HEINEKEN CUP TAKES A TRIP TO BIG PIT

The 58-times capped Welsh hooker, now on the development team at the Ospreys and coaching their Under 20s, was joined by Wales and Dragons star Ceri Sweeney on a trip 300 ft below ground to herald the return of the top European tournament this week.

Wales’ most capped hooker, Garin played 21 games in the Heineken Cup for Swansea, including a semi-final appearance against Toulouse in the inaugural season of 1995/96,
and worked for four years underground at the Lady Windsor Colliery in his home village of Ynysybwl. That made him the last of 126 internationals from the mining industry to play for Wales.
Big Pit’s mining manager, Peter Walker, worked alongside Garin when he first went underground and the two men were first into the cage to drop down to the old seams deep in the Gwent hillside at Blaenavon. Wales Grand Slam team member Ceri Sweeney comes from a mining family, with both his father and grandfather having worked in the coal industry.

“It brought it all back to me going down in the cage with Peter alongside me. I had four years in the industry and that forged my life,” admitted Garin.

“I was lucky enough to be around when the game of rugby went professional and I had a few years of being paid for doing what I loved most. But I will never forget those days I worked underground, or the values I learned from the men alongside me – we had to rely on each other for our survival.”

Garin Jenkins met up with former colleagues when he took the Heineken Cup deep underground at the UK’s Museum of the Year, Big Pit in Blaenavon.

The 58-times capped Welsh hooker, now on the development team at the Ospreys and coaching their Under 20s, was joined by Wales and Dragons star Ceri Sweeney on a trip 300 ft below ground to herald the return of the top European tournament this week.

Wales’ most capped hooker, Garin played 21 games in the Heineken Cup for Swansea, including a semi-final appearance against Toulouse in the inaugural season of 1995/96, and worked for four years underground at the Lady Windsor Colliery in his home village of Ynysybwl. That made him the last of 126 internationals from the mining industry to play for Wales.

Big Pit’s mining manager, Peter Walker, worked alongside Garin when he first went underground and the two men were first into the cage to drop down to the old seams deep in the Gwent hillside at Blaenavon. Wales Grand Slam team member Ceri Sweeney comes from a mining family, with both his father and grandfather having worked in the coal industry.

“It brought it all back to me going down in the cage with Peter alongside me. I had four years in the industry and that forged my life,” admitted Garin.

“I was lucky enough to be around when the game of rugby went professional and I had a few years of being paid for doing what I loved most. But I will never forget those days I worked underground, or the values I learned from the men alongside me – we had to rely on each other for our survival.”