Parry continues Sir Gâr tradition of capped Welshmen

Ospreys hooker Parry made his Test debut in the friendly defeat by France last weekend, his appearance off the bench in Paris continuing Sir Gar’s proud history of producing international players. In Wayne Pivac’s current Wales squad for the 2020 autumn campaign, Gareth Davies, Samson Lee, Ryan Elias, Josh Adams and Parry have all come through the Sir Gar system.
All five were involved against France.

The college’s director of rugby Euros Evans has also helped the likes of Scott Williams and Aled Davies and in the past Adam Jones and Rob McCusker pull on the Three Feathers.

It was under the guidance of Evans that Parry made the switch from the back-row to hooker, a decision which has ultimately helped him to represent his country.

“I was never in the Scarlets academy,” said Parry, 28. “I was at Coleg Sir Gar and went from there to the Dragons. It’s been a long journey with plenty of hard work.

“It’s a good story which shows if you keep working hard you will eventually get your rewards.

“To be fair I probably let playing for Wales go and looked forward to playing for the Ospreys and putting everything into that. Luckily, I got my chance and hopefully I can build on that.

“It was brilliant to make my debut. I obviously had to wait a while to get a cap, but it was really good to be honest. It didn’t matter if there was 80,000 there or no-one – it would still have been the same feeling. I’m really happy.”

Evans, who has worked with all the Wales and Sir Gar products mentioned above, was proud as punch when Parry ran out at the Stade de France as a replacement for Elias.

He said: “Sam was a good kid. We knew him as ‘big Sam Parry!’ It was really good for him to make his debut and we had five Sir Gar boys in the Wales 23 in France.

“Sam was named in the Wales squad in 2013 but didn’t get an opportunity and when that happens you think it might not happen.

“But he stayed strong and positive and has got his rewards.”

Explaining what he saw in Parry to convert him from the back-row to a hooker, Evans added: “It was typical of young players at that age in that Sam was in between positions.

“He always had good stature and was very strong, but he was not quite tall enough to be a top class six or No 8. I’ve always said it’s better to be a taller hooker than a small back-rower.

“Sam was similar to Kirby Myhill at the time who was being fast tracked to do the same conversion so he had to bide his time but he followed me then from Sir Gar.

“He played for me at Llangennech then Llandovery and I think he was only at Llandovery for two months before the Dragons saw something they liked in him.

“He’s worked hard on the foundations of his game and is a very coachable player.”

Parry made his Dragons debut in 2011 and joined the Ospreys for the 2014-15 campaign.

He has been a regular at the Liberty Stadium since and has now won that elusive first Test cap.

“It’s nice to see guys get capped who have had to work harder than others to get there and achieve a Test cap. Sam is one of those guys,” said Evans.

“I was delighted for him and his family who have been very supportive. It’s the pinnacle of any player’s career to represent their country and I know how hard Sam has worked to get there.”

Parry will hope to win his second Welsh cap in the Six Nations clash with Scotland in Llanelli on Saturday afternoon – a game which will be played behind closed doors due to lockdown.

“Scotland are a good team right across the board,” said Parry. “They’ve got a good pack of forwards and exciting backs. It should be an exciting game. You see the style they play – they like to throw it about, but as a forward pack they’ll back themselves to come with a big scrum and driving maul.

“Scotland have got an all-court game these days so we’ll have to be good in all areas.”