My Life in Rugby: John Devereux – Wales dual-code international

John DevereuxI was one of the last crop of players who was capped while still a student at what was then known as South Glamorgan Institute.
A lecturer by the name of Leighton ‘Nutty' Davies was a big influence and moved me from full-back to centre. I caught the eye playing against in a cup-tie in '85, my straight-arm hand-off not going unnoticed. I used it to good effect on Rob Ackerman, who was making his debut for Cardiff, and earned the nickname ‘Dalek' – and my first cap against the following year – on the back of it.
Twickenham was the next best place other than Cardiff Arms Park to make your international debut. The old ground was packed to the rafters and I vividly remember thinking how lush the grass looked as I ran out amidst the din. Once I'd been selected I couldn't wait for the day to finally arrive, however, the match didn't turn out how I'd hoped.
The WRU's decision to ban Bob Norster for getting sent off in a club game robbed us of our main lineout jumper and we had hardly any ball to work with. That said, we still scored the only try of the game when my centre partner, Bleddyn Bowen, cut a nice line off Jonathan Davies. But Rob Andrew had one of those days when he couldn't miss, a left foot drop-goal and six penalties securing England's 21-18 victory.
The next two games I played in, against at Cardiff and away in Dublin, were both won. The Scotland match was made famous by Paul Thorburn's 64-metre penalty. I used to kick at goal myself and knew that with a howling wind coming off the East Terrace it was within his range. My claim to fame is that I told him to go for the posts, and luckily he did. What a kick!
The first of my five international tries for Wales came on a tour of the Pacific Islands, against Samoa. I'd just given a try away following a charged down kick and was devastated but luckily I was able to make up for it. The legendary Michael Jones played against us that day and we faced him again 12 months later – as an All Black, at the inaugural . For me the pool stages were interspersed with my final college exams. I had to sit two in Dunedin and one in Wellington, finishing my last exam just before the game against Canada in an arctic Invercargill.
Thankfully I just scraped through and got my degree. I scored in three consecutive matches – against Canada and then England and in the knockout stages. We had Huw Richards sent off in the semi-final against New Zealand for punching one of the Whetton brothers. What he did was wrong but Buck Shelford should have got his marching orders, too, for retaliating and dropping Richards in front of the main stand. It was absolutely disgraceful.
We had the mother of all parties after we'd beaten 22-21 in the third-place play-off. The Aussies had been giving it to us large before the game saying we were no good so to beat them felt great. Yes, they had a man sent off – flanker David Codey for stamping on Gareth Roberts – but, at the end of the day, we're down in the record books as the side that won. I managed a triple hand-off in that game – on Andrew Slack, Michael Lynagh and one of their second rows. Paul Thorburn showed he had balls of steel to kick the match-winning conversion from the touchline after Adrian Hadley had scored in the corner.
Regretfully I missed the 1988 Triple Crown-winning campaign after breaking a bone in my hand and I struggled to get back in the side after that.
I thought my chance to tour with the Lions in '89 had gone, but Ian McGeechan, like all good coaches, saw something in me and I was on my way to Australia. I played well in the provincial matches and everyone was debating who'd partner me in midfield, but I twisted my ankle on the old North Sydney Oval cricket square five minutes before the end of the NSW game and was ruled out of the first Test.
I got selected on the bench in the third Test but never got on. It's a shame but Lions tours are not just about 1-15; it's a squad effort.
Throughout the tour I was chased constantly by Rugby League teams courting my services and eventually I joined former Wales' teammates Jonathan Davies and Paul Moriarty at Widnes. I had eight great years there before switching back to Union with , , , Pontypool and finally Maesteg.

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