Over 18 months ago, Leuchars Nomads RFC committed them to ambitious tour to South Africa. The tour party consisted of RAF Personnel and a select band of seasoned players. The group flew overnight and landed in Cape Town the following morning, after an arduous nights travel.

Cape Town is a spectacular setting nestled in the bowl of Table Mountain.The only way to shake off any aches and pains of the journey was to get straight into a training session to blow away the cobwebs. We used the local pitches at Hamilton RFC, next to the coastline.

Whilst away from home, the team trained regularly for two hours before taking in the local sights. The first point of call was a visit to the local Children's Red Cross Hospital situated in on the outskirts of Cape Town. The hospital is the only specialised hospital for kids in Southern Africa and is funded by charity and the Government. As we wandered around the treatment area, we were struck that despite being desperately sick, the children's wonder and sense of fun with a group of strangers wandering through was totally amazing.

After our very moving tour, we moved onto Langa Township where we were met by Eric Dilemma and the local township children. Langa is a mixture of old and new housing along side the shanty town. Whilst being hosted around the town, we were informed that their were many people that have lived here for many decades and were direct descendants of the Cape Town Black people that were forcibly re-housed at the beginning of Apartheid.

The overriding memory of our time at the township saw the children who followed our every move. Unfortunately for us, this did not extend to the rugby pitch, who approached the game very seriously indeed. Worryingly for us, the pitch was the widest pitch ever, and this was highlighted by the 15 sprinters that we played against. Although we put up a very good effort, especially in the second half, we were sadly beaten 29-5.

Following our first match, it gave us a great incentive to train harder for our next fixture against Van Der Stel third XV, who were the non University rugby club based in Stellenbosch and has a lot of ex marties players who had graduated and stayed within the area. Following the pre match warm up, it was apparent that Van Der Stel, who had not won a fixture for seven games were going to play their first team and use us as guinea pigs. This was a completely different level to what any of the Leuchars players had ever played. Although valiant, we were out played by a much fitter and well-drilled team. The final score, 69-5. They may have beaten us on the park, however we did beat them quite convincingly in the third half, where plenty of the local beer was drunk.

The tour ended with a presentation at our final restaurant called Mama Africa's. Here we consumed many bottles of wine, which washed down the main course of Crocodile, springbok and Kudu. A brilliant night was had by all.

The tour was a great success and has left many of us with wonderful memories. We now have to build on this fantastic experience and look forward to the forthcoming season and our next overseas tour to New Zealand and Fiji in May 2004.