ERIC MELVILLE deserves room in that special place reserved for those global trendsetters who changed the course of rugby history. The trail he blazed almost 30 years ago has since been followed by a veritable pack of South Africans eager to reinvent themselves in the Tricolours of France.
Melville was the first, starting off the bench against Ireland at the Parc des Princes in the final round of the 1990 Five Nations. He had left his native Cape Town at 19 to seek a bit more than fame, serving a lengthy apprentice at Hagetmau and Mont-de-Marsan before winning two national titles at Toulon.
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