WALES rugby star Ben Carter returned to the Severnside club which kickstarted his passion for the game to make a very special presentation.

The 20-year-old lock presented Caldicot RFC with one of the jerseys he wore in his senior debut for his country against Canada and Argentina in the summer internationals.

He handed the jersey to Caldicot patron and fellow Wales lock Brian Price before the start of the club’s annual general meeting last Thursday (September 30).

Ben first went along to the Longfellow Road club at abo ut the age of 10 at the suggestion of a friend.

He said: "A friend played rugby and said it was good fun and asked if I wanted to come down.

"I did and I loved it.

"The coaches we had were brilliant and made it fun and we played every week and I was addicted to it.

I wanted to give something back to a club I spent a lot of years at and kickstarted my career."

Ben, who now plays professionally as at the Dragons in Newport, also revealed how he found out that he had been selected for his first cap, against Canada.

He said: "It was an e-mail about five minutes before it was announced publicly.

"We were in the gym at the time and Elliott Dee, one of the regulars, came over and said ’you want to check your e-mails’ because he ahd just got his and I got the good news.

"It was quite overwhelming, I didn’t do much in the gym after that."

Accepting the jersey on behalf of the club, Brian, said Ben would be an inspiration to young players such as the members of the under-14 squad at the meeting.

He added: "We hope, Ben, you get many more of these and, I can tell you, you won’t be keeping many.

"They go in different ways - the people you play against will want to change jerseys with you, organisations will want a jersey off you.

"But one thing you must keep are the memories, the memories of playing in these jerserys and they can be good memories or some that are not so good...because they are all important."