Scarlets lock and former cricketer Jake Ball is riding high having enjoyed international honours with Wales in just his second season with the West Wales region.
Regarded as one of the most promising rising talents in the Pindan Premier Grade competition in Western Australia before heading to Wales Ball has experienced a meteoric rise in the professional rugby world, winning his debut cap against Ireland in the 2014 Six Nations campaign coming on as a second half replacement.
Now back at the region after Wales’ Six Nations campaign Ball says he is looking forward to the remainder of the domestic season; “It’s been a hell of a couple of months for me but now it’s a case of me kicking on and keep improving.
“I’m hoping to play as well as I can for the Scarlets and finish off the season as well as we can.”
Ambition has always been a driving force for Jake Ball but he admits that even he has been surprised by the speed at which things have progressed, he went on to say; “I think when I first came out here I thought maybe it (international honours) was a long way away. It just goes to show that if you can get a few run of games and a few performances under the belt it can happen.”
With only four games remaining in Scarlets’ 2013-14 RaboDirect PRO12 campaign Ball insists that the Scarlets will look to finish on a high; “It was nice to get a win under our belt against Connacht. We want to kick on from that and getting a strong performance in against Zebre. It’s really important that we stay in that top six.
“Zebre are not an easy team. We just have to look back at us going away to them earlier in the season. We will take it like any other game, get stuck in and make sure we get a result.
“We’ve learned that when we play our game and play well we can compete against anyone. We need to have a little more belief in ourselves. We can only look at what’s ahead of us now.”
Jake Ball has been growing his beard in aid of Make a Wish Foundation since the beginning of the 2013-14 season. The facial hair will be shaved off after Scarlets’ last game of the season against Cardiff Blues on Saturday 10th May. To make a donation please visit justgiving.com/jakeballsbeard
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