Clayton was a successful amateur rugby player in his youth, captaining and playing halfback for Pontyberem RFC, where he earned the nickname “The Ferret” – one he now uses in darts.
Price himself was a professional rugby player, representing Wales at the 2004 Under-21 World Championship in Argentina, where they faced a New Zealand side featuring eight future All Blacks.
Clayton demonstrated his passion for the sport with a special darts shirt inspired by the All Blacks and featuring a silver fern.
“Being a rugby man myself, I spoke to the guy that designs my shirts and I said we have to go something like the All Blacks, it’s got to be black and white, it’s got to have the fern on it,” Clayton said.
“I’m happy with the design and there’s been a lot of comments on social media, so I think there’s a lot of people happy with it, and these might be on sale soon.
“It shows two rugby boys can play darts. To play each other for the second time in the world of rugby New Zealand, we both had smiles on our faces.“
Clayton faced his toughest test in Friday’s Round-of-16 match against Kiwi Haupai Puha. The pair have produced several high-quality matches on the World Series stage and this was no different, with Clayton overcoming a two-leg deficit to win 6-5 in a last-leg decider.
He then comfortably accounted for Dutchman Gian van Veen, Englishman James Wade and Price on Saturday to claim the $69,000 prize.
The final briefly threatened to unravel after Clayton surged to a 7-1 lead.
With the title within touching distance, he missed three match darts at double 11 before suffering what he described as a “head freeze” in the following leg, opting to hit 18 to leave double 16 rather than go for the bullseye.
Jonny Clayton and Gerwyn Price during the NZ Darts Masters final. Photo / Photosport
Price reeled off three consecutive legs to capitalise before Clayton finally closed out the victory.
Clayton was delighted to get one back on his Welsh counterpart after Price had beaten him in the 2022 final.
“I thought, ‘All right, okay, we’ve played each other once before in New Zealand. Hopefully, the second time we play against each other, hopefully it was my night,’ and luckily enough it was,” Clayton said.
“It’s nice to have a runner-up and now the champion’s trophy, so, yeah, there’s a happy Welshman here.“
Clayton is hopeful of returning next year to defend his title and thanks the people of Auckland for their support.
“I’ve done a lot of walking since being here,” Clayton said. “My steps are up… but I’ve loved it.
”For a dart player, the crowd make the game of darts. When the right songs, the banter, the cheers, when all of those are in the right place, there’s no better feeling on that stage.
“To be fair, here in Auckland it was fantastic. The crowd were absolutely amazing.“
Overall, it was another difficult campaign for the five-strong New Zealand contingent, who remain without a win on the World Series stage since 2023.
Mark Cleaver, Kayden Milne and Jonny Tata were comfortably beaten by Price, Wade and van Veen respectively, while Australian Damon Heta came from behind to reel off five consecutive legs and beat New Zealand No 1 Ben Robb 6-4.
Robb will have another opportunity to end New Zealand’s drought at next week’s Australian Darts Masters, where he will be the country’s lone representative.
Ben Francis is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.