Rhys rallies the Pembrokeshire Saints!
At just 24 years of age Rhys Price has recently started his second season as captain of St Davids Rugby Club, a role which entails far more than just total commitment on the pitch, which Rhys has in abundance, but also involves the inevitable chasing around for players on a Saturday morning at a small club which doesn't have a huge squad of players.
But Rhys is very philosophical about the extra involvement needed to keep team spirit high, often in adversity, when things don't quite go according to plan.
"It isn't nice when we struggle for a side at times,” admitted Rhys, “like Fishguard last year when they put over 100 points on us, but that is countered by the joy we feel when we win, especially against other Pembrokeshire clubs, and we celebrate as only the Saints can!”
Battling on against the odds
But the team fulfilled all their fixtures last season, especially at Fishguard, with 15 players unavailable. Rhys moved heaven and earth to get 14 players out, including old timer Fintan Godkin, Andy Forbes (a 50-odd year old who just turns up in a puff of a smoke when we’re short!) while prop Dan Murphy filled in on the wing. Andy teamed up with Jack Dudley in the second row and they made a combined age of 105! They lost by
100 points and were also well also beaten by 70-odd points in St Clears but again, only after refusing to call the game off despite having 13 players available.
And in that St Clears game, Rhys persuaded one of his mates, Sam Ellison, to come down from Cardiff to play on the wing despite his never playing a game of rugby before. It worked as Sam enjoyed it and has been with the club since!!
Celebrations completed in Saints’ style
Last year was really difficult to start with, the first XV losing all their league games up until January, but a win over Llangwm was followed by further wins over Neyland, Pembroke Dock, and St Clears. The Neyland win was the first time the club had beaten Neyland in a league match for a long, long time.
Celebrations after each win went on long into the night (often into Sunday night) - and Rhys likes to christen each debutant player, and each man of the match, with a special 'pint' to gulp down in one – and the last game of the season, the win over Pembroke Dock, saw the first ever 'Hawaiian' themed night in the club lounge!
Early start thanks to Gerald
Rhys has been involved at St Davids since he was a nipper of about nine when Gerald Miles roped him in to play - and although he plays prop or second row now in those days he had such a speedy turn of foot that he played as a try-scoring winger under Mr Miles, whom we held in huge regard and who still does a great job o
rganising club tours to Ireland.
"At St Davids School, which was inevitably low on numbers, I played anywhere alongside the likes of Tom Thurston, Aled Harries, Kieran Rogers, Jack Jones, Adam Phillips just to name a few" admitted Rhys, "and there was a great rapport with teachers like Dai Davies, Colin Reynolds and especially Rachel Thomas, who was a real influence on me in anything to do with sport."
From youth to senior side in quick succession
Then Rhys played for a newly-established youth team at the club which had players of the calibre of Scott James, Dan Murphy and Rhys Price, his namesake who is known as 'Chuckie' to differentiate him from the skipper, who is known as 'Loshin' (the Welsh word for 'sweet'), because of his family, who own Voyages Of Discovery and several other business, including a sweet shop in the UK's smallest city!
"During my time with the youth team I was catapulted into first-team action around Christmas when big Jack Dudley collared me on a Saturday morning and hauled me into the squad for an away match at Bynea, promising I was just going for the experience.
Sore shoulders – and seeing red!
"But then one of our props was injured in the first 15 minutes and Chris Morgan told me I would have to replace him because they didn't want to change the back row - I was naturally a bit nervous but took to it quite well, apart from having a sore shoulder for days afterwards!"
Rhys was actually was red carded in one of his first senior games for the club, a second team match in Llangwm, following a rash moment but has learnt a lot since then. His blushes were spared that day by old prop Mike Lamb, who landed a last-second conversion to draw the match 12-12!
Great supporter of club – and Llanrhian Cricket too
Rhys Price is now renowned for being a great club man because ‘Losh’ is also an active committee member and helps the club out in a large number of ways. At the end of the 2013/2014 season he was awarded Clubman of the Year for his contribution on and off the field, which was an emotional moment as it came three months after the passing of his dad, John Price.
‘Losh’ is also a big supporter of the local cricket club Llanrhian, (or as he likes to call them the rugby club’s ‘Sister Club’) and helps sponsor the club and has turned out occasionally when required - especially when the thirds were still going!
This August he helped organise the first-ever St Davids RFC v Llanrhian CC T20 contest. After some questionable displays from both teams with bat and ball, the cricket club sneaked home by five runs but it was a great day umpired by Tony Walsh, who went easy on some of our players (including ‘Losh’) when they bowled with somewhat questionable actions!
Special training for ‘Man Up’ and interesting start to rugby training too
He also helps supports local Man-up UK events (run by Fintan Godkin and Carwyn Richards). In the second ever 'Whitesands triathlon’ (a kayak, cycle and run) Fintan said he would never forget Loshin because of his preparation for it. A number of athletes had been in training for months and came from miles around - while Rhys’s preparation was to stop drinking for five days before the event!
Rhys was voted back in as captain unopposed this season, and pre-season training was interesting,
with ‘Loshyn’ using the perks of the job to organise a boat trip out to Ramsey Island through his boat company (‘Voyages of Discovery’) for the first session. Players then ran around the island and had a game of touch rugby on some rocky ground!
And finally . . .
Training now takes place every Wednesday night, led by Matthew 'Taff'’ Williams (Head Coach) Richard 'Tank' James (Forwards Coach) and Frazer Watson (Fitness Coach!). Jack Dudley still acts as team manager and it's still old school stuff, with a quick pint after training down St Davids and it seems to have paid off as the Saints won their first match, at Llangwm, and played far better at home to Haverfordwest than the final score might suggest.
And there’s one thing for sure – win or lose, Rhys ‘Loshyn’ Price will still be doing all he can to see that his team enjoy every match, win or lose, because he is St Davids through, and typifies the superb spirit that small clubs need to keep going in league rugby!