DARREN Hughes succeeded with the old one-two combo on Sunday afternoon – winning in the boxing ring in Gilfach Goch before packing a punch off the bench in Cross Keys' Principality Premiership victory at Carmarthen Quins.

The 25-year-old from Tredegar was in the blue corner at 1pm to beat Sandro Ford with a unanimous 3-0 success in the quarter-finals of the Welsh Elite Championships super heavy competition.

And then the hooker was in the black corner at 4pm after dashing over to Carmarthen Park to be a replacement in Keys' terrific 24-19 win against their rivals for the playoffs.

"It was really tough and I'm still aching from head to toe," said Hughes, who has followed bricklayer-turned-Wales international Lloyd Burns and Gerwyn Price, who gave up rugby to become a darts professional, in wearing the number 2 jersey at Pandy Park.

"I had the adrenaline spike before the fight and it was obviously tiring during it. Then there was an adrenaline crash and it was tough to get the energy levels back up.

"I was expecting around 10 or 20 minutes in Carmarthen but then came on for most of the second half and it was a really hard game as well."

Hughes will do it all over again this weekend with Saturday's Swalec Cup quarter-final followed by Sunday's semi-final bout against Coed Eva's Lee Misljen.

And the aim is for another double that would earn him a place in the WABA finals night at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on April 3 – the day before Keys' crunch derby against Newport at Rodney Parade.

It's a hectic schedule for Hughes, who fits in the sports alongside working for the family salvage business.

On Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays he is at the Heads of the Valleys Boxing Club and on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays he is on Keys duty.

And Hughes is pleased to have matched the efforts of his fellow boxing rugby player Byron Hayward, the former Wales international who is now defence coach at the Scarlets.

He said: "Byron said that he used to do it, boxing on a Friday and playing on a Saturday but he was an outside half and I'm a forward!

"I've boxed since I was 10 or 11 and it's been tough trying to do both over the years, usually I've fitted boxing in at the end of the rugby season.

"I entered the championships before when I was at Newbridge but got injured playing rugby and had to pull out. I decided to have a go again and have been training since before Christmas and, touch wood, I've been pretty good with injuries.

"It's tough doing it six days a week and I'm out from morning to night but I'm really enjoying it."