Scarlets centre Williams hopes for Wales recall

United Rugby Championship: Ospreys v Scarlets

Venue: Swansea.com Stadium Date: Saturday, 21 December Kick-off: 17:15 GMT

Coverage: Scrum V on BBC Two Wales, commentary on BBC Radio Wales.

Scarlets centre Johnny Williams is hoping for a Six Nations recall after missing Wales' past two campaigns.

Williams, 28, has been one of the form centres in Wales this season but was not selected by Warren Gatland for the summer tour of Australia or the three autumn internationals in November.

"I was incredibly gutted to miss out on the summer tour and the autumn," said Williams.

"I'm focused on staying fit as a number one priority and then about playing well, also winning here with Scarlets and keep doing what I'm doing.

"That's what I'm focused on now. If that [Wales] comes then great.

"Fingers crossed it does but selection is up to one man ultimately so it's out of my control."

The likes of Eddie James, Ben Thomas, Owen Watkin, Max Llewellyn, Mason Grady and Nick Tompkins were preferred by Gatland for the autumn internationals.

And Williams has revealed the feedback he was given by Wales before the autumn series.

"It was work rate off the ball," said Williams

"That was the big one for me. With what I was doing and my skill set they were quite happy with. It was my work rate off the ball, kick chasing hard and metres in training."

Williams says he has been focusing on areas of his game he felt he needed to address.

"There's always strings you can add to your bow and you can always look to improve," said Williams.

"A big one for me has been my fitness, involvements in games, speed up off the floor, kick chasing hard and leadership also. I've been quite hard on myself."

Williams' fine form has been primarily due to being injury free after being beset by niggling issues over the past few years.

"The big thing is staying fit," said Williams.

"I've had some nasty injuries in the past and I've been in and out of squads because of that.

"I'm happy I've got a bit of consistency under my belt and a run of games, that's the big thing."

The former Newcastle player has had several lengthy spells on the sidelines since joining Scarlets in 2020.

"I've had frustrating ones," said Williams.

"I was out for six months with my calf, I should have been out for eight weeks.

"That one for me was mentally hard not having an end goal or not a return to play target. I was worrying about an injury which was small but I couldn't get back from it for a while.

"I've had nastier injuries like a dislocated shoulder or a torn hamstring off the bone and that's gone to plan.

"Even though it's a nastier injury I've mentally dealt with that better. That calf injury was a hard one."

Williams acknowledges he has greater perspective after overcoming testicular cancer in 2019 which ruled him out of rugby for six months.

"I've had harder challenges in my life," said Williams.

"Now I sort of look at injuries not as heavy because you have that sort of perspective from it."

Williams' initial challenge is to help Scarlets defeat local rivals Ospreys in the United Rugby Championship (URC) in Swansea on Saturday.

Scarlets have enjoyed a more settled season while Ospreys are in disarray having conceded a record European defeat by Montpellier with head coach Toby Booth leaving his role, both in the last five days.

Scarlets have not won an away league game in Swansea for seven years and Williams expects the Ospreys hosts to thrive on their adversity.

"I think they'll be revved up," said Williams.

"When you go through tough times like that I think it will only galvanise them and they'll come hard in that regard.

"They are at home as well and they've got a good record against us there. We are aware of that and we know we need to put that right."