HARDY’S STAYING IN TOP GEAR
WALES squad member or not, Kieran Hardy is not one for dropping down a gear when it comes to playing week-to-week regional games.
“As players we were lucky enough to go away to play international rugby but we love playing for the Scarlets,” he says. “Our job first and foremost is to play well here.
“If other things come, that’s great. But our focus now is to put the Scarlets in the best position possible and put us in contention to play in the play-offs. We’ve spoken about how big these games are over the rest of the season and we are looking forward to the challenge.”
It’s that kind of attitude that has turned Hardy into one of Welsh rugby’s big climbers during a campaign when not much else has been on the up in the game here.
Just four years ago he was out on loan at Jersey.
Coming up to his 23rd birthday, he could easily have been forgiven for wondering if the English Championship would be as far as his talents would take him.
But negativity isn’t what he’s about.
The Pontyberem product worked ferociously hard, turning his weaknesses into strengths. He developed a running game, improved his game-management and grew up fast off the field.
Scarlets attack coach Dai Flanagan would later comment that Hardy had been on an unbelievable journey.
The adventure is still continuing, with Hardy having 11 Test caps in his locker and only recently finding himself the recipient of rich praise from ex-Wales scrumhalf Mike Phillips, who reckoned the Scarlet and Tomos Williams would be among the Lions scrumhalves were the best of British and Irish rugby picking a squad today.
“Kieran Hardy is outstanding,” said Phillips in the May edition of Rugby World. “Every time he’s stepped up he has shone. Without doubt he’s a future Lion. If you picked a Lions squad now, Williams and Hardy would be two of the nines.”
How does Hardy feel to have such a seal of approval?
Well, the first thing to say is it was breaking news to him. But he’ll take it all the same, saying: “It’s great to hear someone like Mike, a legend of the game in Wales, speaking so highly. I didn’t know he said that, so it’s a bit of a shock.
“It’s great to hear things like that but I still have to nail it every week at the Scarlets and continue to play well and ultimately try to climb the pecking order, whether that be here or with Wales. My job here comes first and I’m focused on that.”
For sure, it’s hard enough to command a starting place at No. 9 out west without contemplating a Lions tour three years hence. Hardy has Gareth Davies – himself in fine form in recent weeks – and Dane Blacker as front-line competition, while youngsters Archie Hughes, Harry Williams and Luke Davies are also on the region’s books.
With Wales, Tomos Williams is in Wayne Pivac’s squad, along with Gareth Davies and Hardy. Despite some fine form for the Ospreys, Rhys Webb hasn’t been able to make the cut.
And although Williams started four games in the Six Nations, it seems reasonable to suggest nothing is absolutely nailed down 17 months out from the World Cup. Would Hardy agree the battle for the shirt was still wide open. “I think so,” he says.
“All the nines have different strengths. We can all play differently and we complement each other. Across the board in Wales we have talent at scrum-half. You could pick numerous players to play for Wales on any given occasion, so the position is never taken for granted and you have to make sure you are playing well every week because you never know who’s playing well elsewhere and who could take your shirt.
“It’s about making sure you do your own thing every week and the team performing.”
His Wales situation wasn’t exactly harmed by a strong personal performance against England in the Six Nations backed up by another impressive effort in opposition to the world’s best rugby player, Antoine Dupont.
Unusually, the French star found himself largely shackled over the 80 minutes. Maybe Hardy, who had come on as an early replacement for the injured Williams, shaded the scrum-half contest over the 80 minutes, maybe not. But his was a creditable effort.
Not that he would say as much, with the West Walian just pleased to have been given a crack against an opponent of such quality.
“We spoke about Dupont a lot before the game and he is a special player, probably the best in the world at the moment, and it was a real challenge,” he says. “But those are the challenges you want to be involved in, the players you want to play against.
“A lot of people said he had a quiet day that day, but he still had a couple of world-class touches. You could see he’s a class player.”