mens
Gallagher-Prime Minister
Pain free at last, Bath and Wales prop Archie Griffin is hoping to do his best for club and country in the coming weeks.
Griffin’s recovery from toe surgery in the summer was timely for Bath, given Thomas du Toit’s departure to the Sharks and the loss of Billy Sela to injury until the end of November.
A 25-year-old born in Sydney, who arrived England as a 13-year-old via Singapore, logged just under 100 first-team minutes in the first three rounds as back-up to Will Stuart, but starts tonight’s West Country derby away to Gloucester.
“I just want to continue to build consistent game time, play week in week out and then continue to develop my scrum after having finger surgery in the summer,” he said, in his usual understated fashion.
Looking ahead to tonight’s big test, Griffin didn’t seem phased by playing on artificial turf when he spoke to the media earlier this week.
The 4G surfaces have come under scrutiny at PREM after his Welsh team-mate Louis Rees-Zammit pleaded for ‘someone to do something about it’ on social media after suffering nasty burns to his leg in Bristol’s 30-7 defeat by Saracens.
“It’s 4G so you have to adjust a bit,” admitted the 15-year-old.
“It’s going to be wet so we probably won’t get the burn, it’s probably just the momentum you get in the hold and the scrum that you probably notice the most when you play on those pitches.
“It’s a good stadium, with the Shed obviously. It’s just another (set of) loud home fans. I’ve only played once, last season, so I’m looking forward to playing there again.”
As for his troublesome toe, which kept him out of the Wales squad in July, Griffin says he feels like a new man.
“It’s the first time in two or three years that I haven’t had to have my toe taped or have injections. I wouldn’t say I’m a particularly good person with needles to begin with, so it wasn’t the best.”
Griffin says the pain he experienced before the surgery was like walking on a piece of glass, which is why the surgery was necessary.
“Underneath the toe you have these things called sesamoids that sit under the toe joint and effectively act as a knee cap,” he explained.
“Mine that’s on the inside of my foot on my right leg was broken at some point, I don’t know when and it just kept breaking over time, which affected me pushing off of it and it felt like I had glass in the bottom of my foot.”
Discussing the operation further, he added: “It was a removal, not a repair of the tendon joint, I was able to come out of the operation and feel better immediately, even with a big cut on my foot.”
While Griffin has his head down as he approaches his rugby next game, his Wales call-up is welcome news.
Wales face Japan, New Zealand and Australia, the country of his birth, on consecutive weekends in November at the Nations Championship.
“Paul James (Wales scrum coach and ex-Bath prop) called me. It’s good to be working with him again; I’m really looking forward to it after missing the summer tour,” he said.
“I have a lot to do with Australia personally, so that game always means a lot and New Zealand is always a good Test, with Haka.
“The stadium (atmposhere) we had last time we played at home was an amazing game to be a part of and then Japan is obviously a good game for us coming up.”
