Psychologists will tell you that while changing your mind can sometimes be challenging, such a process can often be worth the effort.
And so to Wales head coach Wayne Pivac.
Rewind five months and he had left Jac Morgan out of his Wales squad to tour South Africa, with Tommy Reffell and Taine Basham making the trip as specialist opensides. With Reffell impressing even hard-nosed home supporters during the three-Test series, Josh Navidi also in the mix and Justin Tipuric due to return from injury, Morgan could have been forgiven for feeling his hopes of adding to the three caps he won in the Six Nations had just headed straight over a cliff.
Press the fast-forward button and Pivac has recalled him.
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Basham and Navidi have injuries, but Morgan’s form has been so impressive — against the Stormers the weekend before last he felled no end of big South African ball carriers, with one hit seeing him halt and then drive back Springboks prop Steven Kitshoff as the Ospreys achieved a counter-ruck turnover — that the probability is the youngster would have won Pivac’s favour, anyway.
There’s been no magic formula put into place.
But Morgan has clearly caught the eye of Wales’ head coach afresh. His physicality, hunger to carry and willingness to battle in defence have made him one of the top-performing players in the country. Maybe his effort against the Stormers sealed the deal. The visitors to Swansea were not the Dog & Duck Seconds, after all. They were the URC champions, bristling with strength, power and aggression, and the Ospreys No. 7 fronted up.
Here was a player who had responded positively to feedback and was determined to remind people what he could do. The disappointment he had felt after being omitted for the trip to South Africa seemed a long time ago. “I was obviously pretty gutted when I was told about it,” he reflected this week about the call to overlook him for the summer trip to the republic.
“But Wayne told me what I needed to work on, and in the summer I tried to work on those areas and develop my game.
“The Ospreys coaches have been brilliant. They told me just to concentrate on the job ahead and that job was the Ospreys. They told me to try to do my best in training and playing and try to get better as a player. They just emphasised we all needed to improve as individuals and as a team and work hard over pre-season so we could start the new campaign as best as we could.
“I’ve tried to improve my attacking game and get more ball in hand. I’m always trying to develop, doing the little extras in training, the little drills around the jackal.”
Such application has paid dividends. Earlier this week, the URC put out some figures which underline how well Morgan has been playing.
He has made the second most tackles per game this term, averaging 16.34. He has completed 96 percent of his 70 hits, with nine of them dominant affairs - more than any other player.
Morgan wasn’t the first Ospreys player to be dropped by Pivac, of course, with Adam Beard, George North and Owen Watkin having endured the same fate before him. But all dusted themselves down and all won back their places.
“Yeah, they did,” noted Morgan. “That’s something that was said at the time.
“It happens to a lot of people. It’s just part of the game and it’s a reason why you have to keep improving and stay on top of your game.
“It happens, but I went away, worked on what I needed to work on and I’ve tried to perform the best I can for the Ospreys.”
Nicky Smith has done the same and earned similar reward.
Evidently, the Ospreys’ Department for Bouncing Back has been earning its keep, albeit head coach Toby Booth underlined that as well as the input from the coaches, players themselves had to put in the hard yards and work on the fine detail of their performances..
“It’s not the black and white stuff. It’s the grey stuff in the middle that makes the difference because the only one who can change that is the player himself,” said Booth.
“We try to make them motivated and help them be very specific in their individual training programmes, while stressing that if the team does well, the likelihood is the individual does well.”
Back to Morgan, who impressed for the Ospreys against the Dragons last Sunday, his effort including a try-saving tackle that even the Dragons' official Twitter account described as "brilliant". At the Ospreys he has been training and playing alongside the 86-cap Justin Tipuric, a player who fills the same position as the 22-year-old but who has been nothing but helpful since the youngster moved across from the Scarlets last year.
How big an influence has Tipuric been? “Massive,” said Morgan. “Not only is he a quality player, he’s a great person, as well, someone who always has time for others. Whenever I have a question or want to pick his brains, he always helps out.
“He still does all his extras and he’s always trying to improve. He’s a great role model and it’s great to have him around to learn from.
“It’s brilliant to be able to look back, see the stuff he’s done and try to learn and pick up some tips.”
Doubtless, Tipuric would have underlined that no career is a straight line. But nothing beats hard work for putting an individual back on track.
That’s where Morgan is right now.
For the Ospreys and Wales, that can be only good news.
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