TRY TIME
“My first (and only) try for Wales, against France in the 2021 Six Nations. I ran the length of the pitch! No, kidding, it was just a pick-and-go. I’d been close a couple of times previously but they’d been disallowed for a knock-on or something similar.
“I’d give up that one try to have won another Grand Slam. It was a game that we let slip. I remember coming off with ten minutes to go and we ended up almost losing the championship, but thankfully Scotland did us a favour against France. I definitely owe them one!
“Some decisions didn’t go our way and our game management could have been a bit better. It was like the Grand Slam was slipping out of your hands as you watched. It’s small margins but that’s international rugby for you.”
BLUE BOY
“This was my first start for Cardiff against London Irish in the LV Cup. I was coming up against Steffon Armitage, who was also playing at seven that day.
“He was a couple of years older and I always thought he was a wicked player.
“I was 19 and it was a good test for me coming up against him, which was amazing.
“The blond bits in the dreadlocks are because I’d been too lazy to redo them. I usually do them one summer to next. My ‘guy lights’, I called them. You know what it’s like when you are younger.”
TEST DEBUTANT
“This was my first cap for Wales on tour in Japan and it’s fair to say I didn’t have the best of starts to my international career.
Denne historien er fra July 2023-utgaven av Rugby World.
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Denne historien er fra July 2023-utgaven av Rugby World.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
"I remember getting eating guidelines for Christmas Day!"
CHRISTMAS, the most wonderful time of the year? Not if you’re a professional rugby player it’s not.
Rugby firsts
FIRST RUGBY match you went to? I would have gone to RODNEY PARADE to watch a Newport game when I was about six years old, so around 1992 or 1993.
THE JOHN FISHER STATE SCHOOL RUGBY FESTIVAL
The inaugural John Fisher Rugby Festival hopes to Send state-school rugby players into the stratosphere.
The Making Of Robbie Henshaw
How this small-town boy went On to become a big-time player
RG SNYMAN
The giant Springbok is enjoying the best of both worlds since joining Leinster
BENHARD JANSE VAN RENSBURG
Bristol's South African centre has one eye on an England call-up in 2026
RUGBY RANT
Jessica Hayden, author of The Red Roses, says the women’s game can handle criticism
WHAT IT'S LIKE TO ...GO ON TOUR WITH EMERGING IRELAND
Munster's Ben O'Connor tells RW about the eye-opening trip to South Africa
"Welsh rugby treats players like pieces of meat, not assets"
THEY’VE BUILT the women’s game around the men’s game in Wales but it has to be its own thing.
"I don't believe in dinosaurs – the boys think it's nuts!"
The Exeter Chiefs hooker talks Tarmac, time travel and Tyson Fury