The Mountain Ash second row is the only player in the current Wales squad playing in the World Rugby U20 Championship not to have been involved in regional rugby.
Two weeks before making his debut against England in the Six Nations championship, the GE Aviation apprentice was playing Division One rugby for his local club, Mountain Ash. Fast forward four months and he has now been involved in every Test match Wales U20 have played since he made his debut at Parc Eirias in February – picking up eight caps along the way.
Considering being in Tibilisi for the World Cup at the beginning of the season would have been the furthest thing from his mind, he’ll settle for a watching brief from the side lines at Avchala Stadium this afternoon.
“It’s absolutely crazy when you think about it,” he says from Wales’ hotel base. “Going from playing Division One rugby with my local rugby club Mountain Ash to representing my country, you couldn’t ask for more really. If someone had said to me at the beginning of the season I would be playing in a World Cup with Wales, I would have thought they were crazy.”
His day job involves overhauling aircraft engines and he is grateful for his employers [GE Aviation] for giving him time off for training and playing for his country.
What makes Moore’s story even more remarkable is the fact that he has flown under the radar when it comes to regional recognition during his early career.
“I don’t know why I never figured,” he says ruefully, “I didn’t even get into the Pontypridd Districts Under 15s. Last year I was captain of Mountain Ash Youth team and then this season – the last six months has gone really quick.”
“As a little kid you grow up hoping to put on the Wales jersey and to put it on is really surreal,” he says.
“I thought my chance had passed me by 100 per cent, but out of the blue I had an email to go to training – I didn’t think I was going to get in as I suffered an injury a week before the training camp and then I got called back up after the Italy game and I started against England and it’s just taken off from there,” he says.
Moore’s ultimate goal would be to gain regional recognition, but as he explains, “We’ll have to see what comes around. If nothing comes around I’ve signed for Pontypridd and I also I want to finish my apprenticeship with work so I have something to fall back on if rugby doesn’t take off for me.”
So it’s clear, one way or another, Moore will be in the engine room which ever path he chooses.
