played a very hard game that caused us some injury problems, at one point it looked like a scene from the Somme on our bench. As the game progressed Doncaster started to learn the ways of the South African boys and slowly but surely clawed the game back to a respectable 28 - 21 points final score. As is always the case once the final whistle went the boys were instantly mates, laughing and joking about the attrocities that had gone before.
The local boys were straight off to choir practice after the game and we were transported to a local farm for the evening. The food was excellent cooked the local way and washed down with lashings of beer and wine. The boys accomodation was not what they had become used to, a cow shed is by no means the same as a 4 star hotel but it was clean and dry with freshly laundered sleeping bags for all. Many thanks to Paul, Scott and Jack for volunteering to stay over night with the lads, whilst he rest of us went back to the guest house and a warm bed. Several pleas were made from those not used to roughing it. Chris Trem asked if he could sleep between Steve and Yvonne and Ben Fairclough offered to pay above the going rate for a room. All requests were denied in order to maintain team spirit!
Our next stop was on top of the mountain at a secluded farm occupied by a family who adopted a very different life style to our own. The track to the farm included our driver negotiating his way over a narrow bridge - need we say more you've guessed it the coach got stuck. We off loaded 45 passengers in the hope that the bus would not end up stuck in the river.
A short walk took us to a clearing where we were given a short induction to the farm. Two wooden sheds housed the environmentally friendly toilets, no luxuries here a stone step a wooden seat over a hole and a bag of saw dust to cover your waste! An adventure in themselves. Guided walks were taken by everyone, taking in a huge variety of plants and wild life. The adults who opted for the shorter walk were treated to oranges lemons and almonds from the local trees. It was very entertaining to watch Val's expressions as he bit into a freshly picked lemon. The lads and the rest of the adults followed a more adventurous trail that finished on the banks of a irrigation dam, giving them the opportunity to dive and swim in water we were told was the 3rd purist in the world.
The lads returned for lunch, which was the traditional South African dish of Potjiekos, a mild curried stew in a very special type of bread bun - delicious! After lunch much to our surprise our bus driver had got the coach back to the main road and ready for the journey to Spier winery.
The journey to the winery was a couple of hours, which came in handy for those of us in need of a nanna nap. We arrived a little later than planned with less than an hour to taste the delights of this famous wine making establishment. Not to be out done the adults were straight down to business selecting their wine of choice whilst the lads looked around the Cheetah park. Next stop Paarl Gimnasium School for players to be introduced to their hosts.
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