Wales coach Warren Gatland will be closely tracking the return of Morgan Stoddart, but the Scarlets full-back insists he will be ready for the start of the season after recovering from a broken leg.
The 27-year-old suffered the set-back in a friendly against England in August 2011 – before which he looked set to play a key role in Wales’ World Cup and RBS 6 Nations campaigns.
In his absence, however, impressive performances from Leigh Halfpenny, and wings George North and Alex Cuthbert, mean he faces a real battle to regain his spot.
Breaks in both Stoddart’s left tibia and fibula left him needing a metal rod to be inserted to help repair the damage – and following a year of rehab he is now close to returning to full contact.
Stoddart is hoping to be back on the field in time for the start of the season, and pushing for Welsh selection when the world champion All Blacks come to the Millennium Stadium in November.
“If everything continues as it has over the last few weeks, I hope to be ready to play at the start of the season,” Stoddart told the Western Mail.
“Obviously, I want to play for Wales again but I’ve got to try and get in the Scarlets team first. If I do and play well for the Scarlets, hopefully I will be in contention for the Wales squad. I don’t mind what position I play, as long as it’s in the back three.
“It wasn’t the best time for it to happen with the World Cup coming up and I was probably playing the best I had for Wales.”
The Scarlets’ training camp in France marks the end of a long spell on the sidelines for Stoddart, and he will link back up with North – who by contrast has dominated the international scene over the last 12 months and is now considered one of the most dangerous players in world rugby.
Stoddart insists the clear time-frame medical staff gave him to work with enabled him to focus his recovery, targeting the new season for his return.
He added: “It was just bad luck how the injury happened. I was tackled from behind. You could be tackled ten times like that in a game and nothing happens.
“They told me, after I did the injury, I would be out for a minimum of a year and that’s proved the case. It [the rod] runs from just below my knee to above my ankle. It’s there forever.
“I’ve been pretty positive all along because I knew how long I could be out. It was a bad injury and would take a length of time to recover.
“I had the screws out attaching it to the ankle about eight weeks ago to stop the pain. They were irritating me. It’s still a bit painful, not so much during training but the next day.”
