Fan’s cash turns up year after he lost it on tour

WELSH rugby fan Paul Roles has been given the shock of his life after the £200 and passport he lost supporting Warren Gatland’s British and Irish Lions more than a year ago turned up in the basement of a house in Auckland.

The former New York Wall Street stockbroker had given up on ever seeing the cash and his passport again after losing them before flying home following the Lions’ second Test win over the All Blacks in Wellington.

The Cardiff-born 54-year-old, who now lives in Bath, frantically packed and unpacked his bags several times before going to the British Consulate to be issued with a temporary passport.

He headed home thinking the money and passport were gone for good only to now have a social media message from Darryl and Helen Smithson, whom he stayed with in Auckland, to say they’ve been found in a bumbag in their basement.

“I was like you’ve got to be kidding me,” Paul said.

“I wouldn’t have known for the world if they had found it and I just said keep the £200 and throw away the passport.

“It was one of those things, you put it in a safe place to protect it and then completely forget the safe place you’ve put it.

“The honesty of that is unbelievable. That’s rugby for you, that’s what rugby does. This is a great honesty/rugby family story.

“I remember back last summer for about an hour I was taking all my clothes out and going through everything – I couldn’t find it.”

After a visit to the consulate, the former Splott resident had to grab a passport photo from the local pharmacy and dash back for a temporary document.

After a short meeting with the British High Commissioner, Paul was on his way home and back in time to watch the third Test draw which resulted in a stalemate series.

During his four-week trip to New Zealand Paul stayed with local people, making the most of the “Adopt a Lion” scheme which was started on Facebook.

“I’ve kept in contact with the people I stayed with in New Zealand and they’re my Facebook friends,” added Paul.

“Talking to them online they just messaged me out of the blue to say they’ve found my £200 and passport.

“People dog social media but good things can come from it like this.

“I wouldn’t have known about the ‘Adopt a Lion’ scheme and they wouldn’t have been able to get back in contact with me.”

Darryl Smithson said they never thought about keeping the money and were in the process of returning it to him.

“We were just going to do a transfer because we were a bit concerned about sending the things through the mail,” he told the New Zealand Herald.

And in the meantime it’s got better for the Aucklanders with the improved exchange rate meaning the Smithsons will get a better return when changing the £200 for New Zealand dollars.