Beach boys of Wales conquered the world

PETER JACKSON

THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW

Champions: The Welsh Sevens team with the World Cup in 2009

PICTURE: Getty Images

THE WORLD CUP DOZEN:

Lee Beach: Born Maerdy. Played for Tylorstown, Pontypridd, Neath, London Welsh, Newport and Bargoed before retiring two years ago. Director of a scaffolding company. Age 36.

James Merriman: Born Pembrokeshire. Captained Wales U21 as they were then. Started at Gloucester, finished at Bristol. Farmer. Age 35.

Rhodri McAtee: Born Newport but played most of his rugby in England, for Cornish Pirates, Worcester and Plymouth. Age 34.

Lee Williams: Born Pontyberem. A scrum-half who played for Llanelli, Scarlets and Carmarthen Quins. Age 32.

Tal Selley: Born Pembroke Dock. Player of the tournament. One cap for Wales, in America in 2005. Age 38.

Aled Brew: Born Neath. Still in the game at Bath. Last capped by Wales eight years ago. Age 32.

Rhys Webb: Born Bridgend. Youngest World Cup winner at 20 but ineligible for Wales since leaving Ospreys for Toulon. Age: 30.

Richie Pugh: Ospreys, Scarlets flanker who played once for Wales, against USA in 2005. Now coaches Wales Sevens. Age 36.

Dafydd Hewitt: Born Cardiff. Blues centre forced to retire due to neck injury at 29. Age 33.

Craig Hill: Born Cardiff. Ex-Caerphilly, Newport, Pontypridd, Dragons back row forward. Age 36.

Aled Thomas: Born Bancyfelin. Fly-half for Scarlets, Dragons, London Welsh, Gloucester. Retired two years ago. Age 34.

Tom Isaacs: Born Cardiff. Former Ospreys, Scarlets, Dragons and Gloucester centre now based in Hong Kong. Still playing. Age 32.

Dai Jenkins (Team manager): Born Neath. Army officer who coached the Army to two Middlesex Sevens titles.

Paul John (Head coach): Born Pontypridd. Ex-Pontypridd, Cardiff and Wales scrum-half now coaching Hong Kong.

Gareth Williams (Assistant coach): Born Tumble. Part of Team GB Olympic coaching panel now in charge of Wales U20s.

Wales’ only World Cup-winning captain was out and about drumming up business for his scaffolding company on Thursday morning when the phone rang.

Lee Beach instantly identified the caller as Dai Jenkins, alias The Colonel in due acknowledgement of his status as the Army officer who managed the squad of world-beaters against all the odds on March 7, 2009. “Happy anniversary, Lee.’’ “What anniversary would that be, Dai?’’

“It’s ten years since we won the World Cup. Ten years exactly.’’ “Is it? I had totally forgotten so thanks a million for the reminder.’’ What Beach and the eleven players under his command achieved can never be over-estimated, how a bunch of parttimers defied the odds to knock out New Zealand on the way to winning the seven-a-side World Cup before a crowd of 50,000 in Dubai.

In doing so, the Beach boys did something that nobody has managed since, the Kiwis having swept all before them in the truncated game at the subsequent tournaments, beating England in successive finals, in Moscow in 2013 and San Francisco last year.

“Lee was an exceptional captain driven by a high level of emotional intelligence and that’s a real skill,’’ says Col. Jenkins. “They were an outstanding squad of really good people.

“James Merriman was the heartbeat of the side, a great team man who gave everything all the time. And Lee Williams made such an impression on Gordon Tietjens, the legendary New Zealand coach, that he picked Lee in his best sevens team of all-time.’’ The Welsh triumph was all the greater because nobody thought they were serious contenders. Their final rehearsal before the curtain went up did not exactly leave head coach Paul Hope overflowing with hope.

“There were three practice pitches and we had the middle one,’’ says Jenkins. “New Zealand, on one side, went through their drills to perfection. Scotland, on the other side, moved the ball with real pace. We were shambolic. “Our defensive drills were all over the place. I said to Paul: ‘We have to have a meeting about this’. “Paul called the meeting and asked the players: ‘What did you think of that?’

“And Daf Hewitt said: ‘******* marvellous. I think we’re going to win this.’ ”

Beyond the four walls of the team room, nobody reckoned they had a prayer.

“Everyone just thought we were going there to make the numbers up,’’ says Beach. “At one stage during the tournament the bookies had us at 88-1 although we didn’t find out about that until after we’d won it.

“I don’t bet but some who did were devastated. If England had done what we did, they’d probably have got a bonus of 30 grand a man and a ride on an open-top bus. We got a handshake.

“At one stage in the tournament the bookies had us at 88-1 – we didn’t find out until we’d won”

“There was a running joke within the squad at the time along the lines of: ‘We won’t be getting ten grand a man but we’ll more than likely get an extra tracksuit.’

“We had a fee for the tournament and we did eventually get a bonus of a grand each, thanks to the efforts of the manager. He went to the Union and said: ‘Come on, these boys need to be rewarded because what they’ve achieved is just incredible.’’’

Losing to Argentina in the pool competition meant going down the road of no return, against New Zealand in the quarter-finals and so it proved, for the men in black.

“We’d beaten them in Wellington about four weeks before the World Cup so we knew how,’’ says Beach. “They’d strengthened their team for the big one but that didn’t bother us because we knew what to do. Even then, we weren’t sure it would be enough.

“We took the game to them from the start and didn’t let up. Too many teams show New Zealand too much respect and then, before they know it, they’re beaten. We didn’t give them the respect everyone else did and it paid off. “Even after knocking them out, nobody in the squad ever talked about Wales winning the World Cup. We got past Samoa in the semi-finals and then Argentina in the final.

“There we were, lining up for the biggest game of our lives and still nobody actually said that we were going to win the World Cup. That’s how relaxed everybody was.’’

When it mattered most, Wales turned the tables on the Pumas, winning 19-12 thanks to a dazzling solo try from Aled Thomas, then at London Welsh.