Richards who celebrated his 19th birthday on Wednesday has already made a number of appearances for the Valley Commandos this season, including scoring a dramatic late try at Rodney Parade to defeat Newport, a team containing friends and his regional age grade coach at the Dragons, Matt O’Brien. The fullback from Caldicot stressed he still had a lot to learn, “Obviously I’m still very young and believe I’ve achieved a lot through my short career and I am grateful for what I have achieved but my aim is to just carry on, keep enjoying my rugby and hopefully there’s more to come”.
When asked what his ambitions were for his career, Richards said; “I want to be a professional, excelling at the highest level possible, but I’m not getting carried away with myself, I’m enjoying my rugby for Ponty and the Dragons at the moment and that’s a really important thing for me. I just want to do my best every week and hopefully I keep progressing”. His mental toughness and determination is easy to see both in his word and in his actions on the pitch.
When asked about his most memorable moments, Richards replied: “I’ve had many high moments in my career so far but there has also been some low points, which have been tough. But ultimately it has been the lows which drive me on and allow me to appreciate the good times even more”. “Things such as earning my first welsh cap, will stay with me forever” he said.
The young Dragons academy starlet labelled his opportunity at Indigo Welsh Premiership side Pontypridd this season as ‘unbelievable’ and ‘invaluable’. Richards said he was overwhelmed to play for such a historic and prestigious club like Ponty. “Pontypridd is a great place to play and I’m really enjoying my rugby. It has been a real eye opener but its been good for me”.
Richards admitted his weirdest moment in a Pontypridd shirt came as he scored the winning try against Newport RFC, “It was a weird scenario but of course I’m just happy to have got the win and it justified the performance”.
Outside of rugby Richards remained equally as determined. “I’m in University at the University of South Wales so I want to do as well as I can at that because my rugby career won’t last forever” he said. “I also volunteer as a coach with the Caldicot RFC juniors and I’ve been lucky enough to go through that system so hopefully I can give back and teach them some thing I learned along the way”.
Haydn Evans 