2 AUGUST 1997, Page 24

Sports retort

Sir: I found Simon Barnes's account of the Lions' rugby tour, and the attitude of South Africans to rugby football interesting and fairly accurate (Spectator sport, 12 July). He does, however, make two mistakes: South African rugby followers, particularly the Afrikaners, do not drink beer, they drink brandy; and no rugby player ever wore, nor ever will wear, a 'shirt'. That gar- ment would not last five minutes in a game of rugby. Sissy soccer players may wear shirts — rugby players wear jerseys. Presi- dent Nelson Mandela wore a No. 6 jersey. Quentin Coaker

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