Scarlets star Johnny McNicholl is targeting a return to the Wales squad this autumn and setting his sights on the ‘ultimate goal’ of playing at next year’s Rugby World Cup.
This time last year, the 32-year-old was in-form and starting for Wayne Pivac’s side in autumn clashes against New Zealand and then South Africa. His performance against the All Blacks was his best in the Test arena to date and he deserved to retain the jersey.
But limited opportunities came after the clash with the world champions and then he missed the end of last season, and the summer tour, with a knee injury.
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After a concussion on opening night against the Ospreys, McNicholl is now primed for a run of games that he hopes will lead him back to the biggest stage.
And with injuries that Pivac is going to have to contend with in the back three – full-back Liam Williams (shoulder) will miss the campaign – he has a chance.
He says: “Injury or no injury, I want to always be playing well and part of those (Wales) squads. It doesn’t matter if anyone is injured or not. That’s always been the goal.”
When asked for the main reasons why he re-signed at Parc y Scarlets, he adds: “We’re happy here. My kids are in school here and we’ve got a good base, good friends.
“The reason I stayed was more for the rugby and the rugby club. I love playing for the Scarlets and I really enjoy running out. I got really emotional on my 100th game because it means so much to me. Just playing for this club is one of the reasons why we stayed here.
“Secondly, I have the ambition to go on and play in the Rugby World Cup. That’s been a dream of mine for a while now and I’d love to be in the squad. First of all to make the squad and then secondly to play, to make a difference and experience that.
“That’s why I ended up re-signing.”
Asked if it was the ultimate goal, he responded: “Yeah 100 percent. That is it.
“I focus week in, week out here at the Scarlets to play for them and the rewards from playing well are making squads. The ultimate squad I want to make is the Rugby World Cup one and that’s the ultimate goal for me.”
The first step on that journey is playing well at club level but the second step would be to line up against the All Blacks at the start of Wales’ autumn campaign this year.
There are no guarantees that he will be in the side, though Williams’ absence helps, due to the challenge that the returning Leigh Halfpenny will pose, should Pivac be inclined to pick up so soon after returning from a major knee injury.
But the November 5 clash has a red circle around it in the McNicholl household. He was born in Christchurch and became a hit with the Crusaders in Super Rugby before joining the Scarlets in 2016.
So there are a lot of familiar faces in that All Blacks side.
“It’s exciting. I enjoyed it last time because I’ve got quite a few mates playing in that team, some of my best mates play in that team.
“They’re one of the better teams in the world as well so you get to challenge yourself. But playing against my mates is world class. It was a special moment.
“Last time I swapped jerseys with my best mate Codie Taylor and that jersey will be on my wall. Sometimes you’ve got to take a minute and appreciate those moments.
“But you’re also playing against top quality players, so you’re testing yourself against the best. I’m sure every rugby player wants to do that.”
But before we get to all that, there are matters to sort out at club level. The Scarlets have lost their three opening matches ahead of Cardiff’s trip west this weekend.
The Blue and Blacks have not managed to build on their opening win over Munster and are similarly desperate for some good news themselves after a tumultuous week off the field. Plus the Scarlets did the double over them last season, so a revenge mission is on the cards.
And McNicholl believes the impending Wales squad selection – Pivac reveals his group for the autumn on October 18 – adds a little something extra to proceedings.
“Yeah you’ve nailed it on the head,” he agreed. “I think everyone competing for the jerseys in Wales feels that way.
“When you go into a derby, you’re not worried about the league table, you’re worried about beating that man because you want that jersey, you want to be playing well and in those squads.
“It’s always a tough game against Cardiff, no matter what the circumstances are, it’s always a tough match. They did the double over us a couple of years back, so we know what that fire’s like when they come to get redemption.
“We’re preparing for them to come out all guns blazing on Saturday.”
As for the Scarlets' early season form, he says: “We’re almost there but that’s not good enough. There’s frustration in the group but it’s coming from a place of wanting to get better.
“We know there are a couple of areas in our game that we’d like to fix. In the first couple of games we’ve been really good in attack but we needed to fix our defence.
“Then it felt like we fixed that against Benetton and some of their tries came from a scrappy turnover, we weren’t good enough under the high ball, so that’s what we’re trying to fix this week.”
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