Sweden may be famous for Bjorn Borg and Abba, but few realise it's also home to one of the biggest rugby tournaments in the world.

Duane Heath, who used to live in the capital Stockholm, returns after four years to catch up with his old team-mates, and discovers how rugby’s taken root in the Scandinavian country.

On July 26, nearly 800 rugby players descended on Årsta, a quiet suburb in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, to take part in what has become the biggest rugby tournament of its kind in the world. Check out the gallery with all the rugby action.

Tens, in which teams field five forwards and five backs, may not be as well known as the seven-a-side version of the game, but the annual Stockholm 10s has grown to eclipse even its Hong Kong 10s rivals since the first event was staged in the late 1980s.

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It has also established the deserved reputation as being one of the best social weekends on the rugby calendar.

In a country where ice hockey hogs the headlines, rugby will never be the national sport.

But the national team are in the top 50 in the world and, incredibly for a sport with just a few thousand registered players, two Swedes have played for the Barbarians team in recent years.

Over the past decade, Swedish rugby has also benefited from a South African influence: a growing number of expats have settled there – most moves involving a Swedish girlfriend – and invariably they have eased into the reserved Scandinavian culture by joining one of the country’s rugby clubs.

There is also a trickle in the opposite direction: Swedes have begun to live and play rugby in the land of the Springbok.

One player, Simon Lukell of Uppsala, a university town one hour’s drive north of Stockholm, played over 100 matches for the University of Cape Town’s 1st team.

On Simon’s recommendation, I ended up spending two years in Sweden, playing for the Stockholm-based Hammarby club and falling in love with that country and its people.

Then, four years after returning home to Cape Town, I was invited to come out of semi-retirement to play in one last Stockholm 10s tournament alongside my former team-mates.

I would also finally have the chance to brush up on my broken Swedish, eat my favourite Västerbottensöst cheese (which customs had confiscated at Johannesburg the last time round), and travel on the Saltsjö train to the Baltic coast where I had once spent a summer on a deserted island.

Sweden, which still has a king and queen, has a reputation for being inaccessible and expensive to get to – none of which is true, although for the tourist it definitely isn’t cheap once you get there: one beer in a bar will cost you at least R60.

From Cape Town, I flew overnight to London, from where I caught a cheap three-hour connecting flight across the North Sea to Arlanda – the biggest of three airports in the greater Stockholm area.

For South Africans used to poor public transport, getting around Sweden is painless – although the monthly train and bus ticket that used to cost me 500 Swedish crowns was now 600 (about R700).

Luckily, my old rugby team-mate Magnus Karlsson – a strong Viking name if ever there was one – picked me up in his beat-up Volvo and we caught up over a traditional lunch of meatballs (the unofficial national dish) and pickled herring.

The tournament kicked off on the Saturday morning.

Hammarby were drawn to play sides from as far afield as England and Ukraine.

Some, like the Motor Men, provided stiff opposition with their Kiwis in tow, while others were clearly there for the party more than the rugby.

Our team had a strong Cape Town connection, represented by former UCT players Roger de Jager and Dave Petrie, both of whom had done the Swedish girlfriend thing, and Chris Haw, studying at Oxford.

With a strong side, Hammarby advanced to the plate final on the Sunday, where we beat our fierce rivals, Stockholm Exiles, to mark the end of my gloriously unspectacular rugby career.

And while I celebrated the win, I realised that while rugby had brought me here, to this most unlikely of oval-ball countries, the friendships I made in the years I spent there were far more important – and permanent – than the result of a rugby match.

My parting shot of Sweden, this stereotypical land of blond, blue-eyed Vikings and midnight sun, was just as priceless: in a country with over a million immigrants, I finally got to speak that broken Swedish with my taxi driver on the way to the airport.

Mohamed, I found out, had paid a cousin $10,000 to smuggle him out of Iraq so that he could start a new life from scratch.

Mohamed, as keen immigrants do, had picked up more Swedish in the two weeks he’d been there than I had in two years. And, unlike me, he’d found a job in next to no time: I was his first paying customer.

On the more tourist side of things you can check out the following:

• Stockholm

Sweden's capital covers fourteen islands and is a delightfully festive and stately. Visit the Wasa Museum, which houses an intact 17th century frigate geared for fighting. Enjoy a day trip to Drottningholm Palace, the current residence of the Royal Family. This city is also a good starting point for checking out the natural beauty of the Stockholm Archipelago.

• Gothenburg (Göteborg)

Göteborg is said to be easier to tour as well as providing better exposure to the Swedes than its capital city. Key attractions include Liseberg Amusement Park, the Röhsska Museum and not forgetting a tour of the Volvo car assembly plant.

• Crystal Country

West of Kalmar and southeast of Växjö in Smaland Province. This area has more than a dozen producers of high quality crystal including Orrefors and Kosta Boda.

• Gotland

You'll find the Southeastern coast is perfect for a countryside retreat. It is also home to the UNESCO World Heritage Viking stronghold Visby.

Know of any must see places - drop us a comment

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