Up on Christ Tshiunza’s bedroom wall, discreetly hidden away from prying eyes, is a list. One of the best prospects in world rugby has always written down his long-term goals but what separates him from his peers is how many he has already ticked off. “It brings me great joy that I’ve achieved everything I’ve wanted to achieve so far,” he murmurs. “Not a lot of people my age can say that.”
A full cap for Wales while still in his teens, a professional contract with one of England’s premier clubs and – his final exams at Exeter University permitting – a degree in sports science would be an impressive haul on its own. None of it, though, is remotely as uplifting as his remarkable journey to this point, an odyssey to give soaring hope to anyone growing up beyond rugby’s traditional margins.
It is a minor miracle the Kinshasa-born Tshiunza is even a rugby player, let alone a vital presence in an Exeter squad who flew into South Africa on Monday on his 21st birthday. A very different life beckoned when he was growing up in the Democratic Republic of Congo, until his French-speaking family fled the country’s civil war in 2010 and began a new chapter in Cardiff.
Initially they were wedged into a one-bedroom flat in Splott. The seven-year-old Christ, the youngest of five children, slept on a mattress he shared with two of his four sisters. “We were in and out of council houses and no one could speak English so that was tough. But then we met a nice Algerian family who spoke English and French and helped us out. People understood life at home wasn’t easy … everyone in Wales was so nice.”
Life was similarly challenging when he started school. “You’re sat in class without a clue what’s going on. At playtime you can’t really speak and make friends. So you find the only thing that doesn’t have a language. I never had any brothers so sport was a way of connecting with other people. As soon as I started running around I knew I was going to do some form of sport. I was tall and moving faster than a lot of people. I knew I was different in a way.”
Rugby, though, mostly remained a foreign concept even when he first attended Whitchurch high school, alma mater of Gareth Bale, Sam Warburton and the Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas. At 15, though, Tshiunza had a sizeable growth spurt. The school’s director of rugby, Steve Williams, urged him to give the sport a go and the coaches helped to raise sufficient funds to send him on a school tour to South Africa. There were three fixtures and the gangly Tshiunza was man of the match in two of them. “Doors just started opening after that. You get to a point where you think: ‘I’ve got something here. I could use it or I could be an idiot and not fulfil it.’”
Just four years later, in November 2021, he was making his debut for Wales against Fiji at the Principality Stadium. Afterwards, with his new cap still perched on his head, Tshiunza handed over his first Wales jersey to Williams to thank him for his encouragement and guidance. “When rugby started going well it would have been so easy to say: ‘I’ve found my sport now,’ and blow off school. Guys like Steve Williams really keep you grounded. I’m happy I met him when I did.”
There was to be another formative moment on a 2019 trip to South Africa, this time with Wales Under-18s. While visiting a local township, Tshiunza was given a glimpse of the world he had left behind. “The way they lived and they way they treated us rugby players was a very humbling experience. Being around all those children … that could have been me realistically. Not having much, living a very different lifestyle.”
Which is why Christ – pronounced as in “wrist” – is now so determined to make the most of his God-given talents. “I don’t go out much, if at all. The only thing I’ll really do is go out for food with my mates now and then. I literally go home from the club straight to my laptop … you can get lost in the uni lifestyle and the rugby culture.”
His galloping late try to win a thrilling game against Harlequins in September was a striking reward for his dedication. “He’s one of those guys who’s going to keep getting better and better,” says Exeter’s director of rugby, Rob Baxter, whose side are in Pretoria to face the Bulls in the Champions Cup. “The good stuff he does is great but there’s a bit more there.”
If the versatile 6ft 6in tall, 114kg forward can force his way into Warren Gatland’s Six Nations squad, it will also be partly down to the mental example of a former Royal Marines physio named Nick Cox, who supervised his recovery after a badly torn hamstring ruled him out for a large chunk of 2022. “Coming out of rehab I felt like a different person. Before I was kind of drifting but you flick a switch when you spend time with a man like Nick. Even now I’m reaping the benefits of it.”
The year 2023 has long since been circled in red as well. “I set myself the goal of playing at this World Cup in an interview four years ago. There’s proof of it online. My parents were like: ‘C’mon Christ. Really?’ But look where we are now. I don’t know if it’s inner belief or God being in my favour but I’ve found that things have always just panned out right.”
Should he ever falter he only has to think of his parents, Felix and Bernadette, and the alternative path they gave him and his sisters, who now work in healthcare and accountancy. “It keeps me level-headed because I know where I come from. I know the hardship my parents went through for me. They came here not knowing anyone.
“They sacrificed their jobs, their friends and family back in Congo. I do a lot now with the end goal of being able to do the same for my parents one day. So they can finally relax. I want to be a successful person. That’s it. Not an athlete or a businessman. I want to be a successful person.” The story of Christ is already inspirational and he is not finished yet.
