After a Welsh-record 50 World Series tournaments and a sizeable reputation to match that number, the 33-year-old embarked on a different journey.
First came a season at centre with Principality Premiership giants Merthyr. “I played all of last season and up until January of this current season,” he says. “It was nice to get back playing 15s with some old friends after a long time of just playing sevens.”
Adding to that enjoyment was a fifth league trophy lift for Thomas personally, not to mention running out at Principality Stadium for the cup final.
It was during this time that Thomas – nicknamed ‘Bull’ due to his Ynysbwl roots – made his biggest leap: taking up a role with the Welsh Rugby Players Association as Player Development Manager for the Scarlets. The past six months have been rewarding, but a recent call to return to the Wales Sevens set-up to assist head coach Darren Edwards was too good to turn down.
“The WRPA have been really good to me, acknowledging the benefits this will have for my personal development,” says Thomas of the secondment. “Barry Cawte, the new CEO, gave me the greenlight and I really appreciate it.
“There’s so much good work being done by the WRPA in each of the regions, and the service has improved over the past two seasons in particular.”
Adjusting to an off-field career had been straightforward, he says. “I was still within the rugby bubble, albeit from a different angle. Working with the boys down at the Scarlets, the way they accepted me into their circle was great. They made me feel welcome from day one, players and staff. It was an all-new coaching team there, and I can’t speak highly enough of the environment they’ve created.”
Player welfare, in particular the transition to life away from pro rugby, is currently a hot topic. As Thomas puts it, “it doesn’t matter how big a name you are, if you’ve lived most of your adult life in the professional environment then transitioning out is tough. It was one of reasons I applied for role in the first place.”
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It is a measure of how much he cares about the team that Thomas joins the sevens programme at one of its most challenging times. Whilst many nations on the World Series are into the third year of their Olympic cycle, Wales arrived in Dubai in December with just six weeks of training together; high on youth, yes, but low on experience.
​He knows he can contribute to a team whose average age has hovered around the 21 mark over the first two legs of the World Series. “I spent many years as a Wales Sevens player, and I understand a lot about the game,” Thomas says. “When the opportunity came up, I didn’t hesitate. The only way is up for Wales at the moment. Over the next couple of tournaments we need to make a difference to climb that table.”
With his coach’s hat on, he sees similarities between the way Edwards and Scarlets head coach Brad Mooar operate. “It’s about coming at things from a different angle. It’s not about going out all guns blazing, but how we prepare, and our skillset. Brad has cultivated a similar environment, and he’s got that laidback demeanour as well.”
Thomas hastens to add: “I’m totally different though! Darren and I will hopefully complement each other over next couple of months. Good cop, bad cop.”
New Zealand Sevens (Hamilton): 25-26 January.
Sydney Sevens: 1-2 February
