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Wales' Rugby World Cup captain Alun Wyn Jones is the most capped Welsh international in history.

And for one Afan Valley man, he has an extra special place in his heart — or rather, all over his back. Darren Rowley, who is from Blaengwynfi, is in the process of having the enormous tattoo of the Welsh skipper across a sizeable chunk of his body.

It shows him spanking England captain Owen Farrell over his knee. Underneath is the slightly spiky proclamation: "The only two teams I follow are Wales and whoever plays against England!"

It's an image adapted from a T-shirt he's had for a quarter of a century, and something that he's always fancied having as a tattoo. This year he finally plucked up the courage to get it done.

So far the piece has taken around 25 hours for tattooist Gavin Jones, of Black Gold Studios in the Rhondda , and it's not finished yet. Darren has to endure sessions of between three and five hours each time.

(Image: James Davies Photography)

He told us about why he's had the tattoo after all this time, and the reaction he's been getting so far.

"My wife, Bev, bought me the T-shirt about 25-years-ago and I always said I'd get a tattoo of it on my back as a joke," laughed Darren, who is a civil engineer.

After Wales won the Grand Slam in the Six Nations earlier this year Darren decided to bite the bullet and visited Gavin at his studio to see if the design, but with Jones and Farrell on it, was possible.

He added: "My skin is getting older, but my back is still good. Some parts of the tattooing are painful, like on my love handles or on the shoulder where the weather's been at it.

"It's nothing against England. They are both captains, so that's why they're on there, and to be honest I'm not a lover of Owen Farrell. Alun Wyn is brilliant."

(Image: James Davies Photography)

Darren recently returned from a holiday in Florida where he encountered a few England fans at the water park, but he said they were more than complimentary about his massive tattoo.

"You want to see the English people in the water parks," he said. "They were coming over to me and saying 'that tattoo is fantastic!'"

Tattooist Gavin said at first he thought Darren was joking about having the design.

"I thought he was wasting my time," said Gavin, who has run Black Gold for the past seven years and specialises in Japanese artwork tattoos.

"And then I was worried that I didn't want him getting beaten up for a tattoo. But he was adamant he wanted it."

(Image: Darren Rowley)

Gavin revealed that the design had to be altered to factor in Alun Wyn and Owen Farrell and when he posted a picture after the first session it got a lot of attention online.

"There was a good response, but also some negativity as they thought it was finished," he added.

"As long as Darren is happy with it, I'm happy, and that goes for all my clients.

"I just hope that for his sake, if we reach the final, we don't lose to England!"

You can see more of Gavin's work on Instagram here and also at Black Gold's new location in High Street, Treorchy, from early November.