Wales' next debutant was looking for other jobs two years ago
Wales' next debutant has had a remarkable journey to earning his first cap
Liam Belcher walks out to Wales training in Kitakyushu
(Image: Chris Fairweather/Huw Evans Agency )
"When I congratulated him, he said 'I owe you a pint'," says Matt Sherratt as he talks about Liam Belcher's potential first cap on Saturday. "I said I'll remember that after this tour."
I ask if the offer of a round is something of a rarity from the Cardiff skipper. "It is off him," jokes the interim Wales coach. The pair, as you'd expect for club coach and captain, share a strong bond.
They are both affable personalities, who find time for a laugh amongst the serious stuff. It's rare you see Belcher without a smile on his face, while Sherratt noticeably lifted the mood in the Six Nations.
There are, seemingly, other similarities. In a video by the WRU earlier in the week, back-row Alex Mann asked Belcher who was taller out of the hooker and Sherratt. A definitive answer wasn't exactly offered.
But jokes aside, there's no doubt in Sherratt's mind over just how much Belcher deserves to get on the pitch against Japan in Kitakyushu this weekend.
"Genuinely, from my angle, there's not a player in Welsh rugby who deserves his chance more than Liam," adds Sherratt. "When he's been captaining his region, these last two or three years, he's been really consistent.
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"He's just been missing out. I think he got injured during the last squad announcement when there were some injuries and he maybe had a chance to get in.
"I haven't asked him this because I haven't spoken to him a huge amount about it, but I'm sure he thought his chance maybe had gone."
Only Belcher will know for sure whether he thought a Wales cap had passed him by. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack for the exclusive five-week tour diary from Japan and Australia.
The twists and turns of a professional career in rugby haven't always been kind to the 29-year-old, conspiring to edge him out of the game, but he's persevered. And yet, despite all the hard work, the Cardiff captain might have been forgiven for thinking that being a club favourite - as he undeniably is at the Arms Park - would be as high as he would scale.
When Sherratt named the squad for the summer, Belcher wasn't frantically glued to his phone in expectation.
Instead, he was asleep in bed - feeling under the weather after ending the season with two weeks in South Africa.
"He was in South Africa when we did selection," says Sherratt. "We Zoomed on selection literally a couple of days before our last game, when all the teams were in South Africa.
"Liam actually pulled his calf and missed the Bulls game. But we knew it was a one or two-week injury. It was announced when we got back.
"He had a bit of lurgy from South Africa so when he woke up, he found out the news."
Upon finding out he was on the bench, Belcher was wide awake this time. There was a bit of a smile, but, as Sherratt notes, he's a "pretty laidback character".
That said, he's given everything to get to this point.
"The reaction from everyone, from all the Cardiff players - past and present - has been massive, just because they know the work he puts in," says Sherratt. "Genuinely with Liam, I go into work at 7ish every day at Cardiff and he's throwing against the posts.
"He weighs his own food, he cooks his own food, he does everything he can do to maximise his ability. He's been on a little bit of a journey with his career, with being released (to the Dragons in 2016).
"He maybe thought his career was coming to an end and planned another career route. I think he was going to be a groundsman at one stage, and an electrician."
Having already overcome one departure from Cardiff, another looked on the cards in 2023 when the Arms Park side didn't have enough money to offer contracts to key players. A dozen, including Belcher, were offered terms far lower than they were on.
Yet, come the start of the next pre-season, Belcher was still one of eight or so putting in the hard yards on the training pitch.
"He's come back to Cardiff and worked for the captaincy," adds Sherratt. "So for him to get in the squad and have a chance of winning his first cap is fantastic. I know his family and everyone close to him is really proud. He deserves it massively.
"The reaction from the squad, the lads from Cardiff and people he's played with in the past has been phenomenal."
In Sherratt's eyes, Belcher represents a true club man. After what has been a few testing years for Welsh rugby, you wouldn't be surprised to find that Belcher has been putting his electrician training to good use on the lights at the Arms Park.
"The low lighting," Sherratt quickly adds, going back to the hooker's height.
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Come Saturday, if and when he gets on, it will be the opposite. For the man who might have felt a Wales cap had passed him by, this will be a highlight.
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