Easter won't be fazed

The clash was a bitter affair and feelings were running high at the final whistle, particularly among the crowd which was made up of thousands of visiting fans from the Mitchells Plain township side.

As Easter walked off the pitch with his coach events took a sinister turn when a furious Collegians supporter clashed with the Villagers boss and astonishingly pulled a hand gun on him.

"Playing for Villagers meant we came up against four coloured clubs and those fixtures were always 'interesting'," said Easter. " The incident came at the end of a rough game at our own ground, but Collegians had brought thousands of supporters.

"We had a lock sent to the sin bin for spitting and one of the guys got kicked in the head which meant there was quite an atmosphere at the end as we walked off.

"We all went together towards the dressing rooms when our coach started getting abuse and he gave some back only for this supporter to produce a hand gun. Unbelievable."

Luckily, other Collegians fans managed to persuade the gunwielding supporter to put the weapon down while Easter and his terrified coach were rushed away to safety.

However, such was the ill-feeling from the game that the Villagers needed armed police and dog units to protect them for the return fixture.

"Playing club rugby in South Africa was a real education," said Easter. "I think I got bitten four times during the year I was there, but it was a time that also changed my views on the sport."

Despite the terrifying events in the Republic, Easter says that his spell there convinced him to take up the game professionally and begin a career journey which will reach the Stade de France on Saturday. "It was in South Africa that I really started taking rugby seriously and thought that I would try and make something happen," said the 29-year-old.

"My time in Cape Town prepared me for anything."

It will come as no surprise to Easter to learn that last year the Collegians club were suspended by their union when they were found guilty of misconduct after their players and supporters were accused of threatening and abusive behaviour in a game. Patently, while Easter has moved onto bigger things, the players he used to face are still up to their old tricks, although this World Cup Final will surely unite the whole of South Africa.

Easter faces a Herculean task to help England defy the odds yet again and become the first country to successfully defend the cup. After so many heroic battles to reach the last game of the tournament, there must be a fatigue factor.

However, the strongly-built No8 begs to differ, insisting there is still plenty of gas left in the tank thanks to the arduous training camp in Bath that preceded the tournament. It did the trick with Easter able to recover from the heavy work load their 36-0 pool defeat by South Africa forced on the team.

To stay alive in the cup, the champions had to account for Samoa, Tonga, Australia and France to reach the final and now only one more hurdle remains.

Easter said: "I didn't have to stick to a lettuce leaf diet but I cut out tea and coffee and while I am not a chocoholic, when I got to eat a piece of chocolate cake I realised what I had been missing.

"How will I celebrate if we win the cup? I will eat and drink everything!"