My Life in Rugby: Lee Beach – London Welsh and former Ospreys and Wales Sevens captain

We were in Dubai getting ready for the World Cup Sevens quarter-final in 2009 and Aled Thomas asked me how many pairs of boxer shorts he needed to pack, he thought just one because we were playing New Zealand.
I told him three just to be sure and when we got out there against New Zealand we just had that feeling they were there for the taking.
We beat Samoa in the semis and then in the final we faced Argentina, who had beaten us by a couple of points in the pool stages. We were leading when the clock ran down and we just erupted at the final whistle.
Dafydd Hewitt had done the ligaments in his knee earlier on but he was running onto the pitch to celebrate faster than our team manager!
That was definitely the proudest moment of my career, especially as it’s always been a struggle to get players released for Sevens in Wales and it’s always baffled me.
It all started for me down at Pontypridd, serving my apprenticeship. As a kid, growing up and playing mini rugby that was where everyone wanted to play.
Now there is no valleys team but back then it was Pontypridd, they got the biggest crowds and they were most popular, teams like Wasps in the Heineken Cup hated coming down, basically because they would always lose.
When the regions came in I joined Ospreys for two years and the highlight for me was beating Australia at the Liberty Stadium.
The main thing that stands out from that game was George Smith smashing me in the face! I also remember we kicked the leather off the ball all game because that was the only way we could win, but it was a great moment.
After Dubai, I joined up with London Welsh from Neath after Danny Wilson convinced me to give 15s a go again. We went for a week in a marine camp and straight after we found out we were going into administration – that was a week of hell.
Despite the five points deducted we got to the Championship semis and lost to Bristol and did the same next year and lost to Cornish Pirates but there was always a feeling that because of Old Deer Park we couldn’t go up.
Last year there was much more of a buzz because the club had a plan despite the RFU releasing a statement saying there was no way we were going up prior to the final against Bristol.
It was tough to take but it spurred us on. We won down there quite easily and the second leg at the Kassam Stadium gave us a snapshot of playing there in the Premiership and we played really well, fortunately I got man of the match.
Lyn Jones was always pretty confident that we would go up so I think he knew something the players didn’t.
This season hasn’t worked out for me. I played at the start but then didn’t play for ten weeks because I wasn’t English qualified, which didn’t sit very well with me as the coaches said I was doing well.
So I’ve decided to go back to Wales next year, play a bit of semi-pro rugby and explore other career paths. I want to enjoy my rugby again and I need to give the wife a break, she’s been working part-time while looking after the three kids and studying at university!