Whatever happened to life of the forgotten talent
IMAGINE following Tiger Woods in his prime onto a golf course, or taking over from Cristiano Ronaldo in the Real Madrid forward line, or stepping onto a stage after Elvis had done his stuff circa 1957. There – you have some idea of how it must have felt to have been Colin Stephens at the age of just 19, thrown the Llanelli No.10 shirt after Jonathan Davies had left for rugby league.
Davies, all swagger, speed and skill, was one of the all-time great No.10s, a mentally and physically tough player who believed in himself and had the ability to back it up. Twenty-nine years after his defection to 13-a-side, Welsh rugby hasn’t seen a comparable fly-half. Whoever came immediately after him had a well-nigh impossible act to follow.
Wales used eight No.10s in three years after his departure.
But Llanelli put their faith largely in Stephens and he didn’t let them down.
His playing career hit a high in 1992 when he was elevated to the Wales No.10 spot and walked off with the man-of-the-match bauble when the Scarlets defeated thenworld champions Australia, clinching the win with two drop goals. Stephens was also a key figure as his club pulled off a league-and-cup double to go with their 13-9 success over John Eales and Co.
Yet he was gone from Welsh rugby at the age of 25.
What happened to the man who fired the imaginations of so many West Wales youngsters with his handling, kicking and electric speed over 30 metres?
I had been told he wasn’t the greatest in the matter of answering his mobile phone, but my informant is wrong, and seriously so. Stephens not only answers, but rings back and is seemingly happy to chat for hours.
Let’s cut to the chase, then: Why did he up sticks at Llanelli in 1995, barely two years after steering them to the treble and three years after holding down the Wales No.10 jersey?
“It’s a long old story but the gist of it is I broke an ankle in a Welsh Cup semi-final against Pontypridd towards the end of the previous season and had some time out,” he says.
“There was a lot going on around that time. The game was turning professional and I had an offer to join Leeds as a development officer. The previous few months hadn’t been the greatest for me, what with the injury and all that, so Leeds came in at the right time.
“There was the lure of a job and I thought: ‘Why not?’
“I signed for Leeds for three years and 23 years later I am still living up there.”
There is a school of thought that Welsh rugby missed a beat with Stephens, that more should have been done to rebuild his self-belief after a spell with Wales that saw his defence come in for criticism.
Talking about the stick Stephens received and the aftermath, Neil Jenkins wrote in his book Life at Number 10: “It got to him and he lost his confidence.
“He failed to regain it at club level and left Llanelli for Leeds, a grievous loss to Welsh rugby. You could see his talent on the training field: his quick hands, his speed off the mark, his awareness and his huge boot.
“He was not the biggest guy around so he was going to be pushed to stop huge forwards on the charge, but he had more pure talent than some of the great outside halves in