Gareth Anscombe says he is relishing the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of legends of Welsh rugby this season.
Speaking to the media at URC’s Content Day at the Vale of Glamorgan Resort, the experienced Wales international fly-half spoke about his move to west Wales and how he is fully aware of the history that surrounds the club and the greats who have worn the No. 10 jersey.
He said: “We can still see the history around the place. Even coming from New Zealand, I think everyone knew who Llanelli were and the team they had – they were the legends that kind of forged Welsh rugby, weren’t they? So it’s a real honour to be able to pull on the jersey and hopefully we get a few opportunities throughout the season alongside the other fly-halves we have here.
“It’s a pretty talented group and we certainly feel like we’ve got a pretty talented backline too. I guess our challenge is to make sure we can take control and give ourselves a few opportunities to play some nice rugby.”
Scarlets open up their URC campaign against Anscombe’s former club Cardiff on Saturday – a massive game to kick-start the season for both sides.
Speaking about the move to Llanelli after a spell with French side Aviron Bayonnais, Anscombe added: “It was obviously quite late in the season. I missed the start of pre-season, but I suppose it was just Peely reaching out really, who I’d spoken to years ago. He just wanted to see where I was at and how the body was. I probably got to the back-end of the Top 14 season and was deciding what I wanted to do. I felt like I still had another year left in me and felt like I could still contribute, but it wasn’t like I wanted to go after another contract.
“I didn’t really want to move the family too much. I’m at the stage of my career where I have to think about my family and my kids starting school. I wanted to come back to Wales if it wasn’t for me in France. I guess I feel like what I want out of the season, the Scarlets can provide that.
“I feel like what I can bring, I think the Scarlets could do with that as well. Having Costy at 10 there with a youngster like Carwyn coming through, I feel like I can help play a role in supporting those guys playing and competing for the jersey, but also pass on my knowledge and experience that I’ve learnt over the last 15 or so years. So I’m really enjoying that role and we’ll see what happens over the course of the season.
“I suppose my competitive nature will come out when I play and I’m hoping to still make the coaches have difficult decisions if I do play. But I’ll help and support the group in whichever way I can moving forward.”
On his mentorship role within the squad, he continued: “I’ve been really enjoying that. Carwyn took a bit of a bump in pre-season so he’s only just coming back to training this week. I haven’t seen much of him but I’m getting to know him now in the last few weeks, slowly doing a little bit of skill stuff with him. I’m looking forward to seeing his progression as well as Costy, who’s now in his mid-twenties and is in a really good place to kick on in his career.”
Tickets for Saturday’s game at Parc y Scarlets (19:45ko) are available HERE or by ringing the ticket office on 01554 292939