Ollie’s on form in the No 9 shirt

Oliver Lewis is already a promising all-round sportsman but at ten years of age is looking to follow in the family footsteps by being a more than useful player with Pembroke Dock Harlequins RFC , where he plays up a year as scrum half for the under 11 team.
He also plays cricket and football and is a keen sailor as he has joined granddad Stuart Lewis and uncle Martyn on boats at Neyland Yacht Club – but it coincided with training for the County Junior squad in rugby and so it has had to take temporary back seat.

Family ties at Bierspool

Known to all as Ollie, he started out at Bierspool as a very eager six year old, having gone with dad Gareth, who coaches the junior team alongside Huw Baker and Keith Boswell, to watch when he was a real nipper of four. Stuart also oversees the coaching set-up in cahoots with Helen Rogers and the Lewis family is further involved because mum Sarah travels everywhere to watch and even washes the team kit, grandma Margaret has supported the Quins for as long she can remember, as do Ollie’s younger brothers Tom and Jac, plus baby sister Seren, who is indeed a star already! Stuart played for the Quins as a centre in his younger days, Gareth played on the wing and Martin as a flanker so Ollie has decided that he will branch out and has already claimed the scrum half spot and looking likely to be next in line on the Lewis conveyor belt for the Quins!

‘The Terrier’ scores plenty of tries

He started out with the under 8s in tag matches where there are no positions but Neil Roberts spotted his potential as a scrum half and Ollie has also received some great help with his pass from another former Quins player in Adrian Heath. Ollie is very gritty for his size, loves to tackle and run at the opposition from quick tap penalties, from which he has scored more than his share of tries. This season has seen him play the full contact game where each team has ten players and Huw Baker has dubbed him ‘The Terrier’ for his all-action approach to the game, and a measure of his improvement can be gauged from the fact that in the first six matches of this season he was chosen by the referee as the Quins’ man of the match, with four tries in one of them. The team has enjoyed success because they have only lost once all season, to Fishguard, but they were disappointed at the Neyland Festival because they lost in the pool matches to Crymych, a team they had scored eight tries against early on so it was a good learning process for Ollie and Co. They have already won silverware before, however, because two seasons ago they played Neyland on Finals Day, at the Quins, and Ollie not only captained the team but scored one of their tries.

Other sports

Outside of his rugby, Ollie also enjoys almost every other sport and plays cricket at Stackpole because his teacher, Mrs Kath Adams, is a good player there and has encouraged him with both bat and ball. In football he turns out  as a midfield player for a Pennar Robins under 11s side coached by Simon Beynon and he has been working towards the Level One award in sailing before having to take a bit of a break. In all of those sports he shows the same genuine enthusiasm as in rugby and can’t wait for match days to come around.

County selection – and lots of travel!

His performances at the Quins have earned Ollie selection for the county squad organised by Kenny Davies and although he is a year younger than the majority of the players he has played or been on the bench for games against the likes of Llanelli & District, where he captained the Pembrokeshire Development side, Bridgend in the D.C. Thomas Cup, Maesteg, Ceredigion, Dinefwr and a competition in Llandovery. It is easy to see the amount of travel required for games and training sessions but both Gareth and Sarah are happy to get the car out and go off to watch Ollie play. There is a trip in the offing with the Quins to a competition in Abergavenny before Ollie, dad and granddad set off to Barcelona with the county team and Kenny Davies!

Future hopes

Ask Ollie about his future and he would say he would like to be a rugby player or a PE teacher but he has plenty of time to make up his mind yet – and in the meanwhile he is very happy just playing sport and getting involved with all sports.

It is refreshing to see youngsters so involved in sport and there’s one thing for sure – whichever game Ollie Lewis ends up playing the most he will make a name for himself because he is a talented young man who is ready to work hard to improve his play, and listen to good advice at the same time, so success is almost guaranteed with that formula already in place!