Too tall to be a pilot, I found lift-off in rugby

Jon Newcombe talks to Josh McNally who says that, without the RAF, he would not have achieved anything in the game

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A for him S he enters the twilight years of his professional playing career, Cardiff Rugby's Josh McNally has never forgotten where it all started in the RAF.

Too tall to be a pilot, McNally was never airborne during his time in active service - he was fixing planes up rather than flying them in his role as a weapons technician - but over the last 12 years the 6' 7" lock has ruled the skies in the National Leagues, Championship, Premiership and now the United Rugby Championship.

Playing rugby professionally, or even recreationally, had never really come onto his radar until he followed the footsteps of his father and joined the RAF, who encouraged him to play sport, especially rugby. Before too long, McNally was awarded an elite sports contract that allowed him to play professional rugby alongside his 21-year duty of service.

While based at RAF Halton in Buckinghamshire, McNally joined Henley Hawks from where he progressed quickly. Stints at London Welsh, London Irish and Bath, and an England cap, followed for a man whose career has been anything but conventional.

Conversations are taking place at this time of year at clubs about which players should be kept on and which should be discarded, and McNally is an outstanding example to those who miss out, or to late bloomers, that the armed services provide an alternative route into the professional game.

"Ultimately, I wouldn't have achieved anything in my rugby career without the RAF and I'm all for banging that drum for people that don't know about this pathway in this new generations of 18-21-yearolds," the 34-year-old said.

"In every changing room that I have sat in, you look around and everyone has either been in the England age grade system, the Welsh age grade system, the academies, the public schools. But the message from me is there is another viable option through the services.