IN-DEMAND DAF SHOW HIS SKILL

THE curtain fell on his top-flight career a decade ago, but former Wales and Lions Test wing Dafydd James has revealed he received an audacious approach from a Welsh Premiership club to join them at the age of 43.

Pontypridd were keen for the 51cap player to have a season playing semi-professionally with them.

James had featured in a testimonial game two years ago for club stalwart Dafydd Lockyer and been named man of the match, playing for a Lockyer Select XV against the then Sardis Road first XV.

The long-striding threequarter – who also figured in the World Rugby Classic from Bermuda shown on S4C on Monday night – finished playing high-grade rugby after a 15-year career that had taken in 10 club and regional teams and hit a high with three Test appearances for the Lions against Australia in 2001.

A neck injury hastened an earlierthan-expected end, but after receiving an all-clear he has played goldenoldies rugby over the past decade and proven himself one of the fittest and fastest players on the circuit.

But the offer from Pontypridd to play for the 2018-19 season still took James by surprise, coming as it did 20 years after he ended his first spell with the club.

The campaign in question also began after his 43rd birthday.

“I’d played quite well in that testimonial game and after the match they offered me a contract to play for them,” says former Llanelli hero James.

“They were even willing to let me play as and when I wanted, rather than in every game. I was a bit flattered, because of my age, and thought: ‘ Yeah, I can do this’.

“I went home and the next morning I was aching all over, my bones were sore, having played a full game of rugby. I thought: ‘I’ll be up against 19 or 20-year-olds and some of them will be looking to take my head off. Someone’s going to get hurt.’

“I thought: ‘Do I need that every week?’

“The obvious answer was no, so I turned them down. But it was an interesting offer and it shows that if you stay fit and motivated beyond 35, and the environment is carefully controlled, then rugby is possible for a while after that age.”

Even though time takes a toll on all in the end, James has looked after himself physically and the 44-yearold remains as well-conditioned as players a decade-and-a-half younger.

At his peak he was a lethal attacking weapon with his strength and sic Lions team in Bermuda, playing in a tournament there as recently as last year.

The standard can be good with the entertainment factor usually high.

Managed by Wales great Allan Martin, the Classic Lions team have always had a healthy representation from Wales, with the likes of Colin Charvis, Chris Wyatt and Ceri Sweeney featuring in recent years.

For James, the tournament’s enduring appeal for players, spectators and sponsors has been the open and