Where are they now?

Pow’s pleased to say hello from Oz

When it’s 10pm on a Sunday evening in Pembrokeshire and the weekend draws to a close, Jeff Powell arrives at work in Sydney at Leighton, the biggest civil engineering company in Australia – where it is 7am on a Monday morning.
He makes himself a cup of coffee, turns on the computer and immediately presses the ‘Favourites’ button so that he can log onto pembrokeshiresport.co.uk and catch up with all the sporting news in his home county, especially with regard to cricket and rugby in Pembroke because he played both sports in the town, as well as representing the county.

A family man visits his family

Jeff, who was known to his team mates simply as ‘Pow’, was recently home to see his parents, Margaret and Eifion Powell, who was also a regular in both sports for Pembroke, and his sister Linda, who was a good hockey player and now represents Wales at short mat bowling – and we were delighted to meet Jeff for a walk down Memory Lane regarding his sport here, and also to find out what he does to relax in Australia.
He is essentially a family man and has with him in Sydney his wife Debra, who was originally a Sale girl, plus daughters Hannah (18) and Charlotte (15), both of whom love the way of life in Australia, although Hannah is currently on a year out from her studies and staying in Shrewsbury. Both daughters are very good ballroom dancers and Charlotte is a useful hockey player and loves rugby – with she and Jeff as season tickets at the nearby Parramatta Eels rugby league team.

Still keeping fit

Jeff is now 45 but still plays indoor cricket throughout the year, where the team of six bats in pairs for two overs and lose five runs every time someone is out. Each side can also nominate a bonus over for double runs or wickets and, being in Australia, is highly competitive.
He also runs on a regular basis to keep fit and admits that he is now lighter than when he was batting for Pembroke and Pembrokeshire, or scoring tries for Pembroke, Pembrokeshire and Sale, where he played in the top English game for almost six seasons before work took over.
He had completed the Cardiff Marathon when he was 17 and ran in the London Marathon 18 years later, with almost identical times in the region of three hours and 50 minutes, and has already taken part in three  of Sydney’s ‘City2Surf’ runs which, with 60,000 participating annually, is the biggest run in the world. So far he has achieved times hovering around 66, 64 and 62 minutes for the 14 kilometres and would love to break the hour this year but admits that being home and enjoying seeing old friends certainly hasn’t helped with his preparation!
Jeff is also an occasional golfer, having already won Leighton’s annual golf day with 45 Stableford points and having his handicap slashed as a result, but it is the nearby beaches which occupy a fair bit of time and provide lots of relaxation for the Powell family.

Started cricket as a ‘nipper’

It all seems a long way from his time in Pembroke where he started out in cricket and was very small for his age so just hitting the ball off the square was a challenge – but as he grew so the runs accumulated until he was regarded as one of the best batsmen in the county. He received his county junior cap in 1983 after representing Pembrokeshire through the age ranges and in 1987 won the County Award for his batting prowess alongside his county senior cap. He also joined John Rees, Andrew Slark and Elwyn Smiles in the Dyfed Schools’ team, where one of his claims to fame was fielding at short leg when Slark was bowling to an opposing No 11, who hit a half volley one bounce over the boundary, via the top of a dazed Jeff’s head!

Success in club cricket ... and for Brooklands

He had his first half century in a county match at Llechryd against Gwent and had a top league score of 88 not out against Kilgetty and loads of other high scores as a consistent run maker. His place in the Pembroke side which won the Harrison-Allen Bowl by beating Cresselly was in doubt the week before because he had chicken pox and he only scored a single in each innings – but beat dad Eifion because he had two ducks when he had appeared in 1978! But Jeff did catch Aled Davies with a cracking diving catch on the boundary in front of the Cresselly faithful at a vital time and had a few more runs the next season when Pembroke retained the coveted Bowl by beating Burton.
“It was better than I did in one Welsh Cup match where Pembroke skipper Kevin Jenkins placed me very carefully when ace run maker Linton Lewis was batting and hit a catch straight at me,” says Jeff with a chuckle, “and I promptly dropped a dolly and didn’t hear the end of it for a long time afterwards!
Pow’s first century came for the county in Cardigan where he scored 110 runs and opening partner Robbie Hicks had 70-plus, with his second ‘ton’ coming when he was Brooklands in the Cheshire County League whilst he was working in that area and playing against the likes of Paul Allott when Lancashire didn’t have a match. But then his work as a civil engineer became too busy and so cricket had to take a back seat for a while.

Slow start at rugby but pace aplenty afterwards

Jeff’s rugby followed a similar pattern because he played off and on in school and at youth level as a scrum half but was always one of the smallest on the pitches. He also took part in cross-country running and maintains that it helped him gain strength and improved his pace, which only came to light when he was switched for one match to the wing.
“We were playing at the Quins,” says Jeff, “and I was nine stone soaking wet. I had a good shoeing at the first ruck to welcome me to senior rugby but then received a good pass, slipped inside my marker and was away. I gained a regular first-team spot and was lucky to play with quality players like Dai Alderman and Rodney Cadogan at half back, with Kevin Baillee and Ray Evans in the centre, plus Nigel Thomas at full back, so Jeff Cole and I had plenty of chance to score tries on the wings if our small pack could win anything like good possession.”
“Jeff Cole and I had a mini-competition in try-scoring and we picked up 16 apiece one season where I scored a hat-trick against both Llangwm and Fishguard, plus a memorable try in a 6-all draw at Narberth, who were one of the top teams but Jeff Teague put me in the clear and I ran 70 metres.”

County rugby honours

Jeff was eventually called into the county squad and is rightly proud of the fact that he received his county cap.
“I was dead chuffed,” he recalls, “and apart from Gethin Evans (Tenby RFC and Carew CC) I don’t know of anyone else who has a Pembroke County cap in both sports. I was lucky to play during the celebrations for the County’s 50th year and played against the likes of Crawshays, who had Terry Holmes and Alan Martin in their team, Neath (who wouldn’t let their Pembrokeshire players represent their county in the match!), Swansea, Aberavon and Llanelli, where I was ‘skinned’ by Peter Hopkins, whom I knew already and enjoyed winking at me as he ran back to half way.”
Jeff had played for the Polytechnic of Wales 2nd XV when they won the British Polytechnics 2nds Cup and the next season played for the first team as they won the competition with Terry Shaw (Newbridge) and Richard Angel (Coventry) also involved.

Sale surprise move – and real success

But his rugby really moved up another level when his work took him to the Manchester area and his parents joined him in Sale RFC for a meal before they drove back to Pembroke – and Eifion told a committee man that his son was worth a trial as a winger!
Jeff was invited to attend a trial, was asked to join the squad, coached by Fran Cotton and Steve Smith, and started six very happy years where he played for them in the old Courage First Division against the likes of Northampton, Coventry, Wasps, Harlequins, Gloucester and Leicester.
“I was really nervous at first but they treated me really well and in over 100 games I scored more than 50 tries, including a cracker at Pontypool Park in a pre-season friendly when I went the length of the pitch.”
“The best result from my point of view was a game at Gloucester where Richard Mogg was celebrating his final match and their supporters seemed to think we were only there to make up the number – but we scored two tries in a minute, one I claimed, and were won. I also remember the match because I tackled Mike Teague as he came round the blind-side on a charge and thought I had been hit by a tank – but he said ‘good tackle son’ as he picked himself and me up!”
“Other top players I remember are Gavin Hastings, Dean Richards, Les Cusworth, Dusty Hare and the Underwood brothers, all of whom had that certain something which marked them as high quality players. It was the same when I played for the Welsh Academicals and Gareth Davies played – he just oozed class.”

Work took over – and Oz beckoned

Jeff’s work then took him to Scotland and he played for Moffatt but gradually work took up so much time that he couldn’t play, but he has great memories of his rugby playing days, nonetheless.
Jeff, Debra and the girls visited relatives in Australia in 2005 and liked what they saw there, with Jeff having an interview for a job whilst he was there – and starting work in Sydney just four short months later. He says that it is a great place to live but is still very much part of the old adage,
“You can take the boy out of Pembroke but you can’t take Pembroke out of the boy,” because he hasn’t changed a bit and still loves coming back to see his family and look up old friends. This particular writer was delighted to relive old cricketing memories with a very modest, unassuming but talented sportsman, who said to make sure that we said ‘hello’ on his behalf to all his pals around the county that he missed on this trip, which we are delighted to do as we say ‘Safe journey back to Australia to Jeff and the rest of the Powell family’!