page revision date : 30th November 2009
Big Al has the Seagulls soaring towards promotion
Fishguard and Goodwick RFC have made a cracking start to their new rugby campaign in Division Five (West) of the National League set-up and no-one is more pleased than Alan Phillips, who is their player/coach.
Big Al plays in the hurly-burly of the front row and can play at either loose-head or tight-head prop as he calls upon the experience he has previously gained at Tenby United, Narberth and Hauraki North, in New Zealand, before returning to his home town to finish his playing days and start out as a coach.
Strong, silent type
He would say that he is not a ranter before or after matches but prefers to keep things in perspective, as he learned from Richard ‘Stag’ Jones and Rob Phillips at Narberth, where skipper Simon Davies was the best captain he played under because of his ability to lead by example, rather than shout and bluster. It doesn’t mean he is afraid to take decisions, however, and if he feels someone needs to be rested then he would do it straight away.
“I also have great support from the rest of the coaching staff, since Huw Evans uses his wealth of experience with the backs, Peter ‘Rocket’ Evans is a great team manger who played so well for Fishguard over many years – and Steve Jenkins is proving to be a very good captain, although I couldn’t say ‘Jenks’ is in the same quiet mode!”
Early start at Fishguard
Alan started out his rugby days at Fishguard School and even had a spell as hooker but soon reverted to the prop’s role as he was in the first youth team at Fishguard which was coached by Wayne Harries and Rolf Kelly, who asked Big All to come and join them, which he did. They were soon a strong side with the likes of Romeo Colella, Gwyn Nicholas, Carl Clash, Carwyn Thomas, Jonathan Jones, Huw and Alun Evans – and they enjoyed three Griffiths cup wins in four years, only missing out in the third season for mistakenly playing someone when he was banned!
He started playing for the club’s second string when he was just 17 and was sometimes picked on the bench for the first team, where he found a place the season afterwards – and learned the harsh reality of life in the front row when he senior debut was against Milford Haven and a very good prop called Ralph Wonnacott showed him what propping was all about!
“I had to be a quick learner!” says Alan with a chuckle.
Tenby bound
After playing first-team rugby at The Moors, Alan joined Tenby United in 1995 and was honoured to play for Pembrokeshire Under 21s against Northern Transvaal. The following season saw him having to raise his game another notch when he played over 20 games for the Seasiders in Division One of the league set-up, playing in the front row alongside talented players like Colwyn Harts, Johnny Richards and Dai Balkwill, with Eddie Lewis as a superb back-rower, Dean Hadley as a powerful second row and Mike Evans as a brilliant captain who led by example. Behind the scrum there were the likes of Neil Truman and Dean Bowen, so it was a very strong Tenby squad.
An Otters prop
From there Alan had a short spell back at Fishguard before Gareth Charles suggested he should try his luck at Narberth – and after training hard all summer was told by Otters’ coach Richard Jones that he would give Big Al a chance in the squad. It was the start of eight very happy years at the Lewis Lloyd Ground for Alan, with the highlight being a year as captain and promotion to Division One (West) during his stint there. He played 170 games there and another great moment came when he was selected to play for the Welsh Crawshays’ XV against Cambridge University in a match where he ended up on the winning side with other Otters like Craig Hawkins and Jason Jennings also involved.
Magic moments
Big Al also appeared in no fewer than six KO Cup Finals, winning it on three occasions as he played for Tenby against Narberth and Narberth against Tenby, as well as for Fishguard against Tenby at Bierspool where the Seagulls came very close to upsetting the form book before conceding late tries. Another highlight was undoubtedly playing for Pembrokeshire on a number of occasions, especially when he captained Pembrokeshire against Fishguard as part of the Seagulls’ centenary season.
He did have a couple of months at Whitland but on reflection he says it wasn’t his best move because he never really settled at Parc Llwyn Ty Gwyn after so long with the Otters.
In 2006 Alan went to New Zealand and played club rugby for Hauraki North, which was about division three standard in Wales, but supplied players for Thames valley and then top-class Bay of Plenty, with whom he trained and played a friendly against the New Zealand Army.
Back to his roots
When he returned from his New Zealand trek he decided that he would return to his roots at Fishguard and played as well as coached last season, where he could see signs of growth in the club. This season has seen that being continued as the Seagulls sit proudly atop their section’s table, having won all seven of their matches at the time of writing.
“We have a wealth of experience as Graham Davies and Huw Evans are superb at half back, whilst the return of props Romeo Colella and Andrew Morrillo, plus hooker Gavin Walsh, from Whitland mean we have a splendid front row because Mark James has also become a very good player. The likes of Emyr Hughes, Thomas Ilaisa and Mark George also help whilst Gareth Adamson joined us from Llandaff North and Mark Lennard also arrived to boost our backs strength. We are having 25+ in training and so expectation is very high.”
Training takes place every Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Alan keeps fairly fit because he usually comes on as a replacement to lend his experience at key times – and still enjoys the playing side of the game, as well as his coaching commitment at The Moors
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