It was 8.45am on a Sunday, after a night out at Cardiff Met University, when Luke Northmore's rugby journey took off. Having taken a year out to work at the Cornish pasty shop in Tavistock, he was a year older than most others at the student fresher's trials.
'I had half a packet of biscuits for breakfast, grabbed my boots and an old pair of shorts and went along to this freshers' fair,' he says.
'Before that, I'd spent the year playing for Tavistock Rugby Club, back home in the Devon and Cornwall League. I'd taken a year out and I was 'head baker' in the pasty shop where I'd worked part-time since I was 14.
Harlequins centre Luke Northmore has revealed how he began his rugby career
The 24-year-old has been a revelation since joining Quins and is impressing from centre
'I played for Tavistock at the weekends. It wasn't a great standard but it was always a great weekend with some of my best mates. Pint and a packet of crisps if you were man of the match!
'I went to university with no expectation of being a rugby player, to be honest. I just wanted to get a good degree and I thought maybe I'd play in the second or third team.'
A few weeks after the freshers' trial, Northmore was playing for the first team alongside Alex Dombrandt. They became a dominant force on the university circuit, but few could have predicted what happened next. After his degree, Dombrandt was signed by Harlequins and Northmore followed a year later.
Northmore began his career at Tavistock Rugby Club in the Devon and Cornwall League
He joined Quins following a successful time with university side Cardiff Met
'Alex was in the year above me but we became good mates. Cardiff Met runs a very good rugby programme. You'd train hard but we were still excited students who wanted to go out and spend all our money. Wednesday night socials, fancy dress… it was the best of both worlds.
'We'd have strength and conditioning work before lectures in the morning, then we were playing games on a Wednesday and Saturday. Alex never had a driving licence at uni, so I was pretty much his chauffeur. It wasn't until my agents, Bob Norster and Josh Channing, invited me for a coffee that the penny dropped. They instilled a bit of faith in me and said I could become a professional.
'One thing leads to another. I remember when Alex
