By Rob Cole
Regan Grace is fast proving to be ‘the one that got away’ as far as the Ospreys and Wales are concerned.
The 22-year-old flying wing from Port Talbot is described as one of the most deadly finishers in Super League and already has 46 tries to his credit for leaders St. Helens, 17 of which have come in 24 games this season.
Now, he can start planning for a trip to Wembley for the Challenge Cup final on 24 August after helping Saints beat Halifax at the weekend to set-up a shoot-out with Warrington Wolves for the most prestigious piece of silverware in rugby league.
The former Ospreys U16 and Aberavon Quins union fledgling is ready to spread his wings even further and break into the Great Britain squad for their tour to Tonga, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea in October.
There was a time when rugby league was able to pick off the best Welsh players and profit from their skill. Since the union game went open in 1995 the talent drain has slowed to a trickle, but Grace is living proof there are still some rough diamonds that slip through the net.
Weren’t the three tries he scored in four outings for the Ospreys U16 in the Regional Age Grade competition in 2012, playing outside current Wales centre Owen Watkin, enough of a hint that he was a really good player in the making?
The lure of rugby league began with the South Wales Scorpions U16 rugby league side and his performances for them earned the chance to try out with St. Helens. If a professional career was still a long way off, it was worth a try given at this stage he was working as a scaffolder.
As he pointed out in a recent article, “I didn’t even know what rugby league was, growing up.”
He was introduced to rugby union at school and, like everyone else at his age, he dreamt of one day playing for the Ospreys and then Wales.
He has fulfilled part of that dream already, but in the Welsh rugby league jersey. Next up will be the Great Britain Lions shirt. Then he really will be treading in the footsteps of giants – Billy Boston, Clive Sullivan, John Devereux and Jonathan Davies – to name but a few.
Having signed an extension to his contract with St Helens through to 2021 he looks set to score more tries and pick up some major honours.
Saints are 10 points clear at the top of Super League with six rounds to go and are hot favourites to complete the Challenge Cup and Grand Final double.
Another Welsh convert, the former Wales Under 20 cap Ben Flower, did the double with Wigan in 2013 and was a Challenge Cup winner at Wembley last year.
He has now won six major trophies at Wigan – three Grand Finals, a Challenge Cup, a World Club Challenge and a League Leaders Shield.
That gives Grace a target to aim at, but he is making the kind of progress that should give him the confidence to realise that anything is possible.
One thing he might struggle to do, though, is match the record of another Aberavon Quins player who went north many years ago.
The name of Jonny Ring is still enshrined in folk lore in the northern code after the former Aberavon and Wales wing scored 368 tries in 329 games for Wigan.
It wasn’t until another Welsh marvel, the great Billy Boston came along to extend his record to an amazing 478 tries that his record was surpassed.
Those figures will at least give Grace some targets to aim at.