| South Africa match continues great tradition of taking on national sides |
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| Written by John Fallon | |
| Wednesday, 15 August 2007 | |
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Connacht's sell-out clash next Tuesday against former World Cup champions South Africa continues a great tradition of taking on national sides.
The arrival of the profession era just over a decade ago seemed to signal the end of national sides visiting club grounds and it was generally feared that we had seen the last of such fixtures. "A fixture like this only comes along once in a while, with a province or a club taking on a country, and that has been reflected in the interest in the game. "It is obvious from meeting people around town and through the province that this is a special fixture and the players are looking forward to it. We're very excited about testing ourselves against one of the favourites to lift the Webb Ellis trophy. "Ultimately, what matters is to us is what happens when the Magners League kicks off in September and later when the European Challenge Cup starts, but this game has given an extra buzz to the pre-season training," said Farley. The visit by the Springboks represents the tenth country to send its national side to play at the Sportsground, while in 1999 Ireland visited the Sportsground and played Connacht as part of their World Cup preparations. The visit by South Africa also completes the hat-trick of the three major southern hemisphere countries with Australia coming here in 1992 and '96 and the All-Blacks visiting in 1974 and again in 1989. Fiji and Spain have also paid a couple of visits while the Sportsground has played host to Canada, Western Samoa, Argentina, Romania and Morocco over the years. Connacht v international sides: 1973: Connacht 7 Spain 3 1973: Connacht 7 Argentina 16 1974: Connacht 3 New Zealand 25 1980: Connacht 9 Romania 28 1985: Connacht 6 Fiji 7 1986: Connacht 27 Canada 27 1988: Connacht 25 Western Samoa 18 1989: Connacht 6 New Zealand 40 1990: Connacht 31 Spain 19 1992: Connacht 6 Australia 14 1995: Connacht 27 Fiji 5 1996: Connacht 20 Australia 37 1998: Connacht 30 Morocco 5 1999: Connacht 26 Ireland 43
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