Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer

Cape Town – Abrasive former British and Irish Lions wing John Bentley is South Africa-bound again ... and he has old foe James Small firmly in his sights.

Bentley, well remembered from the 1997 Lions tour, told the UK-based Daily Telegraph website on Wednesday that he would attend all three Tests in the 2009 series.

And he will hardly be wearing camouflage to avoid former Bok hero Small, with whom he fiercely locked horns a couple of times.

The now 42-year-old Bentley said: “The first thing I intend doing is looking up my old opposite number.

“It will either end up in a fight or drinking beer all night - hopefully the latter. Happy days.”

They came up against each other during the Test series and also when the Lions played Western Province at Newlands, where Small brushed off Bentley’s exaggerated bid at a post-match handshake.

He claimed that Bentley had been involved in eye-gouging, while the Lions man accused Small of bad sportsmanship for refusing his “friendship” gesture.

Bentley says he will also bring his rugby boots to South Africa: “I still have them in the back of the car whenever I attend a speaking engagement or coaching session just in case anybody offers me a game. I’m always up for that. They will travel with me later this month.”

Meanwhile, Bentley’s stunning solo try against the Golden Lions at Coca-Cola Park is being used as a tool to fire up the tourists ahead of their clash with the same foes on Wednesday night.

The player himself described his epic run for the try-line at then-Ellis Park as “magic carpet time… defenders just seemed to fall off me”.