HARRISON Keddie's career has been plagued by injury, but the Dragons No.8 believes the arrival of Dean Ryan has helped him get back on track.
The 23-year-old was singled out as a star of the future after a string of standout performances for Wales U20s in their 2016 Six Nations Grand Slam.
A series of injuries have stalled Keddie's progress since, but he was playing some fine rugby this season under Dragons director of rugby Ryan before the coronavirus pandemic hit.
“I was hoping this would be my first full season without injuries,” Keddie told TRP. “Since I've been 20 I've only had one injury-free season so most of my seasons have been cut short. It's about playing consistently.
“The biggest thing for me this season was to get back to enjoying my rugby and playing as regularly as possible.
“I'm still only 23 so I feel as if I've got plenty of time to keep improving.
“Dean has come in and freshened things up. We've won three matches this season in the last few minutes of a game and that shows we've taken learnings from games we've lost in the past.”
Despite historically being Wales' weakest region, the Dragons have arguably got one of the strongest backrow pools in the PRO14.
Keddie insists the competition is pushing him on to become a better player.
He said: “We have a good quality back-row and it's a huge area of strength.
“You know if you are getting into the match day 23 you're doing something right as I am competing with Ross Moriarty, Aaron Wainwright, Taine Basham and Ollie Griffiths.”
Keddie also revealed how the Dragons players have been keeping fit during the pandemic and is confident they will be in good shape in the unlikely scenario the season is resumed.
He said: “Dean and all the management staff at the Dragons have spoken to us about different scenarios.
“They've tried to implement a schedule as best as they can. They've given us some gym equipment so we can train at home.
“They've also given us rugby sessions to do on our own. We've got rugby pitches nearby. We can walk down on our one exercise a day to keep our rugby structure.”
QUIZ ANSWERS (FROM P27):
1. Gregor Townsend (1st and 2nd Tests); Mike Catt (3rd Test)
2. Bleddyn Williams (1950), Cliff Morgan (1955), David Watkins (1966), John Dawes (1971), Phil Bennett (1977), Gareth Thomas (2005), Sam Warburton (2013 and 2017), Alun Wyn Jones (2013)
3. John Pullin
4. Jim Pollock
5. Paul Dean and Michael Bradley
6. George Domercq (France)
7. London Counties
8. Greg Cornelsen
9. Peter Preece and Malcolm Swain
10. Franck Mesnel and Pierre Berbizier
11. Lote Tuqiri (Australia) and Jason Robinson (England)
12. Émile Ntamack (father of Romain)
13. Eric Liddell (400m gold medallist at the Paris Olympic Games)
14. Sébastien Carrat for Brive against Leicester: Brive 28 Leicester 9 – January 1997
15. In 1977 Alun Lewis (London Welsh) was flown out to New Zealand as a replacement for scrum-half Brynmor Williams and played in three matches for the British and Irish Lions against North Auckland, Bay of Plenty and Fiji. He never played for Wales.
