Keep playing rugby and keep on braaing with wood! 

For those who know me well, my two passions are no secret 😊 – braaing (with wood!) and Rugby!

Since we started our Let’s braai adventure, I had the opportunity to meet in person many South African Rugby players…awesome players that I usually watch on TV! I even met a couple of players who play for the Springboks.

And let me tell you, all those players love a braai! A taste from home here in the UK!

Let’s have a quick look at the rugby players I had the pleasure to meet these last few months:

• Andre Esterhuizen, known as the ‘giant Springbok centre’ who currently plays for Harlequins as centre in the Premiership
• Marco van Staden, another Springboks beast, he recently joined Leicester Tigers
• Jaco Taute, South African rugby union player who is currently contracted to Leicester Tigers
• Pieter Scholtz, plays for the Wasps and his regular position is tighthead prop. Look at this great picture with my 5 year old – Analine
• Hanro Liebenberg, Captain of Leicester Tigers
• JP du Preez who currently plays for Sales Sharks (soon will be moving to Glasgow). Do you know, he is 2.10m tall!!
• GJ van Velze, recently captained Worcester Warriors

We also met John Mitchell earlier this year.

He joined Wasps last summer as Attack Coach. While continuing his coaching duties with Wasps, John Mitchell will now support the Japanese national team as they prepare for the Rugby World Cup next year.

Former Head Coach of the All Blacks from 2001-2003, he also served as England’s Defence Coach from 2018 till 2021.

John very much enjoys braaing with our Southern African hardwood.

A bit of history on the origin of the Rugby game!

We are based in Coventry, just a few miles away from Rugby, Warwickshire. The town where the rugby game is said to have originated in 1823. During a game of football, a pupil at Rugby School named William Webb Ellis decided to pick up a ball and run with it, creating the game of rugby football.

The Rugby World Cup Trophy was named after this great man – The Willian Webb Ellis Trophy. The first rules of the game that became rugby union football were established at Rugby School in 1845. In 1871, Rugby Football Union was officially formed.

The Rugby World Cup … let’s celebrate with a braai 😊!

Let’s look back at some key dates:

1987 – The first Rugby World Cup was played and held in Australia/New Zealand. All Blacks won the final against France.

1991 – England hosted the second world cup and lost to Australia in the final

1995 – South Africa took part in the 3^rd rugby world cup and beat the All Blacks in the final.

2007 – South Africa got their second win by defeating England in the final.

2019 – The Springboks won the World Cup!!!

2023 – The World Cup will be hosted in France…let’s plan our trip 😊. Eglantine, my wife is French, so I can’t wait for a South Africa vs France final LOL

And when it’s all about the atmosphere, it’s all about braaing! The fire, the food on the grill, the air full of aromas, the ambience…

We stock Kameeldoring, Sekelbos, Rooikrans and now Mopane hardwood too!

So, keep playing rugby and keep on braaing! 😉