Family affair at Ystalyfera as Gareth goes top

YSTALYFERA playercoach Gareth James celebrated a significant milestone two weeks ago when he became the first player to pass the 2000 points mark for the club.

What makes his achievement more special is he beat his brother Damian’s all time points record for the club, with his dad Noir having also previously held the record.

“I love the pressure of goal kicking,” said 40-yearold outside-half James, who has scored 2,004 points for the Championship club.

“I probably play better when I kick. All I am at the moment is a bit of a good influence on the boys. I’m just giving them a bit of direction.

“One of my biggest philosophies as a coach is fitness. My day-to-day job is being a fitness coach and I work with boys from age seven all the way up to 90.

“Too many boys in Wales turn up to training on a Wednesday or a Thursday to get fit, but my philosophy is you’ve got to be fit to play rugby in the first place.

“I’ve played at a high level in the Welsh Premiership and that was great but it’s such a huge honour to have achieved what I have with my hometown club, and to overtake my brother and dad’s points scoring record is very special.”

James has scaled the heights of semi-professional rugby in Wales having represented Narberth, Bonymaen, Neath, Llandovery, and Ebbw Vale. He also won a Welsh Crawhsay’s cap, played for Glamorgan County and the Classic Lions Bermuda.

But arguably his greatest achievement is leading his hometown club Ystalyfera to three promotions. He said: “I always wanted to give something back to the club. My dad played over 500 games for the club, so this club runs in my blood.

“We’ve taken the club from division four southwest to the Championship, and we played at the Principality Stadium in the cup as well. You learn a lot from going back to local rugby. Not enough semi-pro players go back to play local rugby – it’s really beneficial for their development.”