The 6ft 6in second-row has earned plaudits since his last minute call-up for Wales’ Six Nations clash with Ireland in February. He went from strength-to-strength in his breakthrough campaign and his regional form for the Scarlets saw him earn a place on Wales’ heartbreaking tour of South Africa.
But Ball is determined not to let his progress slow as he goes into his third season at Parc Y Scarlets. He said: “I don’t want to sit back on what I did last year, I don’t want to be a one-season-wonder.
“I’ve set myself small goals that I would like to achieve this year and I will keep working on my performances no matter how happy I am with them. It was a great experience to go on Wales’ tour of South Africa and get a run-out against one of the best teams in the world.”
Ball wants to prove his Wales credentials when the new-look Scarlets kick-off their Guinness PRO12 campaign at home to Ulster next month. The West Wales region have Regan King back at Parc Y Scarlets and have captured international talent in Harry Robinson, Chris Hala’ufia and Mike Tagicakibau as they look to wrestle their way back into the play-off picture.
He added: “The boys will be hungry going into our first game and I think we’ll have that aggressive edge going into that game against Ulster. We’re looking good at the moment. We have recruited in the right places, we wanted to strengthen at number eight and we’ve made two good signings there in Chris Hala’ufia and Rory Pitman.
“Regan coming back in is great for us and everyone’s feeling good. If we can all buy into our brand of rugby then that will stand us in good stead against some of the big teams.”
