WALES STARS PITCH IN ON TOUR FOR YOUNGSTERS
When the Wales rugby team are on tour, they have a very important job on the side... being ambassadors for Wales and for Welsh rugby. MATTHEW SOUTHCOMBE explains how the boys are proud to get involved with communities off the pitch
WHEN the Welsh rugby team travel to all corners of the globe, many people see what happens on the Saturday and assume their work is done.
That’s fair. At the end of the day, Wales’ primary objective when they go on the road is to play rugby and get results.
But the players are not burrowed away in their hotel rooms for the rest of the week, playing computer games and watching Netflix.
There is, of course, always a full training schedule to complete and we know Wales prepare as meticulously as anyone but let’s put the rugby to one side for a moment.
There are a series of little-known gestures that Wales have made over the past few years that prove Warren Gatland’s current crop represent our country with distinction off the field as well as on it.
On tour, time is tight. Players have to train – often twice-a-day – recover, eat, do media work, eat again and get themselves right for the match.
But they’re developing a knack for going the extra mile when abroad, giving something back to the cities and communities that take them in for the week.
They’re not obliged to do these things and nobody is going to come down on them if they simply turn up, train, play and leave.
Also, the Welsh Rugby Union do not shout it from the rooftops but that’s not to say a light shouldn’t be shone on it.
Just last week in Nice, where Wales spent the week preparing for Italy, there were a few examples of this.
George North and Ken Owens, along with defence coach Shaun Edwards, took time out of their week to visit local junior rugby players.
They went to local side Stade Nicois – the rugby club where Wales had trained all week – and Edwards organised defensive work while the two players took part in some drills with the youngsters before taking pictures and signing autographs.
Welsh expat Edward Jenkins, who has lived in Nice since 2013, coaches the under-6s and has two sons, Siôn and Eiros, playing at the club.
He said: “Shaun (Edwards) organised an hour-long defensive session with the under-14s, while George and Ken spent about 20 minutes with each of the other categories, joining in games, drills, taking time to chat with kids and coaches.
“Old heads at the club were blown away, saying that they’ve rarely, if ever, had professionals be so generous with their time and knowledge.
“It was an experience all players and coaches will cherish for some time to come.”
Before they left Nice, they also presented the club with a signed jersey and took a group photo with members of the club’s junior section. This sort of thing is not a one off. During the summer tour, before the first game in Washington DC against South Africa, Edwards was again involved in some community coaching.
He was joined by Rhys Patchell and Samson Lee to do some real handson stuff at Bell High School, giving children technical pointers on what will have been an inspiring afternoon for those involved.
The youngsters who received the coaching were then given tickets to watch the match at RFK Stadium.
Wales are also known to leave their kit behind.
As is the way in professional sport, the players get new kit every time they come into camp, and are given new jerseys to play in every game.
With that in mind, they left kit with liaison officers in Washington DC in 2018 and Samoa in 2017 for it to be passed on to locals.
Before they left Apia two years ago, they passed on a mountain of shirts, shorts, boots and other gear for local schoolchildren.
Players have kit thrown at them every campaign, and they don’t have use for all of it, but it can make a tangible difference to the communities that they visit.
At the time, Brian Hopley, general rugby manager of the Samoan Rugby Union, said: “The Wales boys came to us through their team manager and said they’d like to donate some kit from their tour.
“We will take it out to the villages around Samoa and it will help massively with the development programme we run around both islands.
“The kids will love it because in Samoa, they simply don’t have this sort of gear. For the next generation it can be quite hard to get any rugby kit at all.”
In preparation for the Rugby World Cup, work has already begun in earnest to ensure a legacy is left in Japan long after the tournament is over.
The WRU has developed a relationship with Kitakyushu, where Wales will spend time acclimatising before the tournament kicks off in September, delivering coaching for children, coaches and referees.
And their work abroad is matched by their work at home.
In any campaign, Wales receive numerous charity requests and do what they can to support them with photo opportunities and signing kit among other things.
During camp, fines money is collected for various misdemeanours like turning up to meetings late or wearing the wrong kit and at the end of international blocks, a chunk of that money is donated to the Welsh Charitables Trust.
Also, during the 2018 autumn campaign, the squad held an auction night that raised upwards of £25,000 for a personal cause close to the heart of the team.
They also did work with Children in Need during that campaign, when four youngsters who care for their disabled siblings were given access to the camp for the day and met their heroes.
“The squad are great ambassadors for Wales and for the game of rugby,” said Wales boss Gatland.
“Whether here at home engaging with charities or supporters or whether its when we are on the road and they engage with the local communities, they make a point of going the extra mile.
“It’s part of their DNA and the country should be proud of what they do and what they give back away from the rugby field.” And that’s the key point. It’s easy to appreciate what the players do on the field because it plays out in front of thousands of people and TV cameras.
But the squad’s actions away from the TV cameras should make Wales equally proud.
This current group of players are better ambassadors for Wales than many realise.