From meeting Princess Diana to receiving an unexpected gift off Brian Moore and celebrating long into the night with JPR Williams, Nigel Meek has good reason to remember his Wales debut.
So vivid are the recollections, he finds it hard to believe it’s 30 years ago this month that he shared in the famous 10-9 victory over England in Cardiff during the 1993 Five Nations.
That first cap came relatively late in his career at the age of 28 after he had trodden the boards for a number of seasons as a hooker with Ebbw Vale and Pontypool.
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Having been an unused replacement against Australia and Italy in the autumn of 1992, he was chosen to start for the Barbarians as their traditional uncapped player versus the Wallabies at Twickenham.
Then, in the new year, came his big opportunity with Wales as the incumbent No 2, Swansea’s Garin Jenkins, was suspended.
It was a tough initiation, going up against an England team that had won back-to-back Grand Slams, but the Blaina-born Meek was ready to take up the challenge.
“I felt good. I was playing well for Pontypool and I was having great feedback off John Perkins, Bobby Windsor and Ray Prosser. They helped me a lot at that time,” he recalls.
“Perky was our main coach, but Pross was still around the club in a big way as an advisor. I consider him the greatest coach of forwards ever, so having praise off Caesar is real praise indeed. If he told you he thought you were the best, it went a long way.
“I was a good scrummager, I always played with a lot of passion and I was at a club where they knew everything about forward play.”
Wales were very much the underdogs going into the England game, having lost 24-0 at Twickenham the year before.
“We weren’t given a chance, but I never felt that way,” says Meek.
“England were a great side at the time and you had to respect them, but you are representing your country in front of your own fans, so you are in with a shout.
“Alan Davies was a good coach and I thought he did a great job of motivating the boys. People were saying it was going to be a walkover, but I didn’t think that just because of the quality of a lot of the players we had.”
As one of two new caps, along with Llanelli prop Ricky Evans, Meek was very much in the spotlight.
“I remember Eddie Butler and his crew coming up to Cwmcelyn in Blaina to do an interview with me," he added. "He wanted to go on top of the mountain to film the piece. His crew were all absolutely knackered by the time they got on top!”
Then, on a Saturday afternoon in early February, the big day dawned.
“I didn’t sleep much the night before the game because Stuart Davies was snoring!” says Meek.
“The build-up was so intense, it was great to get to the ground and actually get on with it. It was a fantastic occasion, something you dream about as a Welshman, playing for your country down at Cardiff against England.
“We were introduced to Princess Diana before the anthems which is a very special memory for me considering what she went on to achieve as a humanitarian.
“Then the anthems were awesome and it was get on with the game.”
It was to be a tight old affair, with skipper Ieuan Evans’ try just before half-time proving the decisive moment, as he won the race to Emyr Lewis’ kick ahead.
“I got up from the scrum to see him flying up the field at what seemed like 100 miles an hour. It was a brilliant try, fair play, and then a great conversion by Neil Jenkins,” recalls Meek.
“Then we hung on for 40 minutes. It was hard work in that second half, a real big defensive shift.
“I remember it was so noisy. A lot of the time, I couldn’t hear the lineout calls, because the noise behind me was just deafening. I had to ask Robert (Jones) to shout a bit louder. That’s definitely one thing that stood out for me was the noise. It was incredible, crackling, so loud. We were massive underdogs, but it goes to prove the crowd can help in a big way.
“It was a very tough game, but we managed to scrape a one-point win and that will do. At international level, there’s only one thing that counts and that’s winning, any which way you can.”
During the match, there was a memorable moment of banter between Meek and England’s Welsh-born scrum-half Dewi Morris.
“What it was, a friend of mine, Anthony Robbins, who I played with for Blaina, said he knew Dewi as they had been the half-backs for Gwent Schools," he says.
“He explained how Dewi was from Crickhowell which, as the crow flies, is a couple of miles from where I live. We are basically from the same area.
“So, anyway, after a ruck or whatever during the game, he said something derogatory to me. You know what scrum-halves are like, they are always mouthing off at forwards!
“I can’t really remember what he said, but knowing he came from Crickhowell, I just pointed at my feathers and he shook his head and laughed.
“There was no malice in it. It was only a bit of fun. We had a good laugh about it afterwards, as I recall. He was a good bloke, good player.”
While Morris was a Welsh-born player representing England, it was the other way round for Llanelli second row Tony Copsey.
“I remember when the game finished, Copsey shook the hand of Wade Dooley or Martin Bayfield and said ‘It’s a good day to be Welsh’ because he had ‘Made in England’ tattooed on his a**e!”
A couple of other post-match incidents remain happy memories for the former front row man.
“I tell you what sticks out in my mind as good sportsmanship," he remembers. "After the game, we were in the bar and the England tighthead Jeff Probyn bought me and Ricky Evans a bottle of champagne to celebrate our first caps. I thought that was very nice of him.”
Then there was another act of kindness from the old pitbull, Brian Moore.
“I didn’t want to swap my jersey after the game because it was my first and in them days who knows. It might have been your last. So I wanted to keep my first Welsh jersey.
“I said to Moore ‘I don’t really want to swap mine, but I’d like to have yours!’ The look on his face, well you can imagine.
“But he came into our dressing room after and gave me his jersey, so I kept mine and I still got his. I thought that was a nice gesture by him.
“I saw him for the first time in years at Eddie Butler’s memorial in Abergavenny a few weeks ago. I had a quick chat with him there and he spoke incredibly well that afternoon.”
What then of the evening after the game back in ‘93?
“It was a long night!” says Meek.
“I remember on the journey back to the hotel, I had the microphone at the front of the bus and sung a rendition of ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot’ in my best gospel voice. Then we had a bit of Simon & Garfunkel and a load of other songs. We were all taking turns.
“As you can imagine, we were all in a very good mood, to say the least! It was great fun.
“There was plenty of celebrating that night. It was just surreal. To play for your country, against England, in Cardiff, and win, it was a fantastic experience to go through. It was awesome.
“I ended up having a drink and a singsong with JPR into the early hours. He was involved with the squad at the time as an advisor.
“I think we were last to bed, dare I say it, still celebrating. Fair play to John, he could blow the froth off a few. It was a great night.”
Unfortunately, it was be a case of after the Lord Mayor’s show in Wales’ next Championship match, away to Scotland.
“We were on cloud nine, we had beaten the great England side and two weeks later we go up to Murrayfield and had a good hiding," he added. "That’s international rugby for you.”
Meek won his third cap at home to Ireland in the following game, but that was to be the end of his Test adventure. There were, however, a number of further appearances for the Barbarians, while his club career continued for many years to come, at Newbridge, Abertillery and Blaina, only finally hanging up his boots when he was 43.
“I played for so long, I can see the 1970s team, with Graham Price running round there," he says. "Well, I played with Pricey at Pontypool.
“Then I look at Wales this last year and Dan Lydiate is there and I played with him for the Crawshays out in Romania when he was a young kid.
“If you play long enough, you get to meet and know a massive amount of people. That’s the biggest thing for me, all the friendships, that’s from the heart. It’s been superb.
“Playing for the Barbarians and Crawshays, I got to play alongside so many players from different clubs and countries. I met so many people, so many characters.
“I have made friends all over the world through this wonderful game. That is the most important thing I have got out of it, the camaraderie and the friendships.”
Now 58, former firefighter Meek currently works for his brother-in-law’s electrical firm, while also hosting occasional Q&A nights at rugby club functions.
So, three decades on, how does he look back on his Wales career and, in particular, that dream debut?
“I would have liked to have had more caps, but there are loads of other players who didn’t play once who could have been worthy of it,” he says.
“If that England game had been my only experience of playing for Wales, I would be happy with that. If you play once for your country, it’s a fantastic honour.
“To go through those nerves and those sleepless nights before the game and then to actually get out on the park, it was just an incredible experience to go through.
“I can’t believe it’s 30 years ago. It’s crazy. It feels like a decade ago, if that. Thirty years! Trouble is, it makes me feel old.
“I take a lot of pride out of having been part of a day like that. To go through that whole experience of being selected to represent your country against England, I wouldn’t swap that for the world. It was absolutely fantastic. I am just glad we won!”
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