Geraint Lewis is in his third year as coach to Pembroke RFC and no-one at Crickmarren will be more delighted than him at their solid start to the current campaign because he has worked hard to encourage young players to force their way into contention and serve the club well.
 
The proof is certainly in the rugby pudding because this season has seen the likes of Lewys Gibby, Luke Hartland, Tom Lewis and Tom Kinnear help the Scarlets win their early matches and put them in contention for promotion alongside the likes of Cardigan and Milford Haven, despite the disappointment of a home defeat against St Clears.
 
Interestingly, Geraint has enjoyed a range of sports that also included football, cricket, athletics and tennis, and readily admits that he has retained his competitive spirit!
 

Starting out with the youth and moving on to first XV

 
He coached the Pembroke junior team that included his oldest son Tom (who has already made his first team debut at 18 as a livewire scrum half) from the age of nine to 16 and with players of the talent of Jack Parkinson, Tom Kinnear, Jordan Evans reached the finals of the Pembrokeshire Cup before losing to Haverfordwest in the county town.
 
Then he was asked to take over the Scarlets' first XV and started to promote the basic skills alongside good fitness levels and was understandably delighted when Lewys Gibby, Luke Hartland, Lloyd Davies, Tom Kinnear and Jack Parkinson represented the Pembrokeshire under 19s team that won the Welsh Cup.
 
"At the moment I have Kyle Davies as an excellent assistant coach who was a good player with Llangennech," said Geraint, "and it is great to see the way that the youngsters have bedded in alongside experienced players like Dom Colman, Sam Smith and Johnny Palmer to play some terrific rugby."
 

Quality schools’ rugby

 
That Geraint should enjoy his rugby is perhaps only natural because his father Graham played in Gwent and they often threw a ball around at home in Goytre or in Pontypool Park before Graham's work brought him to Pembrokeshire and Geraint was soon involved at Crickmarren.
 
He played for a Pembroke School team that was superbly coached by Mr Dennis Lloyd and in a very good county schools' team that included quality players like Corrie Williams, Eddie Lewis, Neil Truman, Nicky Rees and Richard Hughes - and then captained Pembroke Youth, where Jimmy Hulbert, Mike Webb, Richard Johns and Clive Lewis shared the coaching.
 
"In the county’s Dewar Shield team, which was coached by Gelly James, Richard Jones and Dai Williams, I played centre or wing and again we played some excellent rugby."
Great senior start – against old rivals The Quins
 
It was a great time and he made his first-team debut against local rivals Pembroke Dock Harlequins at Crickmarren.
 
"They had players of the calibre of Paul Rogers, Lenny and Roy Scourfield, Andy Morrissey, and Ossie Boswell and it was every bit as tough as I was warned it would be. I played at outside half and we won 3-0 as I dropped a goal which turned out to be the winning score!
 
"I was very lucky to have Rod Cadogan looking out for me as inside centre, with his brother Barry, Gareth Davies, Simon Edwards, Kevin Baillee, Jeff Powell, Richard Johns and Martin 'Animal' Alderman.”
 

Met Police hopes dashed – and then revived

 
It was at this time that Geraint was due to join the Metropolitan Police, having passed all the tests, but sustained a terrible knee injury which seemed as if all thoughts of rugby, and the police, would finish. But luckily his parents sought a second opinion from a South African specialist who used carbon fibre, a revolutionary new technique, to rebuild his shattered knee.
 
After lengthy rehab Geraint reapplied for The Mets, was accepted, and spent 11 happy years in London where he played rugby regularly for the Met Police and the divisional team at Richmond upon Thames which became the Metropolitan Police champions with the majority of the squad from Wales.
 
Whilst serving in the Met, Geraint used to travel home to captain the Pembroke under 23 team which won the Pembrokeshire under 23 championships.
 

Back to Pembrokeshire with his sporting family

 
In 2001 Geraint transferred to Dyfed Powys Police and started playing at Crickmarren again, despite the fact that he was by now in his mid-30s, turning out under influential coach Ossie Boswell and being involved until he was 40, when he decided it was time to call it a day and enjoy the budding rugby careers of his three sons.
 
The ploy certainly worked because oldest son Tom (18), is captain of Pembroke Youth whilst James (16) used to play in the wing but is now focussing on his studies at Pembrokeshire College - and Matthew (13) is also a scrum half at Pembroke.
 
Geraint and wife Joanne are very supportive of their boys and Mr Lewis would say that his better half, who played hockey and was a good swimmer as a youngster, has provided him with amazing support in all his sports!
 

Other sports

 
He played football for the county U 11s alongside Darren Thomas, Steve Summers and Roger Richards who played in a British Championships at Sophia Gardens, narrowly missing out on a final’s place on goal difference. As a goal-scoring centre forward he went on to play for the late, great Frankie Donovan with Pembroke United and also played under John Donnachie at Lamphey.
 
Geraint also ran in the 100m and 200m for Pembroke School and joined Richard Kenniford as doubles champions in tennis - and played cricket as an all-rounder with a Stackpole team that included Ben Huxley and Jonathan Willington, and with Jonathan & Mark Williams, plus Morgan & Richard Allen at Hundleton.
 
In more recent years Geraint has also played for Kilgetty 2nds, where Tom is a former county under 15s player and Matthew is in the Welsh Development squad, and Lewis senior marked his debut, after many years of inactivity, with a boundary-laden 107 runs from only 19 overs - and when he was selected for the first team against Whitland he scored 35 runs and claimed two wickets!
 

And finally . . .

 
But rugby has always been Geraint's favourite sport and he is really enjoying his role as coach with Pembroke RFC at Crickmarren, and we are confident that The Scarlets will continue to be on the up with people of his calibre at the helm.
 
He is full of praise about the hierarchy of the club, ably led by chairman Darrell Willington, who returned the compliment by telling us that his club was delighted to be in such safe rugby hands as those provided by Geraint Lewis!