Ben John is highly regarded in local rugby as a talented centre with Fishguard & Goodwick RFC but he has also rightly earned a reputation as an excellent coach with Haverfordwest Ladies RFC and helped them gain promotion.

Ben has been with the Blues' Ladies for four seasons now after starting out when Clodagh Llewellin had just got a team up and running, and was looking for off-field support.

He was playing for Haverfordwest at the time but had sustained a horrible knee injury and wanted to stay involved in some way until he was able to return to action - so he took the Level One coaching badge over four sessions at Carmarthen Athletic RFC.

‘Head hunted’ by Clodagh

At that stage the ladies were very keen to get started but understandably inexperienced and as a team they weren't really sure where they would be heading as he agreed to help out in open coaching sessions alongside fellow Blues Matthew Clark and Tyrone Te'Raku.

Ben thoroughly enjoyed being involved from the outset and although Matthew moved to play at Whitland and Tyrone went back to New Zealand he decided to carry on - and was delighted when Gareth Charles came into the fold to lend his wealth of experience after his daughter Jessica began playing; and has been a major influence since then.

Going from strength to strength

Since then the ladies' section has gone from strength to strength, with Chris Beggan, from Northern Ireland, also becoming involved after previously coaching in Scotland.

"As well as an increasingly strong senior side," said Ben, "we now have teams at under 15 and under 18 levels who will gradually feed into the first XV over the next few seasons."

In that four-year period since they started the Haverfordwest Ladies have welcomed everyone, irrespective of age, size or experience so that they can gain success in an atmosphere where the camaraderie is immense.

One such recent recruit is second-row Ceri Coleman-Phillips, who previously played football at Clarbeston Road, who told us,
"It is great to be involved in a set-up where Ben, Gareth and John have helped everyone develop their skills and commitment - and I love it there!"

Five-year plan reaching fruition

Ben, Clodagh and Co actually put together a five year plan and in their very first season they won the National Bowl by beating teams from all over Wales, including tough teams like Abergele in North Wales and Senghenydd in the Rhondda Valley.

Their target for year two was to gain promotion and they did just that by moving from division three to division two - and also repeated the process during the last campaign as they fended off the powerful challenge from Ynysybwl in a nail-biting finish in the last away match between the two teams.

"We were all delighted," said Ben, "although we knew this season would be even more demanding, but after losing our first match we've done really well - including a fantastic 55-15 win against Ynysybwl on our own pitch, despite quite atrocious weather.

"Everyone played at the top of their game and there were outstanding performances by Rachel and Helen Finnan, who scored four tries on debut, Nina Colville, Jo Price, Awen Prysor, skipper Lyn Egelstaff and Maria Phillips, who was voted as player of the match.

Started out as a youngster

Gareth began his own playing days at under 10 level with a Haverfordwest team coached by Andrew Morgan and Steve Barnett.

He had every support from parents Gail and Stephen, who played in the centre for Fishguard, before going through the junior age groups with Phil Viol and Kim Morgan, taking on teams of the quality of Gorseinon (where Lee Halfpenny was playing) and a Rhiwbina team that included Welsh captain Sam Warburton.

"We had excellent players like Johnny Morgan, Craig Barnett, Richard Walters and Dan Devonald as we won the county under 14s cup final.

Good days in youth rugby

"When I moved into youth rugby we had Steve Barnett as a top coach alongside another great character in Jeff Clout, with Simon Gardner, Dan Birch and Sean Lynch joining us as we lost in two Pembrokeshire Youth Cup Finals but won the Griffiths Cup at under 18 level in Neyland by beating a very strong Tenby team.

Ben also played youth rugby for Pembrokeshire alongside other quality players like Gavin Walsh, Aled Harries and Robbie James - and is rightly proud of the fact that at under 16 level he represented the Boys Clubs of Wales with Patrick Viol, Rhodri Jones and Geraint Peachment.
"We played against Gloucestershire and the Welsh Exiles at Old Deer Park in London, and we were allowed to keep our jerseys and were presented with Welsh Caps.

Thrown in at the deep end

"At 18 I was still a very skinny nipper as I was thrown in at the deep end of first team rugby as a utility back alongside such quality players like Steve Williams, Andrew Thicker, Richard Brazell and Dan Harries."

"It was a great time for me but then at 21 I sustained my knee injury at a training session where I tried to dive over the line instead of sliding in for a try and got caught in a tackle - and I knew straight away that something nasty was happening because of the intense pain.

"I was delighted when I eventually reached hospital and it was soon diagnosed that I had damaged my A/C joint and it needed reconstruction and I was out of playing action for almost three years."

Time for a change

When Ben finally felt he was fit enough to start playing again he decided it was time for a change and although he had been happy at Pembroke Road he decided to follow his father by playing in the centre for Fishguard & Goodwick.

"My girl-friend Sophie was living in Fishguard and my pal Marc Jones had already moved there to play - and when I joined towards the end of the season I was made really welcome by coaches Huw Evans, Randall Williams, Nathan Jenkins and all the players as I turned out for the last five matches.

Then the next season I had Johnnie V'Atu as my regular centre partner and we had loads of high-scoring wins as, a deserved defeat at Milford Haven apart, were we were worthy winners of Division Three (West) A.

"I scored a few tries but was often teased that I didn't score enough - but I always pointed out that I was too busy setting them up for others!"

And finally . . .

So it was on to Division Two (West) and The Seagulls found it much tougher there in terms of physicality but did well to consolidate  last season with players of the calibre of James Griffiths at No 10 and an outstanding back row comprising Chris Shousha, Mark George and Simon James, plus Ben in the heart of their defence.

"This season started superbly with a KO Cup win at hot favourites Crymych and although we haven't done as well in the league as we would've liked we are beginning to make some headway, as we proved in our narrow cup defeat against Aberystwyth, where we pushed them all the way."

Chat to Ben about his coaching with the ladies and his own playing days and one has to be impressed by his genuine enthusiasm for both - as we were when we were able to spend time with someone who is a real credit to the sport of rugby!