A legendary lunch at rugby star's country pub

Steffan Rhys hopes to catch a glimpse of a sporting hero over a Sunday roast

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IF THERE'S anything as welcoming as a pretty country pub glowing warm on a cold and wet winter's day, I've not found it yet. The rain was just starting to fall and an icy wind blow as my family and I hurried for the entrance.

There were three reasons I really wanted to visit this cute country pub at the heart of a small Vale of Glamorgan village.

Firstly, it had a really good reputation for its food. Secondly, I've cycled past it countless times and more than once had to stop myself ditching the bike and going in for a pint.

But thirdly, and by far the most important reason if I'm being honest, was that this pub is owned by a sporting icon.

I was in the crowd 20 years ago on the day Gavin Henson kicked one of the most famous and important kicks in Welsh rugby history.

Henson wasn't even Wales' first-choice kicker that day but, with five minutes to go and Wales trailing England by a point in Cardiff, he stepped up because of the sheer difficulty of the kick and launched it 44 metres from an almost impossibly difficult angle. Wales won.

That kick launched a new era in Welsh rugby. A few weeks later, Wales wrapped up their first Grand Slam in nearly 30 years by emphatically beating Ireland. The country lost its mind.

I emerged from the nightclub where I worked at dawn the next day to scenes we'll never see again. There were mountains of rubbish all over the city centre. People still dazed by joy and lager wandered amongst them.