That team of global champions have pledged to meet and celebrate the 10th anniversary of their greatest success, which came with a 19-12 win over Argentina in the final on 7 March, 2009, and they will have plenty to talk about. The passing of time has only heightened their achievement in beating odds of 80-1 to carry off the Melrose Cup. Thomas is one of the few players in that squad who is still playing.
Aled Brew is still going strong at Bath, Rhys Webb is now plying his trade in Toulon and Tom Isaacs is still playing a bit in Hong Kong. “It was the first time Wales had made any Sevens final and it was actually in the World Cup final -talk about peaking at the right time,” admitted the Welsh skipper, Lee Beach. “We were a bit worried about 10 minutes each way in the final as we had never played that long before. “But the squad had been together for two years and we had got to know each other well and certainly played for each other. Victory took a while to sink in.”
What made the Welsh story all the more romantic was that they had to pre-qualify to even make the finals. The key to their success, according to Beach, was heading out to Dubai a week early to acclimatise. It was a little bit hotter than his home in Maerdy! “We had to get used to the temperatures, the humidity and the sun. We played some warm-up matches against Scotland, New Zealand and Argentina and we felt we were a little bit fitter than them.
“We only reached the knock-out stages of the Cup competition on points difference and that meant we had to face New Zealand. They had looked good on Day 1, along with the Fijians and Samoans. “I was rooming with Aled Thomas and on the morning of the second day of the tournament he asked me how many pairs of boxer shorts he should pack, one or three. I knew what he meant – would we lose to New Zealand in our first game or could we go all the way. I told him to pack three.
“We had beaten the All Blacks four weeks earlier and we were all pretty relaxed in the dressing room before hand. Aled Brew tried to teach us some dance moves and then we went out and beat them.
“Tom Isaacs came up with some remarkable footwork to score the winning try and we went on to beat Samoa in the semis. The final was a re-match of our Pool game against Argentina, which they had won.
“We were 19-12 ahead when the clock went to zero, but they had a penalty on half-way. They looked pretty confident of keeping the ball and scoring again. When one of their quick men got the ball and tried to go outside me I feared the worse, but then he tried to kick it past me and I was able to take the ball out of play. We’d won!
“The boys were jumping all over each other and Daf Hewitt, who had wrecked his knee in one of the Pool matches, came sprinting onto the field to join in. It was fantastic.”
Match-winner Thomas admits the evening after recording one of Wales’ greatest sporting successes everything “became a bit of a blur”. They had achieved ‘Mission Impossible’ as they followed in the footsteps of England (1993), Fiji (1997), New Zealand (2001) and Fiji (2005) in winning the Melrose Cup.
“Nobody gave us any chance going into the tournament, but we’d had some good results going into the World Cup, including beating the All Blacks. We had a good opening against Zimbabwe, beat Uruguay and then lost a tight game to Argentina,” recalled Thomas. “That gave us the quarter-final that nobody wanted, New Zealand! We couldn’t have got off to a worse start in that game, conceding an early try, but then a couple of pieces of magic from Lee Williams saw us through 15-14 – it was incredible.
“We’d beaten the All Blacks twice in the space of three weeks and reached the semi-finals of the World Cup. Samoa were next and we went 12-0 up early doors.
“They came back, but a third try from Tom Isaacs saw us through 19-12 and into a re-match with Argentina. It was all a bit of a fairy tale.
“We’d learned a few things from our first game with Argentina and our defence stayed strong. We took the lead, they clawed it back to 12-12 and then I was able to find a hole in their defence to score what proved to be the match-winning try and conversion. “What happened after that, and for the rest of the night, was a bit of a blur. It was just mad . . . but wonderful!”
Wales squad: Rhodri McAtee, Lee Williams (c), Tom Isaacs, Craig Hill, James Merriman, Tal Selley, Aled Brew, Aled Thomas, Rhys Webb, Richie Pugh, Dafydd Hewitt, Lee Beach.
Head coach: Paul John Assistant coach: Gareth Williams
