One of the greatest rugby players of all time will be popping to Bermuda for the 17th World Rugby Classic ? but only for dinner.

Martin Johnson, captain of England and the British and Irish Lions, will be here for a Testimonial Dinner on November 9 but his club commitments with the Leicester Tigers will keep him of the North Field pitch.

Auckland, Sydney, Johannesburg, Singapore, Hong Kong, Paris, London and Dubai will all have their turn hosting the captain of last year's World Cup-winning side but the Southampton Princess takes centre stage on the Tuesday of Rugby Classic Week.

Johnson, generally considered to be one of the greatest forwards of the modern game having played 84 times for England ? 39 as captain ? and eight times for the Lions, will be joined at the dinner by Lions legend Willie John McBride, former England international Peter Wheeler and South African World Cup winning captain Francois Pienaar.

Since the dinner will be during Classic Week it will host one of the greatest gathering of rugby internationals from around the world with players from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, France, the British Isles, Canada and the United States attending.

The addition of Johnson ? the only player to have captained the Lions on two occasions, South Africa (1997) and Australia (2001) ? is another boost for the Classic organisers who welcome back Australia this year after an 11-year absence from the annual rugby spectacular.

The popular sporting and social event will once again attract some of the sports' former luminaries with South African legend Pienaar bringing the nucleus of his 1995 World Cup-winning team to the Island.

Pienaar, who accepted the cup from South African president Nelson Mandela in a moving moment in sporting and political history, will be joined by Joost Van Der Westhuizen, Hennie Le Roux, Japie Mulder, Pieter Hendriks and hooker Naka Drotske.

And Australia, due to announce their players shortly, have confirmed that legend Bob Dwyer, who led the successful 1991 World Cup bid, will be their coach.

As well as the international men's teams, there will also be two women's international teams and a Bermuda international match.