Southern Hemisphere Win Icons Of Rugby Golf Tournament

The northern hemisphere is used to losing to the southern hemisphere in rugby, whether it be the New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, or occasionally Argentina. But now it appears as if this has carried over into other sports too.

In the inaugural Icons of Rugby golf tournament, the Southern hemisphere team pulled off a sublime comeback to win the cup.

The Icons of Rugby event consisted of two teams, North and South, which were made up of some of the greatest rugby players to every play the game. They would battle it out over a variety of formats to try and secure crucial points for the team.

North: The team of players representing the Northern hemisphere

Playing at The Buckinghamshire Golf Club, Brian O’Driscoll, George Gregan, Gareth Edwards, Stuart Hogg, Bryan Habana and countless others competed in a Ryder Cup style competition.

The North was captained by former Ryder Cup winning captain Sam Torrance whereas the South Was captained by former US Open winner and Kiwi, Michael Campbell.

Leaders: The two captains shake hands

For the first few sessions, the North was ahead and they eventually took a 13-11 lead going into the singles. But the South came romping back after Gregan, Christian Cullen, Fourie Du Preez, Grant Fox, Matt Burke, John Smit and Victor Matfield all secured points for their team.

Bryan Habana then picked up a half point against Mike Catt which all but assured the victory for the South. Final score was 18.5 points to 17.5.

Vital: Bryan Habana picked up a huge half point in the singles

Campbell, a proud Kiwi himself joked; “I guess the Northern Hemisphere boys are used to the feeling of losing against the Southern boys”

Sam Torrance said, “I take my hat off to Michael and the boys, it was a great day’s play and they played incredible golf this afternoon. Every bit of this event has been fantastic apart from the losing part!”

“The first Icons of Rugby has been a tremendous success and I thank the players for making the event a great spectacle,” said Thomas Brookes, Founder of the ICONS-Series. “The golf has been superb, I thank the crowds for coming out to cheer on their rugby heroes. The planning starts now for the next ICONS of Football next year.”

The Icons of Football will return in 2019 in Spain, followed by the first Icons of Cricket next July back at The Buckinghamshire. Plans have already been made to do another Icons of Rugby tournament after the 2019 World Cup. It will be held in Japan in October.

For the full list of scores across the two days click here.

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