British & Irish Lions memories: Alex Cuthbert on moving from second tier university to Test Lion 2013 in two years | Rugby Union News
“Alex Cuthbert! Can there be a better feeling than that for a youngster? Bold and powerful again, and for Lions fans also wonderful.”
Permanent words Sky Sports commentator Miles Harrison last time the British and Irish Lions toured Australia in 2013, when new face 23-year-old Cuthbert powered and slalomed his way for a stunning try in the opening Test – the decisive result in a vital 23-21 win.
The Lions have existed as a call-up team at the pinnacle of rugby since 1888, and in 137 years of touring against the best in the southern hemisphere, only 124 men have scored Tests in New Zealand, South Africa or Australia.
Of those, 42 were Welsh, while 35 players from Great Britain and Ireland scored tries in the Lions Test in Australia. Only 18 Welshmen have scored for the Lions against the Wallabies in human history. Cuthbert is part of an extremely exclusive club.
However, just two years before he achieved what few in his sport can, Cuthbert was playing for second place at Cardiff Met University. He did not make his professional debut at any level until September 2011 for Cardiff – 21 months before the 2013 Lions Test opener – and says he watched the Lions’ previous tour against South Africa in 2009 in the sevens tournament in Bath after playing for the team under by name Robbers in front of almost no observers.
As meteoric rises go, Cuthbert’s was phenomenal. “It was pretty crazy,” he says Sky Sports Lions will return to Australia.
“I was 19 when I played for the Wales Sevens for the first time, I signed for Cardiff’s academy and in my second year, when I was 21, I was called up to the senior team. Two months later I played against Australia for my first Test in the last Shane Williams.
“We won the Grand Slam in 2012, I scored the winning try against France. The next year we won the championship, I scored two tries against England, then I played for the Lions and won the series. It was crazy.
“I never really sat still and thought about what I was doing. It was just, ‘I guess this is what you do, right? If I keep doing what I’m doing, this will just keep going.’ ‘ That’s probably why I did so well. I didn’t think too much, I was free in the games.
“It got me to a point of success so quickly. When I think about it now, it’s amazing.
“I don’t know how many times it happens to people, but it was an amazing experience. I have no regrets. I’ve achieved a lot in my rugby career and the Lions will probably always be top.”
‘Nothing as emotional as the feeling of going on a Lions tour’
Cuthbert exploded onto the scene as an athletic, powerful winger with deceptive pace. At 6’5″, he was an extremely physical specimen in the back line and defenses struggled to contain his direct runs and hunger for tries.
His path in rugby was also unconventional. The eldest of two boys, Cuthbert admits that although his father played rugby, he himself did not take the sport seriously until his late teens. Instead, he had an athletic background, with horse riding, football and triathlons. Rugby came later.
But in March 2013, Cuthbert’s Welsh day culminated in his 18th game, scoring two dramatic second-half tries on a day when Wales needed to beat Grand Slam-chasing England in Cardiff by more than seven points to steal the Six Nations title.
Wales cruised to a stunning 30-3 win and Cuthbert revealed he produced the performance of his life with a 30th-minute grade two hamstring tear – an injury severe enough to sideline him until the Lions tour three months later.
Warren Gatland, the man who gave Cuthbert his Test debut, was in charge of the Lions for the first time in 2013, but despite that, the winger was overcome with emotion when he heard he had joined his team from Cardiff – mates.
“I was one of the first names because it went alphabetically. I just couldn’t believe it.
“I immediately thought how everything happened so quickly. All within two years of playing professional rugby.
“It was the biggest moment of my career. Being in the team room and having my name announced, I don’t think you get anything as emotional as that. It’s the highlight. It has to be.
“I remember going out to the parking lot to call my dad and I completely forgot that he would be watching on TV too. He was waiting for me to call him. It was just one of those real emotional calls.
“If someone asked me, ‘which game got you on the tour?’, I would have to say the England game. I don’t know how I did it, my tendon was hanging. I was lucky I didn’t tear it completely and be out of the tour.
“When it all calmed down the next day, my hammy was screaming. It was pure adrenaline and the atmosphere got me through. It’s the best atmosphere I’ve ever been a part of.”
‘I was riding the wave and I wasn’t scared at all – the Lions support was wild’
Heading into the tour, Cuthbert competed with compatriot George North, Ireland’s Tommy Bowe and Simon Zeb and Scotland’s Sean Maitland for two starting spots in the first Test.
When Bowe broke his arm after the third tour, Cuthbert’s chances increased exponentially, but he still wasn’t convinced.
“Tommy being injured might have given me more hope, but I wasn’t sure. When Gatland announced that, he was trying to keep my emotions in check.
“I was really looking forward to it, I wasn’t nervous or anything. It was more of a shock to see my name on the screen.
“All week doing press, you realize how big the Lions are. Everywhere we went, there was a sea of red. The day of the game was crazy, the amount of fans cheering us on the bus, to the stadium. It was wild.
“You look around at who you’re with and you know this is the pinnacle. Alun Wyn Jones, Paul O’Connell, Brian O’Driscoll, Johnny Sexton. All those top players and I were thinking, ‘Two years ago I was a college player.’
“I wasn’t scared at all. I was so young and new to international rugby, I was just riding the wave. I was so confident, not arrogant, but sure of myself. I would do anything.”
Eight minutes into the second half of that Test in Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium, Cuthbert’s eternal Lions moment came.
After making a loop from his right wing, he took Sexton’s pass on the run to speed past Michael Hooper, then left James O’Connor, Kurtley Beale and Will Genia in his wake as each defender managed only a cursory grab. The Welshman was soon surrounded by his Lions teammates.
“I see that attempt everywhere,” says Cuthbert. “YouTube, Instagram, they send it to me, I’m tagged on it probably once a week! It’s stuck with me forever.
“It was perfect timing, a great pass from Sexton and I went straight through. It was one of those where I knew I was in if I passed first. I wasn’t looking anywhere else.
“It went like slow motion and then everything hits you: the atmosphere, the realization of the importance of trying, it was a feeling. Probably my favorite.”
‘I left the tour feeling damaged – Lions Test selections ruthless’
From that ultimate highlight, Bowe’s miraculous recovery – working overtime with a surgeon and physio to return from a six-to-eight-week injury in just three weeks – led Gatland to demonstrate the relentless nature of the Lions selection.
His interceptor was on the bench and failed to get into the game as the Lions lost the second Test by just one point. For the decisive third Test, Cuthbert was left out entirely – something almost impossible to predict two weeks earlier.
“I came back from that tour exhausted that I wasn’t involved in the later tests. Warren took on Tommy Bowe’s experience.
“Looking back now, it was probably a pretty obvious decision at the time, but I felt like I was playing the best rugby I’ve ever played in terms of my finishing and the way I hit the ball and the attempts I scored.
“I felt hurt and I spoke to Warren about it. That’s what people don’t realize: it’s all well and good to be picked in the squad, which is amazing, but to get into the Test on 23rd.
“You go there thinking you’re the best but, in theory, you’re only the best in Wales. It’s fierce competition.
“I had the chance for that first Test and I felt like I did enough. It’s relentless.
“It was funny because I was in the room with Tommy and after the first test I was buzzing. Obviously I have a good chance to start again in the second. Tommy finished training on Monday and I knew straight away, ‘I’m in trouble, he could be for my place’.
“I learned a lot from Tommy and he was a really good guy about it and it worked out. We were there to win and I’m not that selfish. That’s what we all wanted and we got it in the end.
“I was glad to be part of a game to remember and to score the winning try, that’s probably one of the most important memories.”
His advice for the Lions in 2025? Accept everything.
“Sometimes you can get caught in professional rugby where you’re just very focused and you don’t see the bigger picture. You don’t really enjoy it.
“I would say to the players, ‘really believe in the experience of the Lions’. I did and I had the best two months of my life.
“That’s really everything to me. My goal was to announce myself on that stage. To be part of a winning streak, that’s something I’ll always remember.”
