By tour leader Peter Magona

After all the hard work, the boys’ dream was slowly coming to fruition. They were at Kigali Airport. Still not knowing exactly what to expect, they were a bit reticent and withdrawn, although that may also have been because they hadn’t had breakfast yet!

The day was Wednesday, 22nd November and these were the 13 year old Kyadondo Balenzi boys, leaving for a one week tour of England in which they were to play four schools, including playing a demonstration match at Twickenham as a curtain raiser for the England vs South Africa test match on 25th November.

The flight took off an hour late, with the boys still not so much as having uttered a single word and I soon realized this was not because of the lack of breakfast but rather through slight apprehension because, even after a British Airways breakfast, they were still quiet.
Return to top
Almost nine hours later at 1620hrs, the plane touched down at Heathrow and it being late November it was already dark! The boys, along with coaches Rosenburg Kanyunyuzi (Rose) and Jim Park, were whisked off to Surrey by the welcoming party of Andy Berry, CEO Touraid, the man behind the entire tour, and Ben Moir from Lanesborough School, where they were billeted with parents of the children they were to play against.

The next day, they were all taken to Lanesborough school by their new ‘guardians’ and joined the other students in lessons. It was probably the first time many of them had been allowed near a computer. Later in the morning, with temperatures at 10C but with a real strong and biting wind blowing, the kids went out for a training session with Harlequins and Wasps. They went through some tackling practice then played a game of touch that included a 21 stone Harlequins first team prop! The Balenzi were already impressing at this stage especially with their handling and side-stepping skills.

At 1300hrs we all went off to join the school for lunch, which included both English and Rwandan meals to choose from. Immediately after lunch it was off to the hall for a press conference with the trustees Mike Catt and new recruit Phil Greening (ex-England XV’s hooker and current England 7s coach – trustee for the East) together with the headmasters of both Ripley Court and Lanesborough schools, Andy Berry and Adrian Pitts who sponsored the Balenzi tour. Attended by several media houses including the BBC, the conference was kept short and sweet and then Mike and Phil handed over the new smart jerseys to the Balenzi.

Off to the changing rooms and then on to the pitch for the first game between the Balenzi and a combined school side of Lanesborough and Ripley Court Schools.

The first half was very entertaining with play moving from one 22 metre to the other in a very free flowing game, with the Balenzi having the upper hand and, despite having played contact rugby for only a few weeks, putting in several hard tackles including a spear tackle which had one of the Balenzi cautioned. There were even a few lessons for the coaches when at the first line-out the Balenzi lifted the jumper only to be informed that there was to be no lifting. The one area which we thought the Balenzi would struggle in - the scrum - they managed to shove their much bigger opponents a couple of feet back before the referee called for uncontested scrums. They did struggle though in the rucks, many times needing their entire pack to retain possession.
Return to top
The second half was less entertaining with a lot more kicking involved and about half way through it the big forwards from the combined schools side powered their way over the line for a corner post try, after some ferocious defending from Balenzi was finally beaten. The Balenzi then came out of the blocks firing and had the upper hand before a nasty injury to a Ripley Court boy who broke his arm (both bones) and dislocated his wrist made the referee stop the game for 15 minutes. By the time it resumed, the momentum had been lost and the cold settled in, so the last 10 minutes were played out almost as another warm up. Final score; Combined side 5 – 0 Balenzi side.

Friday saw the boys being given a tour of Twickenham and one boy who’d picked up a UK one penny coin proudly asked the Twickenham shop keeper what that could buy in the store with it; needless to say, not much! A further free tour of the rugby museum (paid for by the RFU) and the then it was off to Harlequins, England’s oldest club, for another tour. They were then given a guided bus tour of London ending up at the London Eye, which 3 boys and Rose wanted nothing of so they stayed down while the rest had a bird’s eye view of London.

On Saturday, the boys had to arrive at Twickenham by 1200 hrs and run for shelter from the heavy rains and howling gale into shelter while they waited to be let into the changing rooms. In the changing rooms, the boys were briefed on their performance of the guard of honour for England and South Africa and then led onto pitch to play. It was only 1300hrs when they went to play so the crowd was only a few thousand and a handful of the England and SA players practicing kicks. The Balenzi were divided into 2 teams, one to play Ripley Court School and the other Lanesborough School in a game of touch rugby.

The highlight was the Balenzi’s game being shown on the large screen. As time went on the crowds grew slowly and more of the England and South Africa players came out to warm up. Balenzi A team drew 2 tries all and Balenzi B team won their game of touch rugby and then it was off to have a quick snack for lunch before acting as the Guard of Honour.

Having been warned to maintain absolute silence and coached on their standing positions, the Balenzi did everyone associated with them proud in carrying out this very honourable task correctly to the last dot. Standing less than 10 metres from both England and South Africa while they run out and lined up to sing the national anthems, I’m not sure that many, if any, of the Balenzi knew just how big an occasion this was and that for the rest of their lives they’d be talking about it. I mean most of them might have preferred a trip to Old Trafford or Stamford Bridge which they are more familiar with than Twickenham but I’m certain that will soon change after this trip.

After the Guard of Honour, the Balenzi were whisked to their front row seats and to watch the action. The game we’ve now all watched so its pointless to get into that. At 10 minute intervals during the South African substitutes would run around then end up stretching right in front of us blocking our view. One of the English fans asks if one of our boys can go and tell them to move away and we asked if Phillip, the captain, would oblige. He was not having any of it so we asked the diminutive fly half Opio to do so and he jumped up as if he had been offered a toffee. We literally had to jump after him to stop him otherwise I swear he was all up for the job! Talk about brave hearts. On the Sunday the boys went to watch Wasps Vs Leicester and performed the traditional war dance before the game to a very receptive audience.

Monday was the big day with four teams playing including Ripley Court School, Lanesborough, Kingswood and Balenzi. In the first game Balenzi played some truly inspired rugby with great hands, side steps and passes in the tackle to win 26 – 0 with 2 tries by winger Kevin and 3 conversions from the captain and fullback Phillip, including one from the corner. Some lessons for the Heathens and Cranes there???!!
This time round the Balenzi kicked less, tackled hard and run into gaps but their most outstanding feature was the use of the entire width of the pitch and recycling of the ball. One of the tries went through at least 10 players starting in one corner on their 5 yard line with a scrum that was run by the No. 8, to the diagonally opposite corner when Kevin sidestepped 3 defenders to run into the try area all the way to under the posts and score.

The Balenzi then played the biggest team of the four, Kingswood, next and won 7 – 0, exhibiting yet again some great tackling. In their final game, the Balenzi drew 0 – 0 with Lanesborough to share the days spoils with Lanesborough which had earlier on also beaten Ripley Court and Kingswood schools. The Balenzi then traded their rugby jerseys for more formal wear to attend the presentation where they were each given certificates and in turn handed over their engraved presentation plaques of their tour.

With the whole day to kill before their flight on Tuesday evening, the Balenzi were treated to the new James Bond movie, Casino Royale in Guildford before going back to Ripley and Lanesborough to say goodbye to their fantastic host and off to Heathrow for the plane back to Rwanda. And they were not so quiet anymore!

A fantastic tour, a great eye opener for the kids and thanks to coaches Jim Park and Rose and organisers both in England and Rwanda especially Ben Moir (Lanesborough), Steve (Ripley), Ian and Jerry (Kyadondo) and of course Touraid under Andy Berry for making this all possible.