By SIMON THOMAS

Ryan Elias has played just seven games of rugby in 2023 – yet among those have been some of the biggest highs and lows of his career.
The Scarlets hooker underwent an operation on his Achilles in January, ruling him out of action for some seven months.

Then, just 40 seconds into his comeback, playing for Wales in their opening World Cup warm-up match against England, his hamstring went.

“I was sprinting back and something went ping,” he says, recalling that alarming moment back in August.

And understandably, there was a very real concern at that point about his World C...