Rees is ready to inspire Wales
THERE are likely to be four survivors of the last Wales Grand Slam-winning side involved in Saturday’s tilt at another Six Nations clean sweep, but when it comes to true survivor status, Matthew Rees is hard to trump.
Rees, the 2012 side’s hooker, finally hangs up his boots at the end of this season having written the book on staying the distance.At 38, he will finish at Cardiff Blues after almost 400 games in the front row; as the man who beat cancer, he will do so as an inspiration.
It was Rees who led out Alun Wyn Jones, Jonathan Davies, George North and Leigh Halfpenny and Co at what was then the Millennium Stadium for the clincher against France seven years ago in recognition of his 50th cap.
“I was more worried about that than what was on the game in terms of the
Grand
Slam. It took my mind off it actually. I wanted to make sure I performed,” said Rees.
“The French had nothing to lose, we had high expectation on us, but we stuck at the game plan and it turned out to be a great day with another Grand Slam.
“They’re hard to win but for some of the team that was their third.The beer was flowing and the music was on in the dressing room afterwards and the streets of Cardiff were absolutely crazy.” Golden days, but 18 months later Rees’s life was turned on its head after being told the news that the lump he had felt on his testicle was a tumour and the cancer had spread to a lymph node in his stomach.
He underwent surgery to remove the testicle and after a course of chemotherapy, received the all-clear.
Unbelievably, Rees played for Wales again in South Africa at the end of that season.
“I did think the cancer was going to be the end of my playing days but determination and belief and goal-setting was a massive part of coming back,” he said.
“I did prove a lot of people wrong – even myself. Professional sport is demanding and to go through that chemotherapy treatment which is quite horrific and get back playing in a short space of time was an achievement. I was out longer with my ACL knee injury than with cancer. Christ, what was I thinking?”
He kicked cancer into touch but the knee injury he sustained last March has proved harder to defeat and hastened his decision to call time on a 19-year career.
“It has been a tough road to get back to where I want to be,” he said. “Age isn’t on my side any more. I’m 39 at the end of this year. But to play pro rugby at 38 and to have achieved what I have I’m very proud.”
For Rees, the curtain is about to fall but the great stage that is the Principality Stadium is beckoning for Wales.
“If we win, it will be exactly the same this Saturday in Cardiff as seven years ago if we win with the fans leading the charge.”