Springboks legends Schalk Burger and Jean de Villiers have detailed ex-teammate Butch James’ nightmarish December holiday outside of Cape Town.
The trio of 2007 Rugby World Cup winners planned their festive vacation with their families together, meeting in the small harbour town, Ysterfontein, in the Western Cape.
While the journey to the destination is not too much of a schlep for Burger and De Villiers, who are based in the province, it was for Durban-based James and matters alone got worse for the former Springboks playmaker with nothing seemingly going his way.
Butch James’ nightmarish start to his holiday
On the latest episode of the Boks Office podcast, De Villiers and Burger revealed the details of James‘ journey to the holiday destination which started with the house that the fly-half had rented burning down before he left.
“He must have had the worst luck ever on this holiday,” De Villiers begun as he retold the events that unfolded.
“They [James and his family] booked a spot in Ysterfontein it must have been six months ago. It came to the end of November and they get a phone call, the house they rented burned down. So now, they have booked flights, car rentals and all of that to get there.
“They managed to get another house to rent, luckily, with a bit of negotiation. So Butch’s wife and kids flew down and he drove down [to bring all the bikes etc.]”
That was just the start of the problems for the former Bath fly-half who ran into car troubles while en route to the Western Cape.
“So he is driving down in the car and gets to Colesburg which is let’s say halfway and his car breaks down,” de Villiers added.
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Burger interjected, adding: “It was comprehensive that’s all I know.”
De Villiers then said: “He joined the AA, get’s on his phone, and the guy with the flatbed arrives, he loads the car and they are driving. Then the guy tells him, ‘you are driving the truck later’.
“Because he didn’t get any sleep the previous night because he had to pick up someone else.”
Burger again interjected, saying: “They get to Beaufort West, Butchie goes in to buy some things and the driver asks can you buy some ‘reg maakers’ [a fixer], a little pill? It’s like pure caffeine.”
Expensive holiday
While laughing, De Villiers continued: “So Butch gets him some and he takes it in the car. Butch asks him, ‘what does it do?’
“It keeps you awake,” the driver replied.
“So Butch says ‘give me two!’.
“He takes two and about 30 minutes later the driver tells Butch ‘OK, now it’s time for you to drive’. He gets behind the steering wheel and drives for EIGHT HOURS, Butch drives the truck for eight hours.”
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“With his Range Rover on the back,” Burger added.
“He drove through the night, it starts raining, he said that he has never been so like [wired], he had like five Red Bulls as well and eventually he made it here,” De Villiers said.
“But yeah then it was good but I feel so bad for him.”
Burger further revealed how James got back home saying that he thinks it was a rather costly holiday for the ex-Springbok.
“He did release the fury when he got into Ysterfontein. He properly let go,” the former flanker said.
“He is back in Durban now, he drove back. He rented a van, drove the van to Plett and then back home. I think it was quite an expensive holiday for Butchie.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/ex-springboks-has-the-worst-luck-ever-after-jean-de-villiers-reveals-details-of-nightmarish-holiday
