Port Talbot to St Helens via a stint as a scaffolder in between is far from an average route to professional rugby league but Regan Grace is not an average rugby league player. The 22-year-old is perhaps the most exciting Welsh talent to have played the sport for a generation, having already established a reputation as one of the best wings in Super League. How he got to this point, however, is unconventional.
“I didn’t even know what rugby league was growing up,” Grace says. “One of my teachers in Port Talbot chucked me into playing union and I loved it and quickly realised I wanted to play for my home town – which I did – then Ospreys, and then Wales. Most kids in Wales who play rugby dream of playing for the national team. I was no different.”
It is perhaps no surprise Grace was not exposed to league until the age of 16, given he grew up in a union-dominated region of Wales. But when he did, he quickly fell in love with the sport. “I’d already played a couple of games with the under-16s at Ospreys but I left to go properly with rugby league,” he says. “I loved the fact I could go and get the ball whenever and try to make things happen. It was a perfect fit.”
The semi-professional side South Wales Scorpions – who have since relocated west to Llanelli – soon spotted Grace’s ability. “We had a good academy side there, and were beating established teams like Salford, but the team got broken up. Some lads got deals back in union but I carried on playing both.”
Grace continued to play amateur rugby league but, now aged 17, was facing up to the prospect of his dream of turning professional evaporating. “I didn’t know what I was doing in life. I just thought I’d go and get a job in scaffolding or something like that,” he recalls. “I thought the professional career had passed me by.”
But then a chance meeting changed everything. “I started playing amateur rugby union for Aberavon Quins and someone there knew the St Helens chairman. He said if I wanted to take it seriously, there might be a chance, and I got a trial for the academy up here.”
It proved a gamble worth taking. Fast forward to the present day and Grace is already a Welsh international in league, as well as one of the most thrilling players in Super League, but not before an unforgettable first few weeks as a professional which almost made him quit and head back to Port Talbot. “I remember calling my mum to tell her I was coming home because I felt like I was in the army during that first pre-season,” he says, with a smile. “I had the shock of my life. I used to get it very easy as a junior, turning up to games and playing without any training. But at St Helens, we didn’t see a rugby ball for the first month I was contracted full-time. The first time I did a gym session I couldn’t lift my arms for days after. Having never done any training before at any age level, that was probably the biggest shock of all. Thankfully Mum told me to stick at it and I’m glad I did.”
Further accolades could come Grace’s way before the year’s end, too, with the winger tipped for a place in the Great Britain squad that will tour the southern hemisphere this autumn. Following on from Billy Boston and Jonathan Davies as Welshmen to have represented the Lions is a feat not lost on Grace. “We’ll see what happens there, but it’s mad,” he says. “I could have gone down the conventional route and tried union like everyone else but I’m glad I took the risk.”
Could he ever return to his first love of rugby union? “I’m really enjoying this, more than I ever thought I would,” he says. “At the moment I’m very happy and I’ve never actually looked at going back. My mum gets mad when I call St Helens home but after five years ... it does feel like it now.”
