Colin Charvis is an icon of Welsh rugby, a household name in the early 2000s, a British & Irish Lion with his trademark curly hair and persona.
An immovable rock in back row of the Welsh team, tackling hard and scoring tries. He scored 22 times for Wales. He was also the first black person to captain his country.
Born in Sutton Coldfield in December 1972, Charvis played rugby as a youngster for local sides before beginning his professional club career in 1992 with London Welsh during his studies at the University of Westminster.
Equally adept at flanker or Number Eight, he moved to Swansea In 1995, where he would spend the longest part of his career and at the same time making the city his spiritual home.
Stand-out performances for Swansea lead to a first international cap for Wales against Australia in 1996 and he went on to win 94 caps, making him at the time the second most capped player for his country.
Having featured in the 1999 Rugby World Cup, Charvis captained Wales in the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
After a spell away from international rugby, his blistering form for the Dragons at Rodney Parade throughout the 2006-2007 season saw him named in the touring squad to Australia in May 2007.
He appeared in both Tests and following the tour, Charvis was named in the preliminary 2007 Rugby World Cup training squad. Charvis made a try-scoring substitute appearance in Wales's opening Pool B match against Canada and made the starting line-ups for the pool clashes with Australia, Japan and Fiji.
His club career with Swansea lasted until 2003 when changes in the Welsh club structure saw him without a contract in the period of the Rugby World Cup in the same year.
He moved briefly to Tarbes in France and to the Newcastle Falcons in England, where he was named captain.
Charvis joined the Dragons in 2006, making his debut for the club in a pre-season friendly against the Cornish Pirates.
His impact was clear with Dragons winning 14 of the 26 games he was involved in. He would make 25 appearances over the following two seasons, becoming a cult hero with those on the terraces at Rodney Parade.
Charvis was appointed to a player/coach role at Dragons in July 2008., however, due to injuries in the playing squad, he later returned to the team and played a number of matches during the 2008/09 season.
After stepping away from the game, Charvis is now a regular rugby union pundit, popular after dinner speaker and successful businessman.
