Six Nations<\/a> squad and have been calling for him to be recalled.”<\/p>\nNew Wales call-up helps ‘raise the ceiling’<\/p>\n
Wales head coach Steve Tandy has praised Harrison Keddie after the Dragons back-row earned his first call-up at the age of 29.<\/p>\n
Keddie was a standout player in the Wales U20s side that won a Grand Slam in 2016, putting in a man of the match performance against England at Ashton Gate that year.<\/p>\n
While Keddie, who was tipped to replace another Rodney Parade icon in Taulupe Faletau, was brought in to train with Wales in 2016, a senior call-up never came his way.<\/p>\n
However, after helping the Dragons to a European semi-final, Keddie finds himself in Tandy’s extended 48-man squad – with the Wales coach admitting it’s the perfect example of never giving up.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_CDF_170426_CF_Dragons_v_Bulls_048JPG.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Dragons backrower Harrison Keddie has been called up to the Wales squad(Image: Chris Fairweather\/Huw Evans Agency)<\/p>\n
“Absolutely, it\u2019s a great story,” said Tandy. “Sometimes in these situations, you can give younger players the opportunity, but the way Harrison has gone around his business.<\/p>\n
“He’s been at the Dragons for 10 years and has seen some tough times. But he’s come through it as the Dragons have developed.<\/p>\n
“Everyone who has spoken about him says he\u2019s an unbelievable trainer. He delivers on the field as well. He’s physical. You saw that on the field on the weekend.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s a great story, but he\u2019s an outstanding rugby player. It\u2019s always exciting to give these guys an opportunity to come into the environment and show what they can do.<\/p>\n
“It also raises the ceiling. It was the same with Harri Deaves. I remember when he came in, it felt like he knew he could do it. Harrison has earned this opportunity. You’re not just giving it out because it’s a nice thing to do, he’s earned this opportunity. It’s well-deserved.<\/p>\n
“Like I said, I speak to lots of people around players to get feedback and everyone said he’s an incredible trainer as well. Speaking of when it was probably tougher times with the Dragons, in the gym, he was always pushing himself to be better and growing himself.<\/p>\n
“He would always front up, no matter what the situation. I think that battle-hardens someone and I think that’s where for us, as coaches, it\u2019s about looking everywhere.<\/p>\n
“There’ll be perceived to be some tough calls around not getting in, but that’s where we want to be. We’ve also got probably more of a core and cohesive unit, but I think as coach we’ve always got to be looking outside the box or looking at what people are doing and rewarding that as well.<\/p>\n
“We’ve had an opportunity to do that and they’re awesome stories.”<\/p>\n
Returning Wales star praised after Ospreys farewell<\/p>\n
Jac Morgan is back in Wales’ squad following injury, with Tandy praising the return of the British and Irish Lions openside.<\/p>\n
Tandy’s comments echoed those of Ospreys head coach Mark Jones, who was full of praise for the back-row after he signed off at home for the Ospreys on the weekend with the winning score against the Scarlets.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s just a great human being, first and foremost,” said Jones. “He\u2019s so humble, but then he\u2019s a world class player.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s quite a rarity in modern day sport, to get somebody as humble as that, but be as high profile as he is. He is one of the best in the business.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has a massive impact on the group, both off the field and on it. He scored the winning try, coming up from underneath that pile-up. His performance was exceptional, both leading the team and individually. We are so pleased that it has finished off well for him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here are your rugby morning headlines for Tuesday, May 12. James excited after turning down England New Wales…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":954278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,4884,16,15,1764,14260],"class_list":{"0":"post-954277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-wales","13":"tag-wales-rugby-team"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116560288138996696","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=954277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/954278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Content](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_Wales-Women-v-Women-Barbarians.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n