I'm looking out my bedroom window, near the beach, overlooking the Indian Ocean in Durban as I type this blog. We travelled from Bloemfontein via Johannesburg on the latest leg of the Tour earlier today (Sunday).
Honestly, this is the two-week period of the Tour I am looking forward to most, hopping between Durban and Cape Town in the build-up to the first test on Saturday 20 June.
The weather forecast was very promising, 23 degrees and sunshine, an opportunity to catch a few rays and feel the warmth of the sunshine.
However it has not been a good start. Why? It is because it is raining and it appears it will do so, on and off, for the next few days.
Rain dampen spirits early on
Three games, wins and different starting teams, that's the story of the Tour so far. Already many are speculating about the composition of the starting line-up for that first Test. In my humble opinion, there are four places up for grabs in that team, three in the front row and one player to partner Paul O'Connell in the second.
What chance of six Irish players in the starting 15?
I've been doing some research ahead of the Test games and discovered some interesting information about Pierre Spies, the Springbok back row.
Spies power-cleans 135kg, he dead lifts 240kg and bench presses 165kg. Are you impressed? He can also do pull-ups with a 50kg weight between his legs and can launch his 108 kg body 1.4 metres onto a raised platform.
He can sprint for 835m before slowing, on a repeated sprint ability test, and has a body-fat percentage of just 6.5 per cent"
Forget the sunshine, I'm off to the gym, I've got a bit of catching up to do.
