After joining an exclusive club featuring Englishmen to have played Super Rugby, Andy Goode tells Mike Greeneaway in The Independent. that he is loving life in the southern hemisphere and would recommend the experience.
"Having left Brive at the end of February, the English No 10 is midway though a peculiar spell at Durban's Super 14 team the Sharks. Today, after five away matches, he plays his first home game. At the end of next month, he comes back to England, to join Worcester. But for now, he is enjoying a rare experience in South Africa indeed, and after becoming an irregular starter at Brive, and slipping behind Jonny Wilkinson and Toby Flood in the Red Rose order, he may just be hoping to revive his career, too.
"My first few days with the Sharks was daunting," he admits. "Out of the bright blue you suddenly land up amongst total strangers, although you have seen a good few of them on TV. But the Afrikaans guys were brilliant. I would walk into a room, where a group of them were playing cards and talking away in their first language and they would immediately switch to English, their second language, put an arm around me and welcome me with big smiles, and carry on without so much as a blink. I have huge respect for these South African boys and their humility.
"When we got back from tour to Durban, John Smit, the World Cup-winning captain, invited me to dinner at his home with his family and said: 'Welcome, you are one of us.'"
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