Prince William Plays Rugby, Deemed ‘One of the Boys’ While in South Africa

Prince William is kicking off his visit to Cape Town with a favorite sport.

On his second outing of his four-day visit, he headed to a school to meet young South Africans from three townships, Ocean View, Masiphumelele and Langa, and take part in some rugby.

The young people were gathered at Ocean View Secondary School on Monday, Nov. 4 to highlight a rugby training and digital skills program run by the Atlas Foundation.

Its rugby program at Ocean View mentors students and helps create a safe space for children away from gangs. South Africa is still grappling with the legacy of apartheid, and the foundation works with the worldwide rugby community to tackle child poverty.

William, who is passionate about sport and how it can help further physical and mental wellbeing, took part in rugby coaching sessions with pupils from Ocean View and Masiphumelele High Schools on the school playing fields. He also participated in a digital skills lesson for primary school children from Langa Township in an Atlas Digi Bus.

The prince, who is in South Africa to showcase the latest winners of his environmental Earthshot Prize, also spent time talking to students, coaches and members of the Atlas Foundation, which was founded by former England rugby player Jason Leonard in 2014. William also heard more about Atlas’s work in South Africa, including gender-based violence and the people-to-people sporting links between South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Prince William was met by Leonard and shown around the Atlas Digi Bus. The bus, which has 40 laptops, provides elementary school children from Langa Township with help for children’s vital math, STEM and digital literacy skills. The program is working with almost 1,000 children on a weekly basis and has helped develop skills of all the students it works with in language, math and ITC skills, and educational attainment rates have risen as a result. 

Prince William was then taken out onto the field, moving between small groups of children. Former South African great Joel Stransky, who scored all of South Africa’s points in the World Cup final of 1995, was one of those who helped coach the kids. 

“He was amazing,” Stransky tells PEOPLE of Prince William. “He was one of the boys, humble and upright human being.”

“I ran into him in the drill, and he was really cool about it,” Stransky laughs. “What was cool too was he comes into this environment and talks to kids from different walks of life and different backgrounds. To chat to the kids the way he did and ask the right questions was really cool.”

He adds of William’s athletic skills, “He’s a good ball player. You could see he’s a natural. I should think he loves it and doesn’t get enough chance to do it. I hope he enjoyed it as much as we did.”

Another South African legend, Percy Montgomery, was also helping with the young people. He jokes about how William and Stransky collided, telling PEOPLE “It is a contact sport!”

“For him to take part in something like this is unbelievable. It means a lot to the kids,” Montgomery says. “It started with the Atlas Foundation — there were just stones here. They cleared those to create this field. We’ve told him about the progression of the field and the jerseys and and the socks that have been given. It’s not just about being on the rugby field, but giving kids other opportunities in life.”

“He seems like a natural player. We had some good banter about the recent test matches against England. It’s great to have him supporting the communities here and Jason Leonard’s foundation.” Montgomery adds.

Rugby, headed by the nation’s team the Springboks, has a strong resonance with young people in South Africa. It is one of the most popular sports in the country and has a following of more than 10 million people.

William is President of the Welsh Rugby Union, and as such will find himself on the opposite side to his South African hosts soon, when the Springboks head over to play Wales in Cardiff later in November.  

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The Prince of Wales is in South Africa for four days promoting his Earthshot Prize environmental initiative, which has its annual star-studded awards ceremony on Wednesday, Nov. 6. Nina Dobrev, Heidi Klum and Billy Porter are among the celebrities who will be in attendance at the fourth iteration of the awards ceremony, following London in 2021, Boston in 2022 and Singapore in 2023.