SIXTEEN Llandovery RFC supporters are back home from Clermont Ferrand where they attended former Drover Jamie Cudmore’s last ever game for Top 14 side ASM Clermont Auvergne.
The Canadian played 23 games for the Drovers in 2002-2003 before going on to Grenoble and then Clermont to become one of the most iconic figures in the history of French rugby.
Despite moving to France in 2004, the big Canadian lock kept in close contact with players and officials – notably Llandovery President Phil Davies - and it was on Davies’s initiative that a group of Drovers travelled out to the Auvergne region to be part of a very emotional day at the famous Stade Marcel Michelin.
The stadium was full to capacity to see the 39 times capped Canadian play his last home game after 11 years of outstanding service to the club before he moves at 37 years of age to Oyonnax.
At the end of a game in which Clermont beat Stade Français 36-10 the home supporters showed their respect and admiration, love and affection for the big, honest rough and tough Canadian with a standing ovation which lasted an astonishing ten minutes.
The following day national newspaper La Montagne carried front page headlines AU REVOIR ET MERCI (Goodbye and thanks) and CLERMONT F?TE SON GUERRIER (Clermont celebrates its great old warrior) with photos of Cudmore carried around the stadium aloft on the shoulders of team mates.
The paper went on to stress the unparalleled contribution of the rugged Canadian to the success and reputation of the club who won the French Cup in 2010 and where he gained a nation-wide reputation for a no nonsense competitive spirit rarely matched.
To the delight of his Llandovery fans Cudmore waved a long goodbye inside the stadium to his Welsh friends and rejoined them after the game for a glass of beer, still surrounded like a film star by hordes of home fans who wanted photos and autographs.
Llandovery’s Phil Davies himself could not hide his emotion, a tear in his eye: "We had no idea of the esteem that everyone has for Jamie and the thunderous applause at the end of the match bowled us over but we are immensely proud that it was at Llandovery that he got his career going those many years ago."
Cudmore and his wife Jenny had entertained the Llandovery party in their home the day before the game where the wine produced by the Canadian’s own vineyard in Auvergne was in full flow.
Cudmore who carries the nickname le bûcheron – the woodcutter referring to a past occupation as well as his ability to axe people down in the tackle – was very moved the Drovers visit
"It was a wonderful club to play for, warm, kind and friendly, in love with the game and it was at Church Bank that I got the initial momentum and drive that propelled me to bigger things." said the Canadian who captains Canada this summer on their tour of Italy, Japan and Russia.
"I’ll never forget the first training session where they all wound me up by calling the line out signals in Welsh and then introduced me to Buckleys Best at the bar.
"Luckily we have kept in touch over the years but to think that a group had come over 1000 miles to see me play was really touching and only goes to further cement our regard for Wales and the Welsh."
And the day of departure from the railway station in Clermont, Cudmore was there to wave goodbye.
And as the packed train left for Paris the 16 tourists - still chorale with wine - thundered out a rousing We’ll keep a welcome in the hillside that brought admiring if puzzled applause from a packed train and a tear to the eye of the great man.