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Jonathan is a talented young sporting all-rounder
Jonathan Rogers is one of those talented youngsters in our county who is adept at most sports and really enjoys taking part whenever he gets the chance.
Her hails from Pembroke Dock and plays rugby for the Quins and Pembrokeshire at under 16 level, enjoys cricket at nearby Pembroke and also represents the county in the summer sport, plays football for Carew juniors. Not content with that little lot he has also dabbled in tennis, badminton (again at county level), and Swimming when he was younger at the local club!
Ask Jonathan about his favourite sport, though, and he would plump for rugby, where he is following his father Paul as a Quins regular. Paul played at No 8 for the Quins and Pembrokeshire for many years and is currently the first team coach, but Jonathan can play in the centre, outside half or scrum half, preferring the No 9 shirt because he says he can always be involved in play from there.
Tag rugby start – and county success
He started out at Bierspool under the watchful eye of junior organiser Stuart Lewis, playing tag rugby from the time he was seven, like everyone else chasing the ball wherever it went, before playing for the Quins at every age group since. He was a member of the Quins under 14 team which won their age group final on county finals’ day at Narberth, where they beat the host club – and he was voted as ‘Player of the Year’ as an added bonus.
At county level Jonathan has been coached by Kim Norkett and Clive James, playing outside centre for a while, then moving to fly half and finally to scrum half, where he has really found his niche. He is joined in the county side by team mates Thomas Kaijaks (prop), John Boswell (flanker) and Dan Lee (No 8) – and they have done well recently as they beat a strong Swansea side 11-10 and Llanelli a little earlier by a wider margin, both games being played at Haverfordwest.
Jonathan was captain of the Quins last season under coaches Mark Irwin, Andrew Morrissey, Jeff Newman and Shane Lee, already earning a name as a good reader of the game who has a safe pair of hands and is not afraid to tackle well. His main ambition is to eventually play for the club’s first team and then hopefully on to a higher standard if things work out – but at the moment he is more than happy just to play as many games as he can to gain experience.
Cricket ‘up the road’ at Pembroke
In the summer months he plays cricket at Treleet for Pembroke Seconds alongside Paul, and the father and son duo had a bet last season over who would score the most runs. Now Paul is noted mainly as a bowler but managed two half centuries and edged home in the run chase by 16 runs – and it cost Jonathan £16 because dad insisted that Rogers junior paid up!
Jonathan set out with Pembroke when he was eight years old, and has since played for the under 10s, 12s, 13s and 15s, with Chris Thomas and Shaun Powell as coaches, backed up by good advice from Colin Kaijaks and Kevin Jenkins. He bats in the top four and has a top score of 52 for the second team, and has already made his first team debut against Cresselly in the Harrison-Allen Bowl, which he found a real experience. Jonathan still plays junior cricket for the club and a 4 for 4 haul is his best analysis from his spin bowling, with 2 for 20 his best at senior level. He plays for Pembrokeshire at under 16 level, where Glyn Griffiths and Peter Mogg are the coaches, with a top score so far of 42 against the Vale of Glamorgan.
Family matters and other sports
That Jonathan should be a useful supporting all-rounder should come as no surprise since, as well as his dad Paul, mum Helen has always been a sporty person and still keeps very fit at aerobics classes whilst doubling up as the ultra-efficient fixture secretary of the Quins junior set-up – and big sister Rachel plays netball.
He enjoys playing football at Carew in a team coached by Rob Lewis, playing on the left wing and although they are not top of the league he really enjoys the fun of taking part with a good crowd of lads from the village. He plays tennis in school and recently came third in the tennis tournament, represented Pembrokeshire in badminton and swam the front crawl for the local club before he ran out of time to keep doing everything and so had to cut down on his sporting involvement.
And finally . . .
But it is rugby which currently occupies a great deal of his spare time outside his GCSE studies it is easy to see just how dedicated he is to the Quins as he follows Paul and granddad, Berri Rogers, who was a redoubtable hooker in his younger days and is still a staunch Quins’ supporter. Although still young, Jonathan Rogers shows real promise and if he maintains his current rate of progress and enthusiasm for the game then a third generation of the Rogers’ clan is sure to feature at Bierspool for many years to come!
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