Boxing was a big focus during his teenage years, with his father Colin having competed at a high level in the sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was the youngest ever ABA champion. He was just 17 when he won it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhoever won the ABAs at the time would go to the Rome OIympics in 1960, but my dad broke his thumb in the semi-final. He boxed the final and won, but they wouldn\u2019t let him go to the Olympics even though he was fit. It was the Games where Muhammad Ali won his gold.\u201d<\/p>\n
Humphreys donned the gloves himself as a youngster.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad used to take me down the boxing gym in Porthcawl a lot when I was 13, 14,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would just be me and him. He made me skip for three minutes and then I would be on the bag for another three. It was brutal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kept on doing that for a good while, but I didn\u2019t do it competitively. It was something I definitely wanted to do, but my mum stepped in because a lot of the shows were in the evenings and quite late, so she wouldn\u2019t let me do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Jonathan Humphreys is enjoying life away from rugby<\/p>\n
When he reflects on his rugby journey, Humphreys picks out various people who played key roles.<\/p>\n
The first of those were Cardiff and Wales hooker Alan Phillips and his brother Howard.<\/p>\n
\u201cHoward was my coach at Cornelly RFC Youth,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had never played for any representative team, not for the County or Wales Schoolboys or Wales Youth.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for him, I don\u2019t think I would have gone anywhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe went to speak to Alan and said \u2018You want to come and see this boy\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlan, who was coming towards the end of his playing career at the time, would then take me training. We would go over the sand dunes.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of all the stuff I was doing with my dad, I was just ridiculously fit, but I wasn\u2019t big enough. So Alan became like my personal trainer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have got a huge amount to thank those two brothers for.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was through Alan Phillips\u2019 influence that Humphreys made his Cardiff debut against Harlequins in September 1989, aged 20.<\/p>\n
At the time, he was doing a Human Movement Studies degree at South Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education, where he played for the college alongside future Wales scrum-half Paul John, who he shared a house with.<\/p>\n
He went on to sign for Cardiff, but opportunities were very limited during his early years at the Arms Park. So how did that situation change?<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was one massive reason – Alec Evans,\u201d he replies.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was going to join Pontypridd<\/a> because Paul (John) was there, but then Cardiff appointed Alec.<\/p>\n \u201cI was third or fourth choice hooker at the time, but the very first meeting I had with him, he said \u2018If I promise you the first five games of next season, will you stay?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cAnd he had never seen me play! It was a pretty ballsy call by him. So I stayed.\u201d<\/p>\n Wales VIP hospitality tickets from \u00a3330<\/p>\n This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more<\/a> Prices vary<\/p>\n Seat Unique<\/p>\n Book tickets here<\/a><\/p>\n Seat Unique offers VIP hospitality tickets for Wales’ autumn internationals including New Zealand and Australia<\/p>\n Humphreys went on to become a regular starter under the Aussie coach. So what was it Evans saw in him?<\/p>\n \u201cI think it was my attitude,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything to me was a bonus. I never thought I was good enough to be there, but I just thought I will try my hardest, I will try my guts out.<\/p>\n \u201cIn those days in rugby, if you were fit and you were aggressive and you would just do anything, you could go a long way. You didn\u2019t necessarily have to have a lot of skill.<\/p>\n \u201cAlec was a very combative player himself, so he just loved people who had a bit of guts and would do anything.<\/p>\n \u201cIn those first games I started, there were plenty of people in his ear telling him what he was doing was wrong and that I shouldn\u2019t be playing.<\/p>\n \u201cBut he kept on telling me I was the best hooker in Wales, because that\u2019s the way he worked.\u201d<\/p>\n Evans also saw Humphreys as the man to implement a radical change.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen he came over, he wanted the hooker to throw in with two hands. There was nobody in the northern hemisphere doing it, but he had seen this guy in Japan do it.<\/p>\n \u201cIf he wanted me to, I would have kicked the ball in! So I was the one who took it up.<\/p>\n \u201cI was going over the fields in Cornelly and throwing it and it was horrendous trying to do it, especially when everybody was saying \u2018What the f*** are you doing?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI remember Alan Phillips came up to me and said \u2018Look mate, you are never going to play for Wales as long as you are throwing the ball in two hands\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cI said \u2018Mate, I don\u2019t care about that. I am playing every week!\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI was definitely the first to do it in Europe. Now everybody does it.\u201d<\/p>\n Jonathan Humphreys looks back on his career<\/p>\n With the new approach adopted, an early highlight under Evans was the 1994 Swalec Cup final victory over Llanelli<\/a> at a packed National Ground.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the first time I had played at the stadium.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember running out and it was just the most unbelievable feeling. I was thinking \u2018What am I doing here?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cIt was just incredible because I never thought I had any chance of doing anything like that.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a beautiful day and we went on to win. I remember I put Mikey Rayer in for a try down the short side. I drew a guy and passed the ball to him. I had never done that before in my life. I usually just put my head down!<\/p>\n \u201cIt was just the perfect day. It\u2019s very close to my favourite rugby memory ever.\u201d<\/p>\n The following year, Cardiff won the league, so Evans was an obvious choice to take over as Wales coach for the 1995 World Cup in South Africa following the departure of Alan Davies.<\/p>\n One of his first actions in the job was to call up his hooker.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was named in the squad, it was the same old thing \u2018What am I doing here?\u2019\u201d recalls Humphreys.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was unbelievably surreal. I only really started playing when Alec took over in 1993. So, we are talking two years.\u201d<\/p>\n Things got even more surreal when Humphreys was selected to make his Test debut in the group match against mighty New Zealand in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember looking down the tunnel in Ellis Park and thinking \u2018F****** hell, look at the size of that second row\u2019. But it was Jonah Lomu!<\/p>\n \u201cAs I was running out, Sean Fitzpatrick said to me \u2018You are not ready for this, little boy\u2019. I felt like saying to him \u2018I know, mate!\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cIt was that same feeling again, \u2018What the f*** are you doing here?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cDuring the second half, Robert Jones passed the ball to me and Jamie Joseph forearm smashed me straight in the head. From that point on, I don\u2019t remember anything.<\/p>\n \u201cI was in the changing room afterwards asking boys next to me \u2018How did I play? Was I any good?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI had no idea – and I played then three days later against Ireland and scored a try!\u201d<\/p>\n With just two caps under his belt, Humphreys received the biggest bombshell of them all ahead of Wales returning to South Africa three months later for a game against the newly crowned world champion Springboks.<\/p>\n \u201cI can still vividly remember getting the phone call from Alec.<\/p>\n \u201cHe goes \u2018Do you want to be captain out in South Africa?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI think I said \u2018F*** yeah!\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cSo, in two years, I have gone from nothing to being captain of my country.\u201d<\/p>\n Jonathan Humphreys pictured in 1995 at the Arms Park before captaining Wales(Image: Mirrorpix)<\/p>\n Leading Wales out against the \u2018Boks that day in Johannesburg remains a very special memory.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a feeling of pride more than anything. My parents flew over for the game.<\/p>\n \u201cAnybody who grew up with me in rugby would have gone \u2018There is no chance he is going to do that, he will never captain Wales\u2019, but here I was.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was all just so new. There I was tossing the coin with Francois Pienaar, who was a world icon at that point.<\/p>\n \u201cThen I\u2019m running out in front of the team at Ellis Park and it was a celebration of South Africa winning the World Cup, so it was packed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were seen as lambs to the slaughter, but we didn\u2019t do as badly as everyone thought we would.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were actually leading for a bit and we were pretty competitive for large periods. We showed a lot of guts.\u201d<\/p>\n Humphreys continued as captain for victories at home to Fiji and Italy under new coach Kevin Bowring and then the 1996 Five Nations. Initially, there was something of a honeymoon period.<\/p>\n \u201cI was so naive about it,\u201d he admits.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happens with anything, the first period of time, everybody is positive. Everybody is saying good things about you, you are doing stuff for the papers.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody had ever asked me for an interview before, so it was all right, here we go.<\/p>\n \u201cBut what it doesn\u2019t prepare you for is when it all turns.\u201d<\/p>\n There was the high point of a victory over title-chasing France in March 1996, but that summer brought heavy defeats on tour in Australia and then things really got nasty during the 1997 Five Nations.<\/p>\n \u201cWe beat Scotland in the first game, but then went downhill badly after that.<\/p>\n \u201cYou had the disharmony in the Welsh camp with all the players from different clubs fighting against each other. There was a massive divide between Cardiff, Swansea<\/a> and Neath. There was no team spirit as such. There was a huge split in the camp.<\/p>\n \u201cThen, outside that, you had the clubs and the Union fighting against each other.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was just a perfect storm, especially for me.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat should have been the best time in my life was literally the worst.<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t prepared for the criticism. It felt like it came from everywhere. It did affect me and it affected my family. It was the toughest time in my rugby life.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember the bus journey to one match and I was counting in my mind \u2018How many games have I got until I retire?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI probably didn\u2019t think I deserved to be there, in the team, let alone captain, and then I\u2019ve got everyone telling me I shouldn\u2019t be there.<\/p>\n \u201cThe tail end of the 1997 Five Nations was the worst bit. I was getting hate mail sent to the team hotel. I had to stop reading the papers at that point. Every letter the Western Mail would print would be about me. That\u2019s what it felt like.\u201d<\/p>\n Around that time, he was being pilloried for the number of penalties he was giving away, picking up the unflattering nickname of \u2018Offside Humphreys\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know who started that. I have no idea,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cI look back at all that and I think it was probably that I would do anything to stop us getting pumped.<\/p>\n \u201cWales weren\u2019t very good at the time. I would be offside because I thought to myself if they get the ball they are going to score. I did give away a lot of penalties. I was over committed, I suppose.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you wanted to decipher it, it probably came from a place of \u2018If we get pumped here, I am going to get more s**t.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI remember in games, if we were losing, I was thinking \u2018What the f*** are the press going to do to me now?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cWhat sort of way is that to live?\u201d<\/p>\n So when his first reign as skipper came to an end after the 1997 Five Nations, it was something of a blessing.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Kevin Bowring rang me to say he was going to put Gwyn Jones as captain, my reaction was immense relief,\u201d he reveals.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t want to do it anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember Gwyn coming round my house and he thought it would be an awkward conversation, but I welcomed him with open arms. It was \u2018In you come, son!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Over the next couple of years, starts for Wales were to be few and far between, with Garin Jenkins, Barry<\/a> Williams and Robin McBryde all vying for the hooking berth.<\/p>\n However, Humphreys did share in the memorable winning run in 1999, coming on as a replacement for Jenkins in the series-clinching win out in Argentina and the historic victory over South Africa in the first game at the new Millennium Stadium, while also figuring at the home World Cup that autumn.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter that World Cup, I started playing the best rugby I had probably played for a long time,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember Graham Henry ringing me up to say I would be starting the 2000 Six Nations<\/a> opener against France. But, that same day, I dislocated my shoulder against Harlequins, so I never got back.\u201d<\/p>\n With that, Humphreys\u2019 international career appeared to be over, but then, in 2003, came another seismic shock.<\/p>\n Now with Bath and aged 33, he was called up to the Wales squad as injury cover by Steve Hansen ahead of the Six Nations game against England – but that was just the half of it.<\/p>\n \u201cI was only expecting to be there for a day,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw Steve and he said just to go into a couple of meetings and I would be done.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, I went into this team meeting and, with them playing England, one of the coaches said \u2018What do we know about Jason Robinson?\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause I was playing in that league and nobody was answering, I said he does this, this and this.<\/p>\n \u201cAnyway, I came out of that meeting and said I will have something to eat and I will go.<\/p>\n \u201cBut then Steve comes on to me and says \u2018Can I have a chat with you, mate?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cSo he takes me into a room and he goes \u2018I want you to play on the weekend and I want you to be captain\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cI looked at him and my exact words were \u2018F*** off\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cThe press conference that afternoon when they announced me as captain was chaos.<\/p>\n Jonathan Humphreys throws the ball in during the 2003 Six Nations(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n \u201cI went on my phone afterwards and it had gone nuts.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was all the boys from Bath going \u2018Is this a joke?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n But it was no joke, with Humphreys returning to the side as skipper.<\/p>\n \u201cWe could have beaten England and we should have beaten Ireland,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n \u201cMy eldest son came to watch the games, so at least he saw me play in that stadium.<\/p>\n \u201cI was honoured to captain Wales. I did it 19 times in all. But I think the only time I actually really enjoyed it was when I came back in 2003 because I was determined I was going to enjoy it for what it was.<\/p>\n \u201cThen it came full circle where everybody was saying nice things about me.<\/p>\n \u201cI had young children and I was conscious of \u2018Am I going back into all this shit again?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cBut to have people say nice things about you at the end was a nice way to go. They said nice things at the start and nice things at the end!\u201d<\/p>\n In all, Humphreys won 35 Wales caps and played more than 300 games for club and country before hanging up his boots in 2005, aged 36.<\/p>\n![\"Content](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_Wales-Women-v-Women-Barbarians.jpg\"\/)
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