Dragons star Ollie Griffiths: Wales caps no longer my focus

The dynamic Dragons forward made an impressive return to action against Ulster in the Guinness PRO14 last weekend.

The 25-year-old from Newbridge had been in superb for that was leading to calls for Six Nations selection when he suffered an ankle injury against Wasps in December.

It was yet more injury misfortune for a player of undoubted Test quality whose international career has been limited to an extremely brief cameo against Tonga in 2017 and an appearance in the uncapped fixture against the Barbarians in 2019.

Wales are blessed with back row options but Griffiths has learnt to no longer think about putting the heat on Taulupe Faletau & Co even if he has previously been hailed as "immense" by Wayne Pivac.

UNLUCKY: Ollie Griffiths is helped from the field against Wasps

"I used to set my goals for Wales a lot and was always looking a couple of months down the line, then I'd get myself a bit down when an injury struck," he said.

"I've learnt to take it game by game; if it happens then it happens. All I can do is be the best that I can be.

"Hopefully I do get a run now towards the end of the season and put some performances in."

Griffiths made his Dragons debut in 2014, starred in the Wales Under-20s side and became Newport's youngest ever club captain.

However, he has only been able to hit 20 Dragons appearances in one season and has made 79 appearances over seven campaigns due to injury.

Griffiths says 'touch wood' so often that he must ponder a move to a log cabin and says the blows come with the territory as a back rower.

"It's part of the job and I have come to peace with controlling what I can control," he said.

"You never know what will happen, I might not have another injury for the next six or seven years of my career or I might have one this week.

"All that I can do is control what I can control and I'd like to think that I am relatively resilient mentally to deal with it.

"It's part of the job and you look across the back rows across Wales and there are injuries, especially with the 7s. It's the positions that we put ourselves in and the amount of work that we get through."

LEADER: Dragons back rower Ollie Griffiths

Griffiths has returned impressively against Ulster last week and will lead the charge against Glasgow at Principality Stadium on Sunday, a game the Dragons must win if they are to finish fourth in Conference A and potentially make the Champions Cup.

The talisman says it is training ground graft that helped him hit the ground running, with the assistance of the medical team.

"I did a lot of work with (head physio) Ben Stirling to make sure that my body was ready," he said.

"I am always confident coming back, it's just about ticking all the boxes like contact work and high-speed running to make sure you come back match fit.

"I don't really struggle coming back fitness-wise because of all the work that we do ahead of it.

"My body felt alright against Ulster. There were a couple of errors that I don't usually make and that was just timing after being out for a couple of months.

"I was reasonably happy with my performance. It was alright I suppose."

As ever with Griffiths, it was better than "alright" with injury misfortune the only thing that will prevent him from losing the tag as a one-cap wonder.