Amazing Grace shows what Union game is missing in the Saints’ title bid
FORMER dual-code star Tommy David once reckoned the main difference between rugby league and rugby union was that he would get his hangovers on Mondays instead of Sundays.
But he played 13-a-side for a Wales-based team, the Blue Dragons, so it wasn’t as if too much was ever going to change.
For Regan Grace, it’s a bit different.
The 21-year-old is one of the bestkept secrets of Welsh sport, a player who has been holding down a place in a St Helens side who are a country mile clear at the top of Super League. He has electrifying pace, quick feet and a nerveless disposition. One of his first touches on his debut last term saw him step through the Wigan defence.
His low-centre of gravity and stopstart running style have led to comparisons with Jason Robinson.
But, hailing from Port Talbot, he is youngster performing a fair way from home and faces different challenges from those faced long ago by David.
RELISHING BEING A SAINT
He admits he was plagued by homesickness after he first arrived in the north of England and says he still misses his family, but he is also relishing being part of the St Helens set-up.
“I’m really enjoying it,” he says. “It’s a tough sport, but a great sport and the fans are mad up here.
“St Helens is similar to Port Talbot in many ways.
“Back home we have the steelworks. Up here we have the glass factories.
“The people are great and love their rugby. They are good people and they have helped me settle.
“The season is going well for me and for the club. I’m playing every week. We are on top in the league and had a run in the cup. I’m still learning, but it’s a good environment to be in.”
HOMESICKNESS
The youngster saw his sister Lateysha Grace, a reality TV star who featured in The Valleys and also Big Brother, steal a march on him in the fame game, but such considerations do not weigh heavily with him, if at all.
The pining for home took some getting over, mind.
“I do miss it,” says Grace, who has scored 15 tries for St Helens this season.
“I miss things like being there to see my younger brother growing up. He is 14 and it would be good to see him more. And there’s my sister - I just miss not being at family events such as birthdays.
“I had been meaning to drive down to London after the Catalans game the other day, but I was tired and it just couldn’t be done.”
ONE THAT GOT AWAY
Grace is one that got away from union.
He played a handful of games for Ospreys Under-16s, but he was also playing league. Doors slammed in his face initially at 13-a-side, but he was put in touch with St Helens and hasn’t looked back.
So, many Welsh league players have switched to union, including Iestyn Harris. Would Grace ever consider a return home?
“I haven’t really thought about ever going back to Wales,” he says.
“You never say never and there’s nothing wrong with keeping your options open, but Saints have been great to me and it’s brilliant to play for them.
“My aim is to play and be successful and win trophies with Saints.
“We have the set-up here. It is geared to success. I have a year left on my contract and the idea is I’ll stay longer. That’s the hope, anyway.”
Grace doesn’t operate in a vacuum.
He is aware of the procession of Welsh union stars who sacrificed their union careers to play league and he recently watched Carolyn Hitt’s film, The Rugby Codebreakers.
“It made for a good watch,” he says, “hitting home what those guys had to give up to make it in league.
“It was a huge call, say, for someone like Jonathan Davies to go to league in those days because when he signed there didn’t appear any way back.
“Of course it’s all changed now with the union game professional.”
But let’s hear the story of how union missed him.
“There was a point when I was playing both sports,” he says.
“But I wasn’t so keen on the training. I just used to turn up for game days.
“The key was someone at my amateur union team put me in touch with St Helens.