TOM LOOKS SET TO FILL LIAM’S ROLE
GO back a couple of months to what might have been going through Tom Rogers’s head as he pounced on a loose ball against Cardiff.
It was probably only after he scooped it up and walked over for the Scarlets’ sixth try in their thrashing of the home side at the Arms Park that he considered the fact he’s likely never had easier walk-ins than this one.
Simply getting over the whitewash at all would have been a welcome feeling, too.
Before that, you had to go back to the first day of October to find the last time Rogers had crossed for a try. That day, he scored twice against the Emirates Lions.
Since then, he went eight games without touching down. That’s not the end of the world, of course.
In his breakthrough season last year, he only touched down twice – with his all-round performances doing the talking on the way to a Wales call-up. But getting over for a long-awaited score was fine reward for the 23-year-old.
Certainly, the way he performed in the second half of the campaign, tries were always going to come. He showed the kind of form that made Wayne Pivac sit up and take notice last year.
Last summer’s call-up, and the caps against Canada and Argentina that followed, wasn’t the smoothest path into Test rugby. It was undoubtedly a massive step up for someone who, at that point, had just played 15 games for the Scarlets.
There were learning curves aplenty, but it was an invaluable experience nonetheless. Since then, he’s not featured in a squad as the senior stars returned from the Lions tour of South Africa.
Such is the nature of Wales’s Test schedule for the next year or so, there’s no real way of knowing when Rogers will next be around the squad and his name wasn’t among those included in the tour party for the summer trip to South Africa.
Not that it really matters, though. Rogers will get back there at some point, you’d expect.
Maybe in the next 12 months if his performances warrant it. Maybe a little later on.
That wouldn’t be the worst thing.
After the Scarlets’ loss to the Sharks in South Africa, one of the main takeaways for those watching would have been that Rogers has a future in the game at full-back.
Taking high balls with ease, cutting devastating lines and timing passes – all things he did with aplomb against the South African outfit. It was a similar story in other games.
Throw in his devastating footwork – who could forget how he beat a Connacht player in a phone box last year to score a ridiculous try – and there’s a real player developing there.
It’s part of the reason that Scarlets fans aren’t tearing their hair out over the departure of Liam Williams to Cardiff. Granted, the Lions star didn’t turn out for the Scarlets as much as they’d have hoped in his second stint, but a player of his talent is a loss regardless.
However, it could hand Dwayne Peel the chance to push through a fresher back three.
Peel needs fresh blood coming through. And Rogers at full-back, along with a rejuvenated Ryan Conbeer on one of the wings, forms two-thirds of a back three that can cause damage from week to week.
Exciting times lie ahead.