My Life in Rugby: Gareth Llewellyn – former Wales, Neath, Bristol and Quins lock

I think rugby changed more during the 20 years of my career than it did in the previous 50 with the introduction of the World Cup and the arrival of professionalism. It was an exciting time to be involved.
My international career with Wales spanned three decades and three World Cups and saw me capped 92 times between 1989 and 2004. At one point, I was Wales’ most-capped player.
It all started after a fabulous first season with Neath when we beat Llanelli to win the 1989 Welsh Cup. My brother and I lived between Neath and Cardiff and we were picked up at the motorway service station. We watched a coachload of fans from every pub in Neath heading down the M4 that day.
The following season I caught the eye of the Welsh selectors after a good performance for Neath against the All Blacks. Wales coach John Ryan was true to his word and selected on form and my first cap came against the All Blacks later that autumn.
It was a difficult time for Wales given an entire international XV headed north to Rugby League, but we still had some big days such as the 1993 win over England when Ieuan Evans’ chip and chase got us a 10-9 win in Cardiff.
The Five Nations title followed in 1994, although England put a downer on our Grand Slam bid with a revenge victory in the final fixture at Twickenham.
I played under several coaches with Wales and the team of Steve Hansen, Scott Johnson and Andrew Hore left the biggest impression. Steve and Scott changed the way we played the game, while Andrew revolutionised strength and conditioning in Wales.
I made some fantastic friends in club rugby, too, and experienced playing in Wales, England and France. The advent of professionalism saw me leave the Gnoll to join Harlequins with superstars like Zinzan Brooke, Will Carling and Keith Wood. I had four great seasons there and played 100 games for the club, a figure I could have improved upon had a new CEO not come in and pulled the plug on all unsigned contracts.
I returned to Neath and passed the 300-game milestone and turned out half-a-dozen times for the Ospreys in the first season of regional rugby. I then spent a great season with Narbonne and was set to stay, until Bristol came calling. The initial thinking was that I’d sign for a final year’s swansong as a player-coach. I ended up staying three seasons, purely in a playing capacity.
Like Neath, Bristol felt they had something to prove to the so-called big boys, having won promotion to the Premiership the season before. After surviving in the first season, we ended up third in the league in the second, losing to Leicester in the play-offs, and qualifying for the Heineken Cup.
My third season was my last as a professional. While I still felt like I was performing reasonably well, I’d reached 39 and the injuries were starting to take their toll.
Coaching spells followed at Tonmawr and Thornbury before I returned to Neath for a third time, initially as assistant to Pat Horgan and now as head coach. What was once a pretty ordinary playing surface is now the best grass pitch in Wales and there are still the same friendly faces in the stands.
Neath is lucky to have such passionate and loyal supporters who are there through thick and thin and, hopefully, better times lay ahead.
It has taken me longer to turn things around than I would have liked, but we are definitely making progress, and we are not too far from achieving some significant victories.
*As told to Jon Newcombe