NICK LARDER, 61

Nick Larder was very much a late starter in rugby, but he’s certainly made up for lost time.

He didn’t start playing seriously until he was into his mid-thirties. Yet now, at 61, he is still going strong.

Since making his debut for Welshpool in 1991, he has proved a huge stalwart for the club, serving as captain, chairman, vicechairman, fixture secretary womens and junior coach and now membership secretary.

“I mainly referee now, but I will certainly be playing second team games this season and maybe even a few for the first team,” he said.

Even though he was late in taking it up, rugby has always been a passion for Larder who spent his formative years in Fiji.

“I grew up out there from the age five to 13 and rugby was the only sport I knew,” he said.

“It has always been my great love. I watched the sides of the 1970s and things like that.”

But after heading to the UK for his education, Larder found that rugby wasn’t the sport he was ideally suited for.

“I went to Aberystwyth University and the rugby was very strong there,” he recalls. “I went down a few times and turned out once for the thirds. But pretty quickly I saw the competition was too stiff. So I went on to play basketball. I could run for ever, but I was really skinny, so I was far better off playing basketball.”

Yet as the 1990s arrived, so Larder’s sporting story took a fresh turn.

“I always loved rugby and wanted to play the game, it was just a question of realising that,” he said. “Since entering my mid-30s I’ve been able to do that.

“I was at my best as a rugby player in my 40s. I have always done a sport and given I was still improving in my 40s, I couldn’t see a reason to stop.

“When it started to get harder in my 50s, I was so hooked on it and I didn’t want to stop.”

Last year saw a testimonial match to mark his 60th birthday and there’s no sign of him hanging up his boots yet.

“I’m not going to stop. I’m just waiting until I get stopped,” he said.