Around the Boundary Feature:

 

 
Every club has characters who have served then brilliantly and Neyland are no exception because they have several genuine characters that I love to bump into on visits to The Athletic Ground to watch The All Blacks play rugby - and someone who would be very high on my list would be Robert Johns.
 
Robert knows his rugby inside out, as a former player, has worked tirelessly there for over 50 years and loves nothing better than meeting old front row colleagues and opponents for a pint and a walk down memory lane.
 

Double role – chairman, president and occasional first-aider!

 
Now 68 years old, he currently has a dual role as the president and chairman of Neyland RFC and takes both jobs seriously, recognising that in both he has to set the example for high standards and so attends all their matches, home and away, chairs committee meetings and generally helps out with anything else that’s is needed, not only on match days but also any other times.
 
“We have Steve Evans as an excellent head coach supported by Steve Hamer Toby Hayman Andrew Slark and Matt Thomas with Peter ‘Jack’ Davies as team manager. Jack Kinnersley and John Tennick look after the junior rugby whilst Wendy Watts has taken over the role of Hon Treasurer and another lady involved is Ann Evans and Steve’s daughter Cerys on training nights. Beth Edwards is doing a great job on first aid and physio whilst Mike Hamilton has become a welcome new member of the club committee.
 
Included in that long list is the fact that he is often the first-aid man, especially at away matches, helps out with setting up on training evenings marks the pitch early if rains threatens and helps with selling programmes and taking the gate money at home match days!
 

Started senior rugby young

 
There was no youth team when he was a teenager and so he played his first game for the second XV when he was only just 17 and from the very outset could play either loose or tight-head prop, although if pushed he would say his favourite was loose-head prop,
 
“It was a tough initiation to rugby against some wily old props,” admitted Robert “but I was lucky that we had real characters in Gerald Charles, Jimmy Lewis, Peter Rees, Dai Goodridge and Graham Hewitt, who all looked after me when the going got a bit rough.
 
“I played most of my rugby in the first team but when I was in the Seconds I always tried to look after any youngsters, and when I was playing I also applied first-aid to my team-mates so had to make sure I didn’t have any injuries to it would be quite difficult to tend to myself!”
 
He also joined his old pal Les Rossiter in coaching the mini rugby for a while and enjoyed it seeing young players later making the break-through.



 

Strong scrummager as he played until he was 53!

 
Robert was renowned as a deceptively strong scrummager despite not being regarded as a very big prop and is always ready to explain his technique of being able to get under much bigger opponents and apply leverage was a real plus factor in his technique.

“At one time I played in a front row with hooker Tony Huddleston and Robert Griffiths which was very much a small trio in height but we were always able to hold our own and were regarded as a powerful unit by other local clubs.”
 
He played until his final game arrived at St Davids when he was 53 - and he told his team mates that enough was definitely enough!

 

Memories galore in that time

 
Ask him about highlights and he would say that Neyland’s Schweppes Cup match (the old version of the Welsh Cup) against Ebbw Vale at their home at Eugene Cross Park was an undoubted highlight.
 
“Their pack was huge and they had beaten Cardiff by 40 points the previous weekend but we battled all the way and we only lost 14-10 against a team regarded as one of the best in Wales at that time.”
 
Another highlight was a 14-10 win at Whitland around 1977 when talented young players Lee Jones and Jonathan Harries scored tries and deprived The Borderers of an undefeated run that had extended for a number of years.
 

Family Matters

 
Robert hailed from a sporting family and his father Freddie was a useful backs player in his time with The All Blacks, and when he helped them win the league and cup double in 1933/4, with the club’s only full international in Tommy Pete Evans in the team, and they wore green and white in those days! Robert’s nephews, James and Mark Payne, also played for Neyland in their younger days and he is delighted that his great-niece Ava Phillips is playing now at under 10 level.
 
He would also sing the praises of his wife Shirley, who has always loved being involved in horses and is rightly proud of the fact that she was the first-ever woman to be voted as the President of the Pembrokeshire County Show.
 
He put up with a bit of teasing about being the consort of the show president but took it all in great fun and for the whole three days of a highly successful show looked resplendent in his smart suit and bowler hat!
 

No silverware but great respect for team mates and opponents

 
Back on the rugby front, Neyland didn’t ever reach a KO Cup Final in his lengthy playing days but he did take part in a couple of Seconds’ Cup Finals later on in his playing days but says there were to be no winners’ medals.

“But they were great days out, nonetheless,” he told us, “and we enjoyed the occasions as we always did at Neyland!”
 
Ask Robert about opponents he had respect for and he says that he could produce an endless list over his lengthy playing days but a few he listed included Graham Evans (Haverfordwest), Chris ‘Blackthorn’ Thomas (Llangwm), Jack Dudley (St Davids), Richard ‘Badger’ Johns (Pembroke) and Kevin Phillips (who was a flanker at that time but they crossed swords when the Welsh hooker was playing for Cardigan.
 
Of his own team-mates the list is even longer but names that cropped up regularly were Peter Roberts, Gerald and Derek Charles, John Greggain, Rod Chamberlain, Govan John and Chris Busby - and later youngsters coming through in the seconds like Ted Tamilia, Andrew Hansen and James Charles.
 

And finally . . .

 
At the end of last season Robert was honoured to be elected as president of Neyland RFC and there was a second honour towards the end of the evening when he was unanimously voted as a Like Member for his yeoman work over many years.
 
He was proposed by Peter Davies and seconded by Steve Evans and readily admits that he was dumbstruck. But as Peter told us,
“As we speak now Robert will be down supporting Steve Evans in a training session and he is also heavily involved on match days.
 “Neyland RFC doesn’t award a huge number of life memberships but no-one deserved it more than Rob because he is totally committed to the club and has been for as long as I can remember.”
 
Steve, the club’s head coach, added,
“I remember how committed Rob was on the field and he is just the same now with his terrific willingness to help in anything we need. When he was playing he was a hard man but did let me down one occasion when he lay on the muddied ground to hold the ball while I took a penalty.
“But he took his hand away far too soon and I made a mess of the kick – and when I asked him about it he said he thought I might kick his hand – now that’s a tough prop’s  thinking for you!”
 
We couldn’t match those lovely comments but share their sentiments because PembrokeshireSport.co.uk can safely say it is always a pleasure to bump into Robert Johns whenever we pay a visit to The Athletic Ground in Neyland!