A former Welsh rugby player has become a British martial arts champion after just three months training in his new sport.
Prop Duncan Bell packed down in the front-row for Pontypridd and Ebbw Vale and turned down a chance to represent England A to pursue his dream of playing for Wales on residency.
But he was denied the chance by IRB chiefs, and the 44-year-old joined Bath and played five times for England.
He returned to Welsh rugby in 2014, aged 39, to help the Dragons out of a front-row crisis and played nine times for the Rodney Parade region.
He had secretly been battling depression, and as a way of staying active after hanging up the boots, went back to martial arts after dabbling with the sport during training at Bath.
And after just three months, Bell, who won the Principality Cup with Pontypridd in 2002, struck gold in the Masters class of the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu British Open at the Birmingham NEC.
Representing the Gracie Barra club in Yate, Bell won two bouts in the ultra heavyweight class to win the gold medal.
His final fight saw the former prop win by a choke submission against Robert Fairclough, of Liverpool-based Team Mushin.
“I’m a big bloke - 115-120 kilos - and I’m rolling around on a mat with blokes who are 80, 90 kilos and getting choked out. That’s all part of the experience," Bell told the Bath Chronicle.
“I didn’t realise how much I missed rolling around with sweaty men.
“Neither of us usually come across guys our size. I was just really lucky to take him down.
“If it had been the other way around it could have been very different and I could have walked away with a loss.”
Bell’s first taste of the grappling martial art was in about 2008/9, when he was playing at Bath and Professor Salvatore Pace - who runs Gracie Barra Bath - worked with some of the injured players at the club.
“At Bath Rugby it was effectively fitness for us boys,” Bell recalled. “We did about ten sessions together. We all loved it but it petered out.
“From when I retired in 2012 I always thought I wanted to do this more often, but it didn’t fit in with my work-life balance.
“If I had my time as a player again, I never would have stopped doing it because it would definitely improve you as a player.
“When the British Open came up, António (his instructor) said: ‘Give it a go’. My initial reaction was: ‘No chance, I’ll get my head taken off’.
“He said: ‘Just go in and use your rugby background’. Especially in the forwards, rugby players are natural wrestlers because you’re doing a lot of ruck work and mauling.
“You’re used to that sort of contact. It was really good, even if it was the old gits’ category for the over 40s.”
Bell believes getting the sporting juices flowing again and getting some physical fitness back has helped in his battle with mental illness.
Bell, who works as a mortgage advisor, added: "It’s been well documented that I went through a tough time.
“After I stopped playing, I lost a significant amount of weight by training really hard and that really helped my mental health.
“I’ve had a couple of injuries since then and a bit of the weight has gone back on. The knees are pretty shot now so I can’t run or do circuits anymore, which I loved.
“BJJ has now landed in my lap and I absolutely love it. It’s given me the buzz back for getting active."
