Bobby's back and looking good

Mar del Plata - An absence of 14 months from the game with a knee injury has not made people forget about Bobby Skinstad - not even in Argentina.

And the latest from the Skinstad medical room is that his left knee and right hamstring survived the pace of the sevens game.

Skinstad remains one of the drawcards at any rugby event and it was evident again at the third World Cup Sevens tournament here at the weekend.

"Bobby is back," shouted one. "Best No 8 and give me a shirt," said another while the youngsters mobbed him after the end of his first day back in the big league.

"It was simply fantastic, running out on to the field for the first time in a while. I tried to calm myself down but I couldn't... my heart was pumping so fast," said a relieved Skinstad after 43 minutes of rugby on day one.

He, and the rest of the team, looked a tad jaded in the second half of their final match - against the Cook Islands. It was in that game that South Africa went 24-0 up at the break and managed to score only a solitary try from Skinstad with one minute remaining in that match.

"That's the pace of sevens and I did not at all think that the game had changed while I was on the sideline. It was in tune with what I expected on my return. You don't have it any other way in sevens," he said.

"We let it slip a bit against the Cook Islands but we still managed to get the three points."

His right hamstring, injured at the Stormers' pre-Super 12 training camp in George earlier this month, was strapped as a precaution.

"The hammie is fine. I'm delighted that I came through these games," he said.

Skinstad started in all the games on Friday and was replaced with a minute to go in the second match against Canada.

The substitution was part of Springbok coach Norman Mbiko's philosophy of giving all 10 members of the squad some game time.

When Skinstad left the field injured against Australia in the 15-man World Cup in Wales in 1999, he did not think he would feature in the Springbok front row in his return match. There was one consolation though: he had the No 8 on his back.

"Playing prop was a different experience but at least the jersey was familiar," he joked.

"Just looking back at the day's play, we felt we gradually started to play better as the day went on. It is a sign that we are coming together as a team," he said.