After nearly two decades of anchoring scrums at professional level, there isn't much Paul James didn't experience or see as a rugby player.
The years 2005-19 will be remembered as the halcyon days of the professional era for Welsh rugby, with five Six Nations titles, including four Grand Slams, and two Rugby World Cup semi-finals.
Decades down the line, rugby fans will be salivating over the mesmerising side-stepping of Shane Williams in his prime, the sheer class of Gavin Henson, and the explosiveness of Jonathan Davies, but it is the likes of James who allowed those heroes to perform as they did. Throughout the course of his marathon career, James was the man who did the unseen dirty work at the coal face, who put his neck on the line game after game to ensure his side had a platform.
