Alun learning from the best at Cardiff
Related players
Cardiff Blues number eight Alun Lawrence admits that he was so focused on becoming a professional rugby player, he didn’t realise when the moment came that he’d finally achieved his dream.
“I’d played for Ponty, then made my first senior appearance for the Blues,” says the 22-year-old from Miskin. “One of my best mates said: ‘You understand you’re living our boyhood dream now, don’t you?’ That’s when it hit me, that I was doing everything I’d wanted to do since I was a little boy.
“From the outside looking in, making my debut for the Blues may have looked like just another milestone, but for me it was all about going through stages to get there: getting my U20s cap, getting into the Blues academy, then getting selected for the senior team.”
Following in the footsteps of Gareth Wyatt and Scott Gibbs, he attended the Welsh-medium Ysgol Llanhari, which lies almost equidistant between Pontypridd and Bridgend. “I’m very proud to be a Welsh speaker,” he declares. “I want everyone to know that I speak it fluently and confidently.”
Mature and well-spoken, it’s easy to see why Lawrence has taken on leadership roles in the fledgling stage of his career. He captained Coleg y Cymoedd in the second of his two successful years at the college. They beat rugby giants Millfield and Hartpury on their way to being crowned Welsh and British champions.
Coleg y Cymoedd celebrate beating Coleg Sir Gar at Principality Stadium in 2016.
“The quality that Coleg y Cymoedd has produced over the years is incredible,” he says, reeling off the names of graduates that have gained international and regional honours: Shane Lewis-Hughes, Dillon Lewis, Jarrod Evans, Liam Belcher and Dane Blacker among them.
It was during that second year in college that he received a call-up to Sardis Road. “It was my first senior game of rugby, coming off the bench against Carmarthen. My first touch of the ball was a bit of a hospital pass and their thirteen stepped off the line and man-and-balled me. I got absolutely crunched.” He laughs at the memory. “I can still remember to this day, the Ponty hooker at the time, Huw Dowden, turned to me and chuckled, ‘Welcome to senior rugby, Al.’
“It was a baptism of fire, but I knew it couldn’t get any worse than that so I just got stuck in.”
In only his fourth appearance for Ponty, Lawrence was named on the bench for the Swalec Cup Final against RGC at Principality Stadium. “I got a call on the day from Sid [coach Robert Sidoli] saying one of the back rows had food poisoning so I would be starting,” he says. “So my first start for Ponty was going to be in front of thousands of people in Principality Stadium in a cup final!
“Before kick-off I was experiencing overwhelming nerves, because I couldn’t believe it was happening. I was playing alongside the likes of Chris Dicomidis and Rhys Shellard – Ponty legends I’d grown up watching. It was surreal. But rather than let the nerves get to me, I thought to myself, ‘I’m eighteen, nobody knows who I am so nobody’s expecting any magic from me’.
“It was an unbelievable experience.”
Representing Pontypridd in the Welsh Premiership in 2019.
During all this time, Lawrence had been involved in the Cardiff Blues Academy. He became part of the transition group – that is, an academy player who trains on a full-time basis with the seniors – and in the same year made his first senior appearance for both Wales U20 and Cardiff Blues.
That regional debut took place at one of the greatest cauldrons of English rugby: Welford Road. “It was an LV Cup game and yet Leicester had a full crowd and it was raucous,” describes Lawrence. “We were using the competition to blood some players, so for us to be playing in front of a full house at Leicester was something else. I loved that day.”
A rich seam of back row players at the Arms Park have made it the perfect place for Lawrence to earn his spurs. Learning at the feet of ‘Big Nick’ Williams has left a lasting impression on him. He offers an anecdote about the powerhouse from Auckland that sums up the character of the man.
“We were playing Calvisano away in the Challenge Cup in 2019, and Nick wasn’t involved but he travelled with the squad to help us young boys who were either making our European or senior debuts,” Lawrence recalls. “He got us all together in the evening, guys like myself, James Ratti and James Botham and talked us through everything, which enabled us to calm down. His presence, experience and leadership helped us a lot in transitioning from the academy to the senior environment.”
Lawrence against Leinster in his fourth senior match for Cardiff, November 2020.
It’s a supportive pathway that continues today at the region. “I love being able to pick the brains of Josh Navidi, Ellis Jenkins, Josh Turnbull and Olly Robinson,” he says. “Me and Ellis sit down regularly to talk about my game and he’s always keen to help. Having people like these guys in the environment who’ve not only been there and done it, but are still doing it, is so good. Every bit of advice they give me, I’m lapping it up.”
Lawrence’s passion for learning extends from rugby to academia, which he proved with aplomb last summer in gaining a 2:1 in his sports science degree from USW. “Trying to juggle education and rugby taught me a lot about time management,” he says, admitting there were times when he feared he may have to give up the studies completely. “It taught me lessons I wouldn’t get elsewhere. Coming home from training and then attending lectures, writing your dissertation: combining all that over three years really shaped me.
“I had to dig in at the end. Numerous conversations with my parents, lecturers and course leaders convinced me to stick with it with and I’m so glad I did. When I got the result I was chuffed to pieces.”
