What is your first memory of rugby?
I used to play football and then when I was about nine years old it changed. There was a school tournament and one of my teachers asked if I wanted to play rugby and I gave it a go. Ever since then, I played for my school and my club, Bryncethin, and didn’t really look back. It was the physicality of the game that I really enjoyed. It’s something you don’t get in other sports. There is a really full-on competitiveness with rugby and it allows you to really rip into the opposition and I do love that.
First rugby experience that really had an impact on you?
I come from a big rugby family and my grandparents used to take my cousin and myself to watch Wales play at the Principality Stadium. There is one game that really sticks in my mind; it was when we went to watch Wales beat France for the 2008 Grand Slam. I have a real memory of the groundsman giving us a piece of the grass from the pitch after the game. That has always stuck in my memory. It’s my first memory of watching rugby and falling in love with game.
What is your first memory of the Ospreys?
My club Bryncethin used to go to the Swansea.com and play at half-time during the Ospreys games. The Galactico’s are the first team I remember - Shane Williams, Mike Phillips, James Hook, Lee Byrne and Sonny Parker. I actually had a shirt with Lee Byrne on it when I was younger. Shane was probably the player for me because he demonstrated that smaller players, like myself, could have a real impact on the game. That Ospreys team was the superstar side that everybody remembers.
What was the moment when you thought I have an opportunity to be a professional player?
I played for the Ospreys U16s when I had only just turned 15 and that was a big moment that hit me and when I realized I had an opportunity to really play professional rugby. Up until then I combined rugby with football and enjoyed both. Once I played for the Ospreys U16s, I realised that I had a real opportunity and that rugby was the way forward for me. I focused on rugby from then on. It was a moment I remember because it cemented the ambition of being a pro player in my mind.
What is it like to play for a team you supported as a boy?
It’s just a massive honour. There is no other word to describe it, I grew up wanting to play for the Ospreys and I have done it. To be able to that is just massive for me. The Ospreys are my home region and, as a Maesteg boy, I come from a real rugby community and where I come from has big ties to the Ospreys. I have a big attachment to the Ospreys and they have a history of giving local boys and opportunity and a chance to play for the team. I grew up watching the Ospreys and wanting to play for them.
What do you want to achieve with the Ospreys?
The Ospreys are a very ambitious club at the moment; you can feel how things have changed here. We all want to win and that comes from all of us at the region. We want to impose ourselves on the game in Wales and in Europe. That’s where the Ospreys want to compete and the chance to win trophies and be a part of that is just huge. The team I grew up watching were always winning trophies and we all want to do that here. The way we are going, you can see that happening now.