Maria Phillips provides the perfect example of how a sport can stir someone into being heavily involved, despite the fact that they haven’t really thought about taking part before.
 
Maria is 26, a mother with two young children, hails from the sporting Dockerty family from Haverfordwest but hasn’t been actively competing in anything since her teenage years, when she won more than her share of medals for street and disco dancing.
 
Then she heard from the Western Telegraph and PembrokeshireSport.co.uk that Haverfordwest Ladies RFC were looking for new recruits, decided to give it a go – and has been playing as hooker for the Lady Blues ever since, after a unusual start where her first three games were played on the wing and then the second row (twice) – but more of that later.
 

Interesting meeting – in a school playground

 
“As a teenager in school I was part of a group which really enjoyed dance,” Maria told us, “and we won the Welsh Championships for disco in Llandrindod Wells and street dancing in Barry.
 
“But I didn’t carry on after that and although I enjoyed watching my husband, Shane Phillips, play rugby and football for Neyland I didn’t get actively involved until I bumped into Clodagh Llewellin as we waited to pick up our children in school. We started talking about rugby and I found out she really enjoyed being a part of Haverfordwest Ladies Rugby – and she told me all about what playing was like.
 
“Then I saw that notice in the paper and decided to pop along to Merlins Bridge and see what it was like.

 
Made very welcome at Merlins Bridge

 
“Clodagh and the rest of the girls made me welcome from the start and I really enjoyed the training and the feeling of fun amongst the players, and coaches Gareth Charles and Ben John soon had me working hard, which I really enjoyed because it was nice to see that I could manage the fitness side of the game.
 
“So I went along the next week and at the end of the training session I was asked did I fancy playing for ten minutes in the next game.
 
“I said yes but had a bit of a shock when we were on the bus and well on the way to the game because I found out it was a cup quarter final and I ended up playing for the whole 80 minutes – and I was well and truly hooked as we won quite easily.
 
In the thick of things
 
“I played all the game on the wing, which was OK,” admitted Maria, “but I wasn’t as involved as I would like out there and when I mentioned that in training they gave me a chance to train in the pack – and for the semi-final I found myself in the second row.”
 
“This might surprise some people who know me because I’m not very tall but I enjoyed getting stuck in to some tackling and the hurly burly of taking on some big and very physical opposing forwards from Bargoed.
 
“But we won 10-5 and I really loved being involved, especially with regard to our celebrations in the Haverfordwest Rugby Club after the game!”
 
Maria again played in the second row for the final against Penybanc at Llandovery and although the Haverfordwest Ladies lost they gave it 100% and their coaches said afterwards that they had played as well as they could but had been beaten on the day by a very good team.
 

Converted to No 2!

 
From Maria’s point of view she was just amazed that she had only played three games of rugby in her life and had a runners-up medal in a competition that was for clubs from all over Wales!
 
An interesting feature of the final was the fact that although she was in the second row she took all the throw-ins, something the hooker would normally do, and so at the start of this season she was drafted in to the front row and has worn the No 2 shirt ever since.
 
“I really enjoy playing in the front row and love running at opposing players with the ball, or tackling them whenever they run at us.
 
“When we are training we usually warm up with a session of tag rugby and I’m not fussed on that because I want to get stuck in – but I do enjoy it when we work on developing our skills or talk about tactics because a lot of that is very new to me.
 

Loves the social side – and appreciated by the players

 
“We always have a drink and chat together afterwards, which is great, and it’s the same when we go to away matches on a bus because we never stop chatting and laughing – although once we go into the changing rooms it’s a lot different because then we start to focus.”
 
Her commitment is recognised by Clodagh Llewellin, who told us,
“Maria has fitted in superbly and is a great ‘coconut tackler’, a term used in Ireland by a New Zealand friend of mine to describe someone who tackles very hard – and that’s how we describe Maria now.
 
“She has started every match this season as we are still unbeaten against good teams like Ynysybwl, Lampeter, Penlan, Bedlinog and Parcylan – and is one of the many reasons we have won matches by as big a margin as 59-5 and 62-0.
 
“We have the quarter finals of the cup coming up soon and with players coming back from injury we hope to carry on our winning streak.”
 

Family matters

 
That Maria should be involved in sport should come as no surprise because her father Shaun, a real local character if ever there was one, played in goal for a few clubs in the Haverfordwest area, whilst brother Steven is a much better player than dad with Merlins Bridge and Prendergast Villa.
 
Her husband, Shane Phillips, played rugby for Neyland and is now involved as a powerful player with Neyland Football Club, with their sons Rio and Enzo already beginning to show they will carry on the tradition – an her sister Sophia is also a good rugby player in the navy and turns out for Haverfordwest Ladies whenever she’s home on leave.
 
And that leaves mum Gladys, whom Maria says is the family’s ‘rock’ and although she doesn’t play sport has her own claim to fame from the fact that when she was a nipper she appeared on television in ‘Grange Hill’.
 

And finally . . .

 
Maria certainly follows mum in being on the petite side but it certainly doesn’t inhibit her play in any way because another of her team mates described her as,
“A brilliant little hooker with a big heart.”
 
Chat to Maria about her involvement and it is easy to see her uncomplicated view of the game and she really loves her participation - and long may Maria Phillips continue to bring a breath of fresh air to ladies rugby!