Will Griff keen to get a look in with Wales

AT 6ft 2ins and close on 21 stone, it’s hard not to notice Will Griff John.

Yet the 26-year-old Sale Sharks prop is at a loss to explain why the Welsh coaching team continue to ignore his sizeable frame during squad announcements.

John, who was born in Plymouth, qualifies for Wales through spending the chunk of his life in the Rhondda Valley and was capped right through the age groups up to Under-20s.

He’s so highly thought of at the AJ Bell Stadium, Sharks boss Steve Diamond signed John up on a deal at Sale taking him through to the summer of 2021.

It’s all a far cry from John’s life in Wales when after starting out in the Premiership with Pontypridd, he moved down the A470 to Cardiff Blues only to be released by the region in 2013.

He moved to New Zealand to play in the ITM Cup with Northland, where he would line up against the likes of All Blacks Codie Taylor and Joe Moody.

On returning to the UK he joined English Championship outfit Doncaster Knights and became one of the leading tight-head operators in the division, sealing a move to the Premiership with Sale in the summer of 2017.

His meteoric rise has continued, with John this season having 28 appearances under his belt at the Salford-based club.

Yet call-ups to the Welsh senior squad continue to elude him.

He told The Rugby Paper: “My target is to play for Wales. It’s frustrating that I haven’t had a look-in yet.

“I’ve no idea where I am in the pecking order because I haven’t been in contact with any of the Welsh management.”

Exeter Chiefs prop Tomas Francis is the incumbent Wales tighthead, with the likes of Dillon Lewis and Samson Lee providing the competition.

But Scarlets prop Lee has had injury issues to contend with.

“The boys in Sale training ask me whenever a Wales squad is announced whether I know why I hadn’t been selected, but I’ve never heard a peep,” added John.

“It’s just a bit frustrating why I haven’t been selected yet. Hopefully I can keep starting for Sale week-in, week-out and if I can keep scrummaging well, I’ll get a lookin.

“At Sale we’ve dominated some pretty decent packs this season but it’s all out of my hands and all I can do is play as well as I can and just hope someday I will get selected for Wales.

“I think I’d do well at international level.

“Considering the amount of international front-rowers that I’ve scrummaged against in the Premiership and in Europe, I think I’d do a good job.”