by James Dodd
BEFORE his forced retirement from a spinal injury, Harry Robinson enjoyed a short but enjoyable rugby career.
The former Wales, Cardiff Blues and Scarlets winger is now enjoying life as a financial advisor.
However, Robinson looks back on his few years on the rugby pitch with great pleasure.
One of his greatest memories is when he made his debut for Wales against the Barbarians in 2012 at the Principality Stadium.
“It was pretty incredible and emotional. It’s really hard to explain. I know it’s a cliché, but you do really dream about these moments growing up,” said the 27-year-old.
“You’re leaving the Vale Hotel and you have the police convoy leading you into town and stopping all the traffic.
“Then you’re going down Westgate Street and you’ve got fans either side. I remember a couple of years before that, I was one of those fans outside cheering on the bus.
“You’re out on the pitch singing the national anthem in front of 70,000 fans and you’ve been there numerous times before in the stands thinking I wonder what that’s like. Honestly, it’s not a let-down. It’s absolutely incredible.”
Wales won that encounter 30-21, which was helped by 18-year-old Robinson’s 50 metre solo try.
“I was against Shane on the same wing and I knew he went round and was on the other side of the pitch. I think he carried the ball and lost it, and there was a turnover.
“I looked up and there was a hooker in front of me. Lloyd Williams gave this massive, long looping pass and Matthew Rees was inside me and I was just screaming, ‘give me the ball!”, in polite words.
“He literally passed and give. I was like I’m going for this now. I pinned my ears back and got in the corner.
“I didn’t really know how to celebrate. My celebration was a little bit embarrassing, I kind of just jumped up and waved my arms about a bit.
“It was probably the best day in my life, not only my career.”
Wales v Barbarians 2012
Having impressed on his debut, Robinson made the Welsh squad to tour Australia in the summer.
Unfortunately, he didn’t make any of the match day sides in the three tests that were played.
Instead, the only match he did play was a mid-week friendly against the Brumbies.
“It just didn’t come to fruition. The squad was really strong in that year and I would have liked to have had a game against Australia,” said Robinson.
“Don’t get me wrong you’re down in Australia, it’s a great place and you’re on tour with a lot of your mates.
“There’s a cohort of you that is not really in the matchday squad, so you have a little bit of a social team going on as well.
“If you’re not in the starting team, subs, or reserves; from about Thursday and Friday onwards you get a little bit of free rain. We experienced the nightlife as well which was really good.”
His final involvement saw him tour Japan in 2013, when a big bulk of the Welsh team were with the British and Irish Lions in Australia.
Despite a 1-1 drawn series against the Cherry Blossoms, Robinson was happy with his effort over the two matches.
“For me personally, I think I played quite well in that series. I started both games, which was a delight. I had a nice try from an offload from Liam Williams.
It was a little disappointing, but the majority of the key players were off from Wales. It was a young team going out there and Japan are not what they once were.
“They are a good outfit; they’ve got a number of Islanders in there.
“We did come away a little bit disappointed, but for me personally, I was relatively happy with my performances. I was thinking get back now, try to kick on and get back into the Wales squad.
“We had 3-4 weeks in Tokyo and Osaka. So again, not only the rugby side of it but personally seeing the other side of the world and seeing how they do things was incredible.”
That Japanese tour saw Robinson get his third and final cap.
However, he still has fond memories outside of the Wales camp.
He became the youngest player to get 50 appearances for the Cardiff Blues in his final game for the region.
Cardiff Blues v Toulon 2013
“You’re going into training every day and you’re with about 30 of your really good mates.
“You’re having a laugh; you’re doing the job you love. I count myself extremely lucky. Going through my age grade I had people like Ellis Jenkins, Cory Allen, Macaulay Cook, Matthew Screech, Lewis Jones.
“We had a really good group of players. They weren’t just good rugby players, but they were a good laugh as well.”
After being asked what his standout moment for the region was, Robinson said the Heineken Cup win over Toulon in a packed Cardiff Arms Park.
“It was kind of like the good old days when it was Cardiff RFC against Newport or Swansea.
“The terraces were packed. It was loud. It was amazing.
“I remember towards the end of the game, we’d just scored the try and got the conversion, it was the last couple of minutes and we were in our own half, just outside the 22, and we were just picking and going.
“The numbers looked short in one of the rucks and there was about 30 seconds to go, and I decided, oh right I’m going to pick and go here to add some numbers in.
“I picked it up and looked in front of me and it was Bismarck du Plessis in front of me and he absolutely hammered me.
“I thought I was going to lose the ball and ruin everything but luckily I didn’t. It was a class game and great memories.”
Robinson ended his career in West Wales with the Scarlets after suffering a serious spinal injury against Edinburgh in March 2015.