Back-three quartet join Scarlets

Scarlets have welcomed four new recruits adding experience and strength in depth to the backline ahead of the 2017-18 season.
 
Welcomed to the region for the first day of pre-season training at the Parc today were back-three trio Tom Grabham, Geraint Rhys Jones and Tom Prydie, with Wales 7s Morgan Williams also linking up with the region shortly.
 
Rhys Jones, 29, returns to the region having made four appearances in Scarlets colours in 2011-12 whilst also attached to Wales 7s. Jones represented Wales in the 2010 Commonwealth Games and went on to become Wales 7s all time highest points scorer.
 
The fullback joins the Scarlets from the Dragons where he spent the last four seasons, making 30 appearances scoring 109 points, and also represented Wales Sevens.
 
Jones’ fellow Dragons teammate Tom Prydie, 25, also makes the move to West Wales ahead of the 2017-18 season.
 
Prydie broke on to the regional scene with the Ospreys at just 17 years of age. His first appearance came as a second half replacement in their European Cup match against Viadana in December 2009, an appearance that made him the youngest player in Heineken Cup history.
 
The flying winger rose to fame as the youngest player to play for Wales when he faced Italy in the 2010 Six Nations aged 18 years and 25 days and also surpassed Mathew Tait of England as the youngest ever to play in the Six Nations. He became Wales’ youngest try-scorer when he touched down against South Africa three months later. He went on to score five tries in his Wales Under 20s debut, against Japan, in May 2012.
 
Former Ospreys winger Grabham makes up the final piece of the exciting back-three jigsaw as the Scarlets add experience to compliment the region’s young local talent Ryan Conbeer, Corey Baldwin and Ioan Nicholas.
 
Grabham, 26, reached the historic milestone of 50 regional appearances for the Ospreys in November 2016, against Glasgow Warriors. He scored eight competitive tries in half a century of appearances for the Ospreys.
 
Fullback / wing Morgan Williams, originally from North Wales, made his debut on the 7s World Series in round eight of the 2015-16 season in Singapore.
 
In the fourth round of the 2016/17 series in Sydney, he became the first Welsh player to score a hat-trick against Fiji since fellow new recruit Rhys Jones achieved the accolade four years earlier.
 
Williams, 21, commits to Scarlets for his 15 a side development whilst continuing to be contracted to Wales 7s for 2017-18 where he will hope to compete at the World Cup and Commonwealth Games.
 
Jon Daniels, Scarlets General Manager said; “Hot on the heels of yesterday’s announcement that former Aussie 7s playmaker Paul Asquith will be joining us in early July we’re delighted to confirm the addition of this exciting quartet to further bolster the backline.
 
“They have experience of playing in the PRO12 and will add strength in depth to the backline alongside the exciting local talent in Ryan, Corey and Ioan. Pre-season got underway at Parc y Scarlets yesterday and though many players are still away due to their international and British and Irish Lions commitments there was great excitement as we prepare to defend the Guinness PRO12 championship title.”