Rugby Sheedy told to hit the ‘reset button’ by Wales coach Pivac
BRISTOL Bears fly-half Callum Sheedy has been told to have the summer off and hit the “reset button” by Wales head coach Wayne Pivac.
Sheedy, 26, has 16 caps for Wales and featured three times off the bench during the 2022 Guinness Six Nations, however men’s head coach Wayne Pivac has opted to leave him out of the summer tour to South Africa.
Instead, Pivac has opted to take Northampton Saints’ Dan Biggar, who has also been named captain again, along with Osprey’s Gareth Anscombe and Scarlets’ Rhys Patchell as his stand-off options as part of a 33-player squad for the three-Test series against the Springboks in July
Asked by BBC Scrum 5 why Sheedy had been left out this summer, having been an apparent favourite of the New Zealander, Pivac explained: “Callum’s coming off a shoulder injury.
“Going to South Africa, there is no hiding anybody defensively. A lot of big men are going to come down that channel. We’ve asked Callum to go back, work, get himself back to 100 per cent fitness, get himself into the gym.
“Pat Lam (Bristol Bears director of rugby) is across what he needs to do, so there’s been some good discussions there.
“Stephen (Jones, Wales attack coach) had a good chat with Callum. He’ll have the off-season to hit the reset button, if you like, and come back out and push for the autumn, like a lot of players.”
Despite talk of a shoulder issue, Sheedy has been named to start against Exeter Chiefs tonight in round 25 of the Gallagher Premiership
season and the Bristol Post understands the Welshman has been playing with a minor niggle for most of the season without it impacting his game.
In the Premiership this year, according to the league’s official stats, Sheedy’s defence is justifiably an area that could be improved with just a 71 per cent tackle success rate, while his Wales rival Biggar has made 87 per cent of his tackles.
The holiday part of the off-season is going to be relatively short for the Bears squad, with the players set to return to the first day of pre-season on July 4, although they will likely have further chunks of time off before the season ramps up back in September.
Charles Piutau and Luke Morahan return to the Bears starting XV tonight.
Lam makes five changes for the Bears’ final home game of the season against the play-off chasing Chiefs, with Alapati Leiua, on his final appearance at Ashton Gate, switching to inside centre and Steven
Luatua captaining the side from No 8. Dave Attwood and John Afoa, also playing at home for the final time, both start in the pack, as the Bears look to sign off the season in style.
Immediately after full-time, the club will honour its 11 departing players with a jersey presentation on the pitch.
Bristol: Charles Piutau; Luke Morahan, Piers O’Conor, Alapati Leiua, Toby Fricker; Callum Sheedy, Harry Randall; Jake Woolmore, Harry Thacker, John Afoa, Dave Attwood, Joe Joyce, Chris Vui, Sam Jeffries, Steven Luatua.
Replacements: Bryan Byrne, Jono BenzSalomon, Jake Armstrong, Fitz Harding, Dan Thomas, Andy Uren, Ioan Lloyd, Jack Bates.