Smith heads West ahead of new season

Scarlets are pleased to announce that Richard Smith has joined the region ahead of the 2016-17 campaign.

28-year-old Smith, who is just as comfortable on the wing as he is in midfield, joins the Scarlets from Cardiff Blues.

Smith joined Cardiff Blues in 2013 having played for Cardiff and his home club Neath as well as spending a season in Australia where he turned out for Brisbane Bulldogs. His pace won him a place on the Wales Sevens circuit during 2011 where he played for Wales in three of the four legs of the FIRA series. He then played in every tournament of the 2012 HSBC World Sevens series, scoring a total of 26 tries.

The 2013/14 season saw him continue his development with Blues becoming a key part of the squad in all competitions and in 2014 he captained the team to success in the Premiership Rugby 7s Series at BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park.

Commenting on the news Scarlets General Manager of Rugby Jon Daniels said; “Richard has linked up with us this week at Parc y Scarlets and is settling in well to his new environment.

“He has experience of playing in the Guinness PRO12 on with his versatility will give us more options in the backfield particularly during the international window. That said, he is coming here to challenge for a starting position in the team, which adds to the competition in the group. He is well known in Welsh rugby for his commitment and professionalism and so in a new environment time will tell how far he can progress.”

Smith added; “It’s a privilege to be a part of the Scarlets squad. Standards are high, there’s a lot of competition in the squad and I’m also looking forward to potentially having an opportunity to play in the Champions Cup against some of Europe’s best clubs.

“The boys have been very welcoming and I feel like I’ve fitted in well to the environment in the short time that I’ve been here. I’m looking forward to giving everything in pre-season to earn the right to have an opportunity to wear the Scarlets jersey and making my debut at Parc y Scarlets.”

Smith is amongst a number of new faces at the Scarlets ahead of the new season. He’ll be joined by Jonathan Davies, Rhys Patchell, Werner Kruger, Jonathan Evans, Rynier Bernardo, Tadhg Beirne, Dafydd Hughes and Shaun Evans as well as Johnny McNicholl who is due to arrive in the Autumn.

The following have also signed contract extensions ahead of the new campaign Aled Davies, Gareth Davies, James Davies, Emyr Phillips, Aaron Shingler, Scott Williams, John Barclay, Wyn Jones, Peter Edwards, Dylan Evans, Gareth Owen and Tom Williams.