Mixed ability rugby helped man rebuild his life after accident
A keen rugby player who was left with brain damage and severe sight loss after he was knocked off his bike said he believed he could soon be a World Cup winner.Jak Powles, 35, plays for the Port Talbot Panthers team and will also be competing in the International Mixed Ability Rugby Tournament which gets under way in Spain next week."To be back playing rugby again is amazing after what I've been through."And the opportunity to go to a World Cup is out of this world."
Jak spent five-and-a-half months in hospital after he was knocked off his bike by a car while cycling to school when he was 15.His family said he nearly died, and had to learn to walk and talk again.As a teenager, Jak played rugby for his school, Brynteg Comprehensive in Bridgend. He also won an Under 15's cap for Wales' rugby league side, as well as trialling for the Great Britain team in St Helens."Jak was a really good rugby player and he loved playing the game and when that was taken away twenty years ago, we never thought he'd be able to play rugby again," said his dad, Carl."But seven years ago we had the opportunity to start this side, Port Talbot Panthers, and it's done Jak and me no end of good."
Carl now plays alongside his son, and explained his role on the pitch as being "Jak's eyes"."I act as facilitator," he said."I can catch it and give the ball to Jak who runs in to contact, but because of Jak's brain injury he is only 'cwtch tackled', where he goes to ground and releases the ball."It works well."He said the type of rugby they play would not work unless teams were filled with a mix of abilities."You have mainstream players alongside someone with disabilities. Here we have players with cerebral palsy and amputees, but Jak is our only visually impaired player."
The fourth International Mixed Ability Rugby Tournament, also known as the mixed ability World Cup, will begin on 23 June in Pamplona in Spain.The tournament started 10 years ago in Bradford in 2015 and has grown hugely.There will be 32 teams from 22 countries competing, including four from Wales.The Swansea Gladiators and Llanelli Warriors, who both made it through to the semi-finals in the last international tournament in Cork in 2022, will join the Port Talbot Panthers in the men's tournament, while Merched Cymru are in the women's tournament.The finals will take place on 27 June, with more than 70 matches lined up.
Jak, who will be one of the 1,500 players taking part, is a hooker - but while it is the same format as a regular rugby union match, the scrums are uncontested.Despite his visual impairment, as a hooker he still undertakes the line-out throw.Carl explained how rugby had been a big part of Jak's reocvery."Not long after his accident we took him out with the under-18's from Brynteg touring school side to South Africa," he said."He had a really supportive teacher, Peter Cavalli, who visited him in hospital lots and suggested the tour."And we played one game where Jak had a line-out throw and that was the start of it."Jak fought a battle 20 years ago and he's still fighting now."
Carl is also the chairman at Port Talbot Panthers. who train at Aberavon Green Stars ground in Sandfields."There's a good feeling around camp and the rugby we play does change people's lives."There's guys who started with us with zero confidence, people who thought they'd never play again, and you see their confidence come back."It's life-changing."He said the Port Talbot community had been "really supportive", adding: "They've gone through so much with the steel works recently but they've still helped us with fundraising and making it possible for us to go."Jak added he believed everyone should have the opportunity to play rugby and it had been brilliant for him, "socially as well as fitness"."But the main winner is I'm out there playing rugby again," he said."Win, lose or draw I want to play rugby. I'm ready, so let's go for it."
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