HOW MOON BECAME A STAR
RUPERT Moon has always been a bit of a one-off, right down to his socks.
“I always wear odd socks,” reveals the former Wales scrum-half.
“I used to just wear black ones to make it easy.
“But now I wear odd ones to remind myself I am different, quirkily different.”
His rugby story is certainly one with a difference.
He was born and raised in the West Midlands and christened Rupert Henry St John Barker Moon.
Hardly classic Welsh international material.
But he was to go on to become a favourite adopted son of Wales, playing for Abertillery, Neath and Llanelli and proudly wearing the three feathers on his chest 24 times.
Rugby was a big part of his life from just about as long ago as he can remember.
“My dad was heavily involved at Walsall RFC,” he explains.
“He played and then he was on the committee, as secretary.
“I used to hang around while he was in the bar having a beer.
“We used to play outside under the lights of the clubhouse.
“They would leave the curtains open and I would be playing in the dead ball area of the pitch with all my mates.
“So from a very young age, from five years old, I was playing at the local club.
“I was in that environment every weekend. I would go there Saturday and then play on a Sunday.”
It was through the club that the Birminghamborn Moon became aware of Welsh rugby.
“In the late 1960s and early 1970s, lots of Welsh people moved to the area,” he said.
“So when I was growing up, most of the Walsall first team were Welsh.
“They were the ones who were talking about what it was like to play in the Valleys or West Wales.
“My heroes were the Welshmen who played in the first team, people like Ken Lewis from Blaina, Arnie Evans from Llanfihangel-ar-Arth, Mike Lewis and Hamilton Jones.
“Hamilton was a huge influence on me as a young man.
“He played full-back for Llanelli against South Africa in 1970.
“He had come to the college in Walsall to study to be a teacher and he was drawn to the local rugby club.
“Another of the Welsh players in the team was Steve Lewis, whose dad was president of Abertillery RFC.
“My brother, Richard, then went to university in Cardiff and played for Abertillery because of the connection.
“When he left to go to Cambridge, they needed another scrum-half, so I went to study at the Polytechnic of Wales (in Pontypridd) and played for the club.
“I was just a young bloke loving life playing for Abertillery, never thinking I could ever play for Wales.
“That happened by accident. It was just being in the right place at the right time, for Neath and Llanelli.
“But it all goes back to my Welsh heroes who
wore a red jersey for Walsall RFC.
“Because I couldn’t be born like them, I wanted to live where people had the same passion and pride as them.”
From the moment he arrived in Wales, Moon began soaking up the rugby culture.
“We used to go out every Saturday after a game, with all my clubs. It was team-building every week,” he said.
“At Abertillery, I used to get Brandon Cripps’s pints of Special Vat for him.
“I would go and collect his drinks from the bar, take it to him and serve him.
“I could never buy because I was under 18!
“He would talk about his life and experiences in the Valleys of Gwent.
“Then, when I was with Llanelli, I used to sit between Phil May and Laurence Delaney, and there’s chalk and cheese!
“While other people were soaking up the beer, I was soaking up the stories and the culture.
“I was dealing with people who had proper careers, worked down the mines or worked in steelworks.
“Their personalities and characteristics rubbed off on me, their stories.
“I am the person I am because of the time I spent with all of these people, an eclectic mix of characters with amazing life experiences.”
There was also one famous scrum-half oppoit nent who watched out for Moon in his early days – a certain David Bishop.
“My brother was big pals with the Bish and he said he would look after me when I came to Wales, which he did,” he revealed.
“I used to meet him regularly in Cardiff with the Cordle family.
“I played against him a few times and as long as I was well behaved he was fine.
“He had such a physical presence and he was an intimidating character, but he was always very good to me.”
As the all-action Moon became noticed and his profile grew, so a couple of trademarks started to grab the attention.
First, there was his divepass, a throwback to a bygone age.
“That came from Jan Webster, the former England scrum-half,” he explains.
“He played for Walsall and was another hero of mine.
“He was the original dive-passer. It was his thing and he was a perfectionist at it.
“My brother and him were the ones who shaped my dive-pass.
“Jan ran a sports shop and supplied my boots all my career until I became a pro.
“Just before Christmas in 2018, he returned the shirts I had given him to put up in his shop and we sat and talked for a few hours.
“Sadly, he died a couple of months later.
“He was an amazing individual and a lovely guy.”
Then there was Moon’s habit of tucking his collar inside his jersey.
“That was from my dad,” he says.
“I was known as rubber man when I was a youngster because I kept getting grabbed by the collar. So he said to tuck it in and then they couldn’t grab me.
“I remember Brian Moore and Mickey Skinner both did it as well.”
After three years at Abertillery and a spell with Neath, Moon joined Llanelli in 1990 and was to become a real cult hero with Scarlets fans.
It soon became apparent to them that they had a real character on their hands. “I remember we were playing London Welsh at Stradey Park one Boxing Day,” he recalls.
“I wasn’t supposed to be involved but then on the morning of the game someone got injured and I ended up having to play on the wing.
“It was a freezing day and it was so cold I asked someone in the crowd to give me their coat, so I ended up playing a phase with a parka on!”
The move to Llanelli brought Moon under the wing of coach Gareth Jenkins, a man who was to be a big influence on his career.
“He is like my adopted father. I am really indebted to him,” he said.
“In my second season I became club captain.
“The team was full of Welsh internationals and British Lions, but I just connected with the coach.
“We still talk regularly. We chew the fat and put the world to rights for an hour. He is just a great guy.”
Moon shared in five Welsh Cup triumphs with Llanelli, scoring a try and dropping a goal against Swansea in the 1992 final.
There were also three league titles, with a league and cup double under his captaincy in 1993, amid his 272 appearances.
“I was very proud to play for the club for 12 years,” he said.
“It was just a unique old-school way of representing a town.
“I am a life member of the club and I still support it and keep in contact with many people to this day.”
The high point of his Llanelli career arguably came in November 1992 when he led the team to a 13-9 victory over world champions Australia at Stradey Park.
There’s famous footage of him being chaired off the field by supporters after the game, while people will also remember his chest bump celebration with Ieuan Evans after they combined for the winger’s training ground try.
“I think it was my idea because Ieuan is too sensible!” he said.
“We knew we were going to score and I was determined we were going to celebrate appropriately.
“Ieuan is quite angry about the fact that he scored a great try and what people keep remembering is that I chest bumped him!
“He doesn’t know how, in the week of such an important game, I got him to practise it. But I’m godfather to his daughter, so he’s obviously OK about it!
“That game was shown again in full on TV last year.
“I didn’t realise we had been losing with less than five minutes to go!
“We got two drop-goals to win it.
“That’s a hell of a thing when I think about the composure we all showed to get into the positions we did to take the opportunities.
“The stadium was full and everybody was screaming.
“It was just an incredible day.”
Four months later, in March 1993, came another career landmark as Moon made his Wales debut against France in Paris, having qualified on residency.
He remained a virtual ever-present in the team for the next 18 months, with the highlight being the Five Nations title triumph of 1994.
It’s the 29-6 victory over Scotland in a rain-lashed Cardiff at the beginning of that Championship campaign which he picks out as his favourite game for Wales.
“The conditions were so horrendous and the divepass came into its own when you needed it most,” he said.
“It was in and away, A to B, none of this fancy stuff that Robert Jones used to do or any of that lot.
“It was just pick and get it from A to B without bouncing!
“Despite the awful conditions, we kept playing and Mikey Rayer scored a couple of tries.
“That’s the game that stands out the most for me.
“It’s a toss-up between that and the French game the same year when Nigel Walker scored.
“I never get the credit for tackling two people. Nigel just picked it up and ran down the bloody field!”
After five years in the international wilderness, Moon was recalled at 32 by Graham Henry in 2000 and earned six more caps, losing just once.
Moon finally hung up his boots in 2002, by which time he had already forged a career in TV and radio.
“A lady by the name of Rowena Griffin had spotted me doing after-match interviews when I was captain of Llanelli,” he explains.
“She phoned me and asked if I would be interested in being involved in a show called Tellyphonin’ with Arfon Haines-Davies and Sian Thomas.
“It was a live phone-in quiz show at 5pm on a Sunday.
“I would play on a Saturday and then go in on Sunday battered and bruised, with scratches and black eyes from the day before.
“We had a live audience and a phone-in and we had to do celebrity interviews.
“It was very popular and we did quite a few series.”
Among his other broadcasting ventures there was Moon and the Stars, a talent show, X-Ray with Tanni Grey-Thompson and Homeland, plus Rush Hour and Over the Moon on the radio, while he’s also turned his hand to panto.
It’s Moon’s bubbly character and love of life that made him so popular both as a player and a media figure, but he is the first to admit he has had his dark moments.
“When my father died in 2014 I saw a bereavement counsellor,” he says.
“Because I have got lots of friends, I have carried and spoken at ‘double-figures’ funerals.
“That is a privilege and an honour.
“Unfortunately, Stuart Gallacher, the Llanelli chief executive, and Alan Evans, an injured former player who I became firm friends with, died on the same day and their funerals were on the same day.
“I went to both funerals, going from Llanelli to Oswestry by helicopter.
“My father had not long died, so I had three funerals in a short period. It was a difficult time.
“There’s no shame to say I sought help and I am very grateful for the help I got, because big boys do cry.”
Post-playing, Moon remained involved with rugby for a number of years, working on the commercial side for the WRU and the Scarlets, as well as spearheading the game in North Wales as general manager of the region from 2012 to 2016.
Today, he is strategy director for the RNF Property Group, based in Llanelli, an ambassador of GB wheelchair rugby, a trustee of the Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust for injured former players, and a patron of Tenovus, while he is also on the board of the i4 Technology Group.
“Life is busy, but at the end of the day I am in the people business,” he said.
“I enjoy people and I enjoy helping people.”
Finally, one wonders if the 53-year-old ever sees himself going back into rugby.
“You never say never and I will always help out anybody,” he replies.
“There are some passionate individuals out there keeping the game alive and it’s always great to spend time with them and help where I can.”