Kids need to get a rugby ball in their hands

ONCE the nemesis of English rugby, Serge Betsen is looking to strengthen rugby at grass roots level in his adopted country by encouraging inner-city kids to play the sport.

The former Biarritz and Wasps flanker left his imprint on the minds of all Six Nations followers when he famously smashed Jonny Wilkinson every time England’s golden boy touched the ball during the 2002 Championship.

But now the 63-cap multiple Grand Slam winner is looking to help kids who’ve taken some knocks get back up again through rugby. For the last five years Serge Betsen Rugby has operated out of an office on Twyford Avenue in Acton, Wasps’ former training ground, with a dozen schools – and counting – on both sides of the Channel introducing his coaching programme into their sports curriculum.

“I’ve got my office upstairs where I used to get the blame from the coaches, like Sir Ian McGeechan. I’ve taken his place now!” he laughs. “I’m really a very fanatic rugby fan and I want to see kids playing rugby because I think it can bring different things to different people.”

Having been brought up by a single parent, Betsen’s own childhood wasn’t without challenges which is why he has focused his attention on the state sector – and kids like England prop Kyle Sinckler – who made it to the top of the game in spite of rather than because of the system. “I feel like those kids need to play rugby, and not just football,” he says. “London is about football every day – it’s too much, they need to see something else, they need to rely on other activities.

“I want to see kids play rugby at least once in their life,” he continues, “just to get a rugby ball in their hands at least – because that ball can change your life.”

Betsen’s life changed dramatically when he moved to France from Cameroon aged nine, becoming one of his country’s most recognisable sporting stars, especially after his duel with Jonny. In 2004, he was nominated for the World Rugby Player of the Year award.

“It’s the game most people talk to me about, against Jonny Wilkinson,” explains Serge, in Rugby, the quarterly journal, “the way I stopped him every time he was carrying the ball.

“I think these days, the way refereeing is going, I’d have had a red or at the very least a yellow!”