Hewitt puts his hands up for spot in Wales squad

ASHTON Hewitt has spent much of the past few months standing up to be counted, weaving in and out of social media spats and doing down the trolls who have been baiting him for daring to speak out about something he believes in.

On Friday evening on a rugby field in Dublin, he simply stood out.

Well, stood out in a Dragons side that in many other respects came up short against Leinster.

On the day of the game at the RDS Hewitt had once again been in the news with some powerful writing on the Guinness PRO14’S official website, telling of the racism he had experienced, his views on the Black Lives Matter movement and how he had been heartened by the support he’d received from the Dragons and beyond.

It was an exceptional effort in many respects.

Then the 25-year-old went and reminded us that he is developing into a quite exceptional rugby player.

It wasn’t just the try he scored against Leinster in a 35-5 defeat.

At one point he also tracked back to hunt down Jordan Larmour with the-ireland international sniffing his second touchdown.

And Hewitt later sliced through the home cover with a run that left any number of home defenders clutching handfuls of thin air.

In shining in adversity he surely would have impressed Wales coach Wayne Pivac, it being one thing to look good when a team is playing well, quite another to front up when it’s all going haywire collectively.

And it did go badly for the Dragons.

Aaron Wainwright gave it his best shot, Nick Tompkins did what Nick Tompkins does and Jonah Holmes was much more in credit than not.

But Hewitt caught the eye the most for the visitors.

His was an effort that should ensure he figures prominently in the deliberations for a backthree berth in the Wales squad that’s being announced this week.

Leigh Halfpenny and Liam Williams – fitness permitting – can expect to be included along with Josh Adams and George North.

It then gets more complicated, with five others likely to be battling for four places in Hewitt, Louis Rees-zammit, Steff Evans, Hallam Amos and Holmes.

But Hewitt put his hand up in Dublin. Just maybe, it could prove enough.