It’s sometimes easy to forget that the stadium has only been in existence since 1999, roaring into life with an unforgettable clash with South Africa – a match which has gone down in Welsh rugby folklore.
Head coach Rob Howley led the team out as captain that day against the Springboks, a side Wales had never beaten in 12 previous attempts. And the rest is history…
The 29-19 victory – courtesy of tries from Mark Taylor and Gareth Thomas and the metronomic boot of fly-half Neil Jenkins – gave the stadium the perfect introduction, but Howley’s very first experience on the pitch was a slightly lower-key affair.
“My first memory is before the day of the game we had a team run and I think there must’ve been about 50 or 60 contract workers just watching training that afternoon. We were spot on in our preparation,” said Howley.
The stadium operated at a significantly reduced capacity that day for safety reasons, with work still being completed ahead of the Rugby World Cup later that year, resulting in an unusual atmosphere for the players.
“I think they were actually putting seats in and then selling tickets as they were putting the seats in – it was very sparse one end of the stadium,” added Howley.
“It was just where we ran out that was full on the old North Stand and then the other side it was very quiet, you could hear everything which was being said by the players! It wasn’t a capacity stadium, but a memorable occasion to say the least.”
The try that helped spark the famous victory came from centre Taylor still looms large in Howley’s memory more than 16 years later.
“We had a line-out between halfway and the 10-yard line and we’ve come off the top of the line-out, great ball off the top,” he said.
“We hit it up and then, I’ll never forget, Scott Quinnell has his hands up as a decoy runner between myself and Neil Jenkins and the ball goes across Scott into Jenks’ hand and then Jenks gives a lovely weighted pass to Mark Taylor, who takes an inside shoulder.
“I think he actually beat the full-back… he must’ve beaten the full-back to score just on the right-hand side by the post – who cares, it was a try anyway, that’s my memory which is not a bad memory!”
There were around 27,000 fans in attendance for Wales’ historic win over the Boks, a far cry from the packed Principality Stadium that will watch Wales face the Boks in the Under Armour Series on 26 November.
Forwards coach Robin McBryde, who played 15 times in the red of Wales at Principality Stadium, says the experience of coaching in front of such a fervent support has its own challenges.
“It’s great but sometimes it’s hard not to get caught up in the moment and end up supporting the team from the fans’ point of view,” said McBryde.
“You try to block it out as much as you can with regards to the atmosphere, making sure you don’t get carried away and start singing with the crowd!
“We’ve got a pretty good record there, that’s not to say we don’t need to improve on it and hopefully we can do that in the autumn.”
It is one month until Wales face South Africa at Principality Stadium. Tickets are available from www.wru.wales/tickets.
