Hardy’s hard work rewarded with Wales squad call

TO use his own words, Kieran Hardy has never had anything given to him.

As a teenager, he trained relentlessly with the Scarlets whilst playing for Carmarthen Quins. He was not contracted and was not getting paid but he had a desire to learn.

His persistence paid off when he was awarded an academy contract and he eventually made a senior debut for his home region in 2014.

But with such limited opportunity to impress and a career that was threatening to stagnate, the Carmarthen-born scrumhalf flew the nest for the first time, joining Jersey Reds in the English Championship in 2016.

“In hindsight, I probably wasn’t anywhere near good enough to play regional level at that point,” admits the scrum-half. “But I think I realised that and there were areas of my game I needed to work on.”

The regular game-tyjtime paid off, with Hardy developing at a rate of knots in English rugby’s second tier.

“I wanted to challenge myself and see how good I could be,” said Hardy, who also cited an improvement in his game management.

“The aim was just to improve areas of my game which meant I wasn’t good enough to play regional rugby at the time.

“Before I went to Jersey, I wouldn’t have considered myself a massive running threat.

“That was a big part of my game that I needed to have a look at and look for opportunities to do things around that.

“I worked alongside Harvey Biljon out there, who is an ex-scrum-half, so having him look at my game every week and having some pointers from him ultimately made me much better.”

Then of course, there are the off-field implications of living away from home for the first time.

Hardy moved in with four of his new Jersey teammates, making the transition a little smoother.

The tight-knit nature of the group – Hardy referred to it as a family – also helped.

But they were still his first steps into what is often referred to as the ‘real world’ as he had to look after himself at the same time.

“It’s definitely made me a better person, that move in general. I moved away from my family and I was only 19,” Hardy insists.

“I obviously had to look after myself. I grew in confidence with that.

“The only thing you can do when you’re on your own is look after yourself. It was difficult for the first couple of weeks because I wasn’t used to it.

“In the long-term, as a person, I massively benefited from that journey.”

He added: “I was hoping that the door wasn’t closing on regional rugby in Wales, but ultimately I just wanted a career as a professional rugby player,” he said.

“At the time, I just felt that was the best opportunity for me to get better.”

Hardy is under the impression that nobody back in Wales was keeping tabs on him whilst he was plying his trade in the Channel Islands.

But somebody in Llanelli must have been paying attention.

Two years after letting the Pontyberem product walk out the door, the Scarlets were calling him back.

After two years at Jersey, Biljon told then-scarlets head coach Wayne Pivac that Hardy was now a totally different player to the one they’d let go. And so it transpired. “His journey has been unbelievable,” said Scarlets attack coach Dai Flanagan. “When I started here many moons ago, he was training with the academy but he wasn’t contracted. He wasn’t getting paid.

“He would just train everyday, alongside playing for Carmarthen Quins, and he would sit down with the coaches and learn how to get better.

“Then he earned the right to get a contract for the year after but wasn’t selected.

“He then put his head down in the correct way. He went away, backed himself, worked hard out in Jersey and was rightly given the opportunity to come back.

“Not only did he come back a better player but it was how rounded he was as a person. Now, he’s pushing Gareth Davies as hard as he is.

“It’s fully deserved. He’s been an outstanding player in the last 18 months and I’m excited to see him given the opportunity at the next level and see what he can do.”

Since Hardy’s return to Parc y Scarlets, he has seen off Scotland international Sam Hidalgo-clyne and is now a credible challenger to Davies’ No.9 jersey.

He was voted Breakthrough Player of the Season in his first term back in Llanelli, scoring seven tries in 18 matches.

Eight more tries followed last season as he emerged as an outsider for a call-up to Pivac’s Wales squad.

Injury to Cardiff Blues’

Tomos Williams opened the door, which led to the 24-year-old receiving the email that he’d dreamed of.

Pivac had come calling again and it was an emotional moment not only for Hardy, but also for mum and dad, Emma and Richard, who had followed their son all over the country whilst he was at Jersey.

“We had a meeting on Tuesday, so I was on Dai [Flanagan]’s back about getting out because I know the emails only go out 10 or so minutes before the squad gets announced,” grinned Hardy.

“I was itching to get out of the meeting. Then my emails wouldn’t refresh because my phone signal was terrible.

“I literally found out a minute before it went live.

“I rang my dad straight away and he was quite emotional. It was a really nice feeling and I’m really honoured.”

He added: “My family have been massive, they’ve been so good.

“They came to at least five games a year in Jersey. They flew out when they could and it’s not the easiest place to get to on weekends, considering they were working.

“They drove to every away game, whether that’s eight hours up to Leeds and back, whatever it was.

“It was massive knowing there were people supporting what I was doing back home.

“Ultimately, they’ve helped me a lot in my career and I’m grateful.”

Hardy will now punch in at Wales’ training base on Monday, realising a dream that must have felt a long way off when he was an unpaid academy prospect trying to make a name for himself.

His story is proof that the journey from A to B is not always a straight line.

“If you’d told me that four years ago [that I’d be in the Wales squad], I would have had to have realised that there was a lot of hard work ahead and a lot of days when you feel like you’re a million miles away from it.

“But you take each day as it comes, each game as it comes and hopefully you gradually get better and everything gets easier.

“My story is probably that there’s always a way to where you want to be. It might not be as easy as coming out of an academy and being ready to play regional rugby.

“I definitely wasn’t and there are probably a lot of boys who aren’t ready for that step straight away.

“Sometimes the easiest route is not the best and you have to work hard and make some sacrifices along the way.”