We’ve all heard of a game of two halves… well, Lee Prince has led a sporting life of two halves.

That’s because the 35-year-old didn’t start playing the sport that has become a big part of his life, until he reached the age of 18.

That sport is rugby and rather like Homer Simpson and Duff beer, once he got a taste for it he couldn’t get enough of it.

He’s been playing for Westbury-on-Severn for all those years and is the club captain of the Gloucester Three side, although injury has forced him to take a watching brief in recent weeks.

Considering how much he has put into the club and sport that he loves it seems remarkable that the one-time Newent School pupil didn’t take up the sport at an earlier age.

“I used to play football when I was at school,” said Prince, “although I wouldn’t say I was much good at it. I wasn’t in the school team, but I was a bit small to play rugby in those days.”

So how did he fall in love with oval ball game?

“A few friends dragged me down to watch Westbury play,” said Prince, an electrician who lives in Newent. “I’d watched them a few times and then one day they were short so I ended up playing on the wing. That was for their 2nd XV. I managed to get through the game and I ended up playing for the 2nds for a year.”

So far, so good, so what happened next?

“They put me in the 1st XV,” he laughed. “We had quite a good team in those days, I think we were in Gloucester Two or Gloucester One. I was fast, that was my strength.”

Quick he may have been, but his rapid progress was slowed when he suffered a broken thumb.

“That kept me out for six weeks,” he said, “and when I came back they put me in the back row, I don’t know why. It’s a big difference from playing on the wing, but I loved it and I’ve been there ever since.”

He’s also been at Westbury ever since making those first tentative steps on a rugby field at the turn of the century, and he certainly doesn’t regret it for a minute even though he was offered the chance to play for Cheltenham North at one time.

“The reason I’ve never left Westbury is because of the atmosphere at the club,” he said. “We’re not a team that win all the time and for us it’s not all about winning trophies, we enjoy playing together; that’s what sport is all about.”

Those early days in the back row were spent at openside.

“My pace and my tackling were the things that I was good at,” Prince added. “I wasn’t afraid to tackle and I didn’t miss many.

“I’ve been playing blindside for the past couple of years, I’m a bit slower now. I haven’t got the time to train these days and we’ve got lots of young boys who can run around and play openside.”

Sadly, Prince isn’t playing any rugby at all at the moment – “My knee’s knackered and I’ve stopped playing for the season,” he said – but he’s still heavily involved with the club and will certainly have a part to play as the club plot a route out of their division.

“We’re rebuilding,” he said. “A lot of the older more experienced guys have retired, so we’re building again from scratch.

“We’ve got a young team and hopefully in a few years we can be on the way back up.

“I think we could play in Gloucester One, it’s just getting there that is the problem!”

And if they do, don’t be surprised to see a young Prince in their starting line-up some time in the early 2030s.

“My son James is only four but he already likes rugby,” said his proud dad. “He’s quite well built and I think he’ll be a back row. He already likes tackling me!”

And dad would like nothing more than one day to line up in the same team as his son – and that may not be as fanciful as it sounds.

“Our chairman Ken Boulton is a prop and he still sits on the bench. He’s 70-plus,” laughed Prince.