Rhodri Lloyd will walks out on a professional rugby league field for the final time on Saturday as we face Ireland at The Gnoll (3pm).
The 32-year-old will win his 22nd cap for Wales after becoming our youngest ever men’s side player back in 2010, when he made his debut against Italy in Wrexham, alongside another player making his debut in Gareth Thomas.
Lloyd is pleased to be finishing where it all started. His first professional club appearance was with South Wales Scorpions, who were based at The Gnoll at the time.
“It’s a dream for me,” he said. “I played a lot of rugby at The Gnoll with the Scorpions when I was a young 17-year-old boy. It’s a stone’s throw away from where my sister lives and not far from where I originally come from in Caerphilly.
“So, it’ll be great just to have all the family there and just to enjoy the moment. I’ve 80 minutes of rugby left to play and I’ll being doing that for the red of Wales. That’s something that I’m really looking forward to doing, and hopefully it’ll be it’ll be a good day.”
Lloyd has played in three World Cups for Wales and was in the 2015 European Championship winning side. He also represented Wales in the World Cup 9s in Australia in 2019. Before that, he was a Wales U16 international and captain of Wales U19s. There are a lot of highlights for him in his rugby league career that has lasted nearly two decades.
“I’d probably say that the World Cup in 2013, when I scored a try at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in front of 40,000 people is something that will stay with me for the rest of my life,” Lloyd said. “It’s something that I show my young son now on a video and he loves it, and it’s probably something I’ll show my grandkids and hopefully my great-grandkids if I’m around for that long.
“That is something that every boy in Wales dreams of doing, and I did that at the tender age of 20.
“I’ve lots of other highlights, like, winning the European Championships in 2015. We were written off that year, and we played the French team at the Cardiff Arms Park, who were full of Catalans Dragons players and we got the win, before taking the European Championship against Ireland out in Bray in Dublin, that was that was another really special moment.
“The Australia trips in 2017 and 2019 were good too of course.”
Lloyd starting playing rugby league with Penallta Storm RLFC near Caerphilly, when he was 15-years-old and also at roughly the same time with his school, Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni. And he says it’s thanks to his teachers at the time that he became a professional.
“If it wasn’t for Jeremy Evans and Hugh Jones, I probably wouldn’t have fulfilled or had the career I would have had,” he said. “I think anyone who goes to Cwm Rhymni or anyone who’s been to there in previous years and who’s experienced the rules and the regimented ways that Jeremy Evans puts on you as a young individual, they really help you flourish.
“Hugh Jones came in later in my teaching career, but both of them were massive influences on me.
“I heard recently that there were 3,000 kids playing rugby league in Wales this year, and I hope that they have the same opportunities that I had, both in their schools and with their clubs.
“Everyone’s dream is to play for Wales, but with the regions are not where they were probably five to ten years ago, going up to Wigan or Warrington is probably more colourful and more beneficial. It’s more enjoyable to play and to watch and it’s a fast paced game.”
Lloyd played over 300 professional matches in his career with 188 of them for Swinton Lions. In addition to them, and the aforementioned South Wales Scorpions, he also turned out for Wigan Warriors and finished his career with Widnes Vikings. He also had loan spells with Workington Town, Whitehaven, London Broncos and Leigh Leopards.
Now, he is hoping for a good crowd to see him off on Saturday at The Gnoll in Neath.
“Hopefully I’ll have a few friends coming down from the area,” he sats. “I know a few that probably don’t get the chance to come up to Swinton, Widnes or Wigan to see me play in the past, and hopefully they can come down and watch me play at a more local venue, which will be exciting.
“But I don’t want it to be about me as there will be a lot of players making their debuts too and that will be special for them. It’s a tough series that we have in the next couple of weeks and we really want to perform in as a nation, so please come down to Neath on Saturday and give us your support.”
Tickets for the game can be bought at https://wrl.wales/tickets
