Brenden Nel

South African-New Zealand clashes are one thing, but if you have to go into Toulouse, in that little stadium in Toulouse, and it's not so little, and play them there with that crowd that booze you for 80 minutes, and it's not just that.

It feels like super rugby in the early days in a way,

because you get there and suddenly your bus doesn't arrive.

They're full of tricks like that, you know, and suddenly they take you to the wrong training field and things like that.

So there's those little things.

And logistically, it's a difficult thing because you don't play in the major centres only.

I think Super Rugby got into a group where we played in Christchurch, Auckland, Wellington.

You didn't really play in the outer centres anymore.

Good point.

You're playing in Cardiff, then you're playing in Llanelli, then you're playing in Belfast, then you're playing in Parma.

It's a different style.

And the other thing that South African sides have struggled to get used to is these 4G pitches.

I'm not a big fan of them.

We've seen a lot of injuries on them.

I understand why they do them because of the weather in the north, but they're difficult to play on.

And we sort of picked up that once a team gets momentum on a 4G pitch, they're very difficult for the defending team to stop.

And then, of course, the home team knows how to use those pitches.

So you've got some really professional signs there.

You've got some great coaches there.

I mean, Franco Smith's doing wonders with Glasgow Warriors.