MY LIFE IN RUGBY
CHRISTIAN LOADER FORMER WALES, SWANSEA, PONTYPRIDD, ROTHERHAM AND BATH PROP
Believe it or not, I started out as a full-back at my local club, Crwnant but in under a season I’d moved into the No.1 jersey!
I liked getting my hands on the ball but the only time I touched it playing full-back was in the warm-up, I just wasn’t quick or agile enough to play there.
Playing prop, you know from the first scrum what sort of game you’re going to be in for – good or bad. I’ll never forget my first scrum in senior rugby, it was for Swansea against Abertillery and the tighthead I was up against, Brandon Cripps, basically coached me through the game. He taught me valuable lessons and became a great friend for life.
At Swansea, I had a very good coach in Mike Ruddock. In 1995, we won the Welsh Cup final, beating Pontypridd on a sweltering hot day when the jerseys were still made of thick cotton, before reaching the semi-finals of the inaugural Heineken Cup a year later when we lost to Toulouse.
In between those two seasons, I won the first of my 19 Wales caps, against South Africa in Johannesburg. It was the game where Derwyn Jones got pole-axed by Kobus Wiese. I’ll always remember walking out the changing room and looking to my left to see Francois Pienaar, who only a few months earlier I’d watched lift the World Cup on TV. Surreal.
We were still on the cusp of professionalism then so we only got paid travel expenses. I think I made a grand total of £26.50 from the trip.
Money was never a motivator for me, it was just a bonus. I’d have run through a brick wall to pull on that red jersey and would’ve gladly played for my country for nothing.
In fact, I’d have paid them to play against the All Blacks, which I finally went on to do in my final cap, at Wembley. Olo Brown was not the biggest of props but he was probably my toughest-ever opponent.
From Swansea, I moved to Pontypridd for a couple of seasons and played with a lot of good boys there like the ‘Chief’ Dale Mcintosh, Sven Cronk and Robert Sidoli before moving onto Bridgend for another couple of seasons. We had a good squad and won the league while I was there.
Regional rugby then came in and due to contractual issues, I ended up at Rotherham on a shortterm deal. I made good friends there before being invited back to Wales to join the newly-formed Celtic Warriors. It was an offer too good to refuse.
Shortly after we’d famously beaten a very good Wasps side away, the WRU pulled the plug on the region.
We were all called up to the Vale to be told the news. Coaches from the other regions were waiting in the other room ready to offer contracts to players but the likes of Cory Harris, Mefin Davies and I were overlooked.
I came home and spoke to my wife, who’s been a real rock throughout my career, to discuss what to do next. Thankfully, Bath were on the phone only a couple of days later.
Bath were one of those clubs you wanted to play for as an opposition player because they had that aura about them. In David Flatman, they also had the most articulate prop I have ever met. There was quite a big Welsh contingent at the time and myself, Jon Humphrey, Geraint Lewis and Duncan Bell used to travel across the bridge together which made the journey more bearable.
In 2006 I suffered a career-ending neck injury in a pre-season game against Plymouth Albion. Bath were brilliant with me in terms of the aftercare I received. They made sure I was fit for life, and I’m now teaching at the school where I was once a pupil, Dwr-y-Felin Comprehensive in Neath.