Ball targeting leadership role for club and country
JAKE Ball says the pain of missing out on the Scarlets’ PRO12 title success and Wales’ summer tour will drive him on to even greater heights this season.
Powerful lock Ball suffered a shoulder injury against Connacht in April and went under the knife to fix the problem in June.
It meant he was on the sidelines as the Scarlets sealed their first silverware since 2004 and a young Wales side made it impressive back-to-back victories against Tonga and Samoa.
Ball, who watched the British & Irish Lions series with New Zealand from a Swansea gym as he stepped up his recovery, is raring to go once again.
“I’m feeling good now. It’s been seven weeks since my operation and I’m getting back to where I was before the shoulder injury,” he told
The Rugby Paper.
“I had to have a stabalisation done and I had a couple of tears in my rotator cuff too which I had to get sorted out. The operation went well and you won’t see me have any problems with it this season.
“For the last three years I haven’t had much of a preseason so to give my body a rest from being smashed about is not a bad thing. I feel refreshed and mentally I’m in a good place.
“I’m just really excited about the season ahead and it was interesting for me to watch the Lions matches while I was recovering. I trained in a gym in Swansea while the games were on the TV and it was nice to have that there as an inspiration.
“That showed me where I want to get to. There were some mornings where I’d go into the gym and do a fat burner session on the bike and watch whichever Lions match was on. That pushed me on because you want to be where those guys are.”
Ball may have missed out on the end of last season, but he remains a key man for both his region and country.
The former fast bowler started all five of Wales’ Six Nations clashes and at 26, has his best years as a lock forward ahead of him. He can’t wait for the autumn to roll round again.
“I was gutted to miss the back end of the season, but I’ve trained that bit harder through this off season,” Ball said.
“I had a week off after my operation, but then I was straight back into it and I’ve made good strides. I’m feeling fit – I’ve been doing a lot of running – and I’ve been pushed really hard in my rehab. I’m loving playing for Wales and I can’t wait to get back into the squad.
“I’ve got to play well for the Scarlets to get picked, but I felt like I was building into more of a leadership role in the last campaign which was nice. I was running the line-out and things like that. I enjoyed that and I want to taste more of it.
“The big thing about a leadership role is earning respect from your teammates and that does take time. You have to work hard in training and carry yourself well. If you do that, it rubs off on those around you. Those are big things for me. Hopefully I’ll have more of a leadership role to come with Wales moving forwards.”