When Sir Clive Sinclair revealed he was working on an electrically powered pedal car known as the C5, it was widely hailed as the next big thing.
Not that long after, one was spotted in filthy conditions on the Leckwith roundabout in Cardiff. It was small and exposed, with the driver looking petrified as lorries whizzed past with spray shooting up off the road and into his face. You kind of reasoned, then, that the C5 wasn’t going to prove a winner, after all.
It doesn’t always have to work out along those lines. Sometimes the hype is justified.
READ MORE: Wales' 10 greatest rugby players
The same principles apply in sport. Rich promise occasionally delivers; on other occasions it doesn’t, with fate perhaps taking a hand. We look, then, at players who were tipped to be the next big thing in Welsh rugby, future superstars of the game, and assess how all concerned fared.
Some justified the hype, others less so.
Scott Quinnell
It doesn’t seem that long ago that a rampaging Quinnell charged through a touring Japan Youth’s defence from a tapped penalty, with the visiting players seemingly waiting for one of their team-mates to have a go at stopping the giant Welsh No. 8 — no one did. Then there were the four tries for Wales Youth against England Colts in 1991, a match that saw one watching RFU committeeman describe Quinnell as a “colossus”.
There was huge hype around the young giant from west Wales. Welsh rugby was in one of its periodic downturns and pretty much all were looking to the next generation for hope.
Quinnell helped Wales to a Five Nations title in 1994, only to leave for rugby league not long after. But he returned within two years and went on to complete 50 caps for his country and tour with the Lions. In Australia with the best of British and Irish rugby, local journalists were awed by his ability to go forward with ball in hand.
Verdict : Fitness issues hampered him, but after his return from 13-a-side he became one of Wales’ key players, a ball carrier as good as any. He delivered, then.
Cory Allen
“It hardly seems fair for Wales to unearth another back with the size of Goliath and accuracy of David’s slingshot but that is just what they have done in Cory Allen.” So wrote a dispatch from The Rugby Paper’s man at the Hong Kong Sevens in 2013.
A couple of years later Allen scored a hat-trick for Wales in a World Cup match against Uruguay. With his pace and power, he looked set for a long Test future and he started well at the Ospreys after leaving Cardiff.
There was even a suggestion that he might force himself into contention for the last World Cup. But an injury on regional duty proved a bad one and he hasn’t been seen on a pitch in more than two-and-a-half years.
Verdict: So much potential, but he'll feel cursed by bad luck.
Gavin Henson
Anyone who watched Henson in his early days at Swansea could not have failed to have been impressed. John Plumtree, now a member of New Zealand’s coaching team, was team boss of the Whites when the then youngster received a high pass, pirouetted and fired over a drop-goal from 45 metres. I said to myself: ‘Naas Botha,” Plumtree commented later, comparing Henson with the legendary Springbok.
Henson could kick a ball further than some people go on holidays, he improved his defence as the years went by and he could glide past opponents.
Like Johnny Wilkinson, he also had the misfortune of multiple injuries. Unlike Wilkinson, his focus on rugby seemed to drift at the mid-point of his career. But at his peak he was a superlative player.
Verdict: Star quality, without a doubt, but his best days were over way too quickly.
Matthew Morgan
‘Every legend has a beginning’ ran a Welsh Rugby Union advert for a Wales age-grade match. Accompanying the line was an image of Matthew Morgan.
He’d been seen regularly on TV at the point, scoring coast-to-coast tries for Swansea RFC. There were steps, shimmies, pace and guile. Many caps seemed likely to follow, and, in another era, many probably would have come Morgan’s way.
But the Cardiff player is 30 later this month and has played just five times for Wales at senior level. His defence has been called into question and when he played against Fiji at the last World Cup his decision to attack from deep startled Warren Gatland. “My heart was in my mouth when he ran from under the posts,” the then Wales coach said later. Morgan didn't play for Gatland again.
But he remains box-office, a player who can score wonderful tries.
Verdict : The Wales script didn’t quite pan out as many had expected.
Arwel Thomas
Rewind, if you will, to Thomas playing for Neath in a friendly against Maesteg in the early 1990s. There were sidesteps, dummies and feints in an all-round package of mesmerising skills. Those present would have left believing they had witnessed a player who would go on and do special things with Wales.
He did play for his country, of course, and there were some extraordinary moments. Thomas had class and grace, allied to a top-class kicking game.
His display for Swansea against Llanelli in the 1999 Welsh Cup final was on a different level as he walked off with the man-of-the-match award. But at national level Graham Henry cast doubt over his defensive qualities and eventually settled for Neil Jenkins as his No. 10, with Thomas playing his last Test for Wales at the age of 26. It was too soon for a classy performer to see his international days ended so abruptly.
Verdict : A fly-half who could bewitch opponents; a relatively modest haul of 23 caps didn’t fully reflect his quality.
Harry Robinson
“Watch Harry Robinson.” So advised Shane Williams after playing against the then youngster for the Barbarians against Wales in 2012. “He’s going to be a really good player.”
The small, quick and elusive Robinson had been outstanding that day, scoring a try, beating defenders and making 95 metres with ball in hand. It didn’t take a great leap of imagination to think that here was a player out of the Williams mould who would serve Wales well for the rest of the decade.
But fate refused to play ball. By the age of 23, Robinson had retired with a neck injury.
Verdict: A shooting star denied the chance to burn brightly for long.
James Hook
Former England captain Nigel Melville had headed for Worcester on a scouting mission to watch a young English prop. He left singing the plaudits of a Welsh fly-half.
The No. 10 who impressed Melville that day was James Hook, playing for Wales U21 against their England counterparts. The hosts may have won the game, but Hook shone.
He was, said Melville, “the architect, always looking for opportunities to run the ball, looking for space and playing what he saw, not some prejudged game sent on from the sidelines. He was prepared to back himself, recognise opportunities and take them. It was most refreshing. Hook is a player with a big future.”
He went on to win 81 caps for Wales and was popular with supporters at every club or region he played. Warren Gatland kept moving him around the houses, though, with Hook starting as fly-half, centre and full-back for Wales, and even coming off the bench as a wing once or twice. You can read more about the former Osprey here.
Verdict: A joybringer who played the game as he saw it, he enjoyed a long Test career, being part of two Grand Slam sides, and so delivered. It would have been good to have seen more of him at No. 10 for Wales, mind. Without doubt.
Dafydd Howells
Shaun Edwards had attended a tournament in Grenoble with Wales U18s and phoned Neath coach Patrick Horgan to say Howells had something special about him. Not a man who’s easily pleased, Edwards had nonetheless been blown away by the teenager’s speed and elusive running.
He reckoned the kid should be in Wales’ senior squad for that summer’s tour of Japan. And so it was that a few months later, the back-three player was running out in Osaka to win a Wales cap at the age of 18 years and 78 days — so young he had his school books with him on the trip. Another cap followed in the second Test.
Then? Nothing. Well, nothing more at Test level at least.
Injuries piled up for the likeable Howells, preventing him from truly realising his potential. After spells at the Ospreys and Dragons, he opted out of professional rugby last year, resurfacing at Ebbw Vale in the Wels Premiership. He was only 26.
“I’ve been unlucky,” he told WalesOnline at the time. “I’ve had six operations over the years. I had my left shoulder done in 2013 and my right one went in 2017; in between, I had my hamstring worked on in 2015. My right shoulder went again in 2018, then I hurt my elbow in 2019, and then I had a home accident before Covid, cutting a tendon in my hand with a saw.
“And there have been niggles along the way. It is what it is. I don’t blame anyone.”
Some adversity just happens. Howells deserved better.
Verdict: So much potential but it wasn’t meant to be.
Tom Prydie
A history maker who became the youngest player to play for Wales when he made his Test debut in 2010 at the age of 18 years and 25 days. A few months later he was running out on the wing to face a New Zealand side who included Joe Rokocoko, Conrad Smith, Dan Carter, Keiran Read, Brad Thorn and Richie McCaw in their ranks.
Too much too young? Some would say so.
Prydie was being asked to jump from A to Z in his development, skipping the rugby equivalent of 24 letters in between. He won another senior cap in Japan in 2013 and a couple on tour in 2018 and went on to enjoy his time with the Scarlets, in particular, but the jury remains out on whether it was wise to cap the talented and quick lad from Porthcawl so early in his career.
Verdict: Wales should have let Prydie develop at his own pace.
