Wales star breaks down in tears during interview as she reveals she almost walked away from rugby 12 months ago

Wales scrum-half Ffion Lewis proudly wears her heart on her sleeve and is not afraid to show her true emotions. You need only watch her scoring a try or match-winning celebrations to know that.

But with the ups come the downs, and 25-year-old full-time professional Lewis - who left her job as a PE and Welsh teacher in January to follow her rugby dream - couldn't avoid getting emotional when she looked back to this time last year when she considered walking away from the sport she has loved since the age of six.

Ahead of Wales' Six Nations clash with England this Saturday, Lewis looked back to her last day as a teacher in January before she became a full-time professional Wales player and how she got emotional when reflecting on how she almost gave up rugby this time last year. She was recovering from shoulder surgery and had fallen out of favour with Wales selectors, but has now become a key player who holds a strong presence in Wales' team.

On her last day of teaching at Bishop Hedley High School in Merthyr Tydfil at the turn of 2022, she reflected: "On the back of not being selected for the 2021 Six Nations, I was in a position where I didn't know where I was going to take my rugby, I honestly didn't know whether I was going to continue playing. I was in a difficult place where I'd been knocked down a lot and told I wasn't good enough. The Six Nations took its toll on me. Do I want to keep putting myself through this mentally?"

Luckily the scrum-half, who starts against England as Wales seek a third successive win on Saturday, was brought back from the international wilderness by new head coach Ioan Cunningham last autumn and impressed so much she was awarded a full-time WRU contract, with her school allowing her to