Jenkins aiming to kick-start season

“It was pretty surreal at times,” says the Ynysybwl man. “We’re used to going away and playing all over the globe on the World Series, but when you’re part of Team Wales it’s different: you find yourself looking out for the lawn bowls results! It’s a pretty special thing to be involved in.”
 
The men’s sevens team clearly responded to the occasion, producing an exceptional performance against Fiji, only to be denied in the most agonising of circumstances. “I was crying my eyes out after the final whistle,” he recalls. “We’d been working hard to get to that point for two or three years; the opportunity was there, then it was gone.”
 
It was one of the best sevens games in recent memory, but having lived it, Jenkins says he can’t bear to watch it back. “When I reflect on the Games, I think we did ourselves proud, but you still think ‘what if?’ That Fiji game just typifies the fine margins in this sport.”
 
The Games were something of a respite for Jenkins after what had been a difficult season on the World Series building up to the Gold Coast. The attention now turns to next month’s London Sevens. “At the end of the day, the World Series is our bread and butter and a few things haven’t gone our way,” he admits. “Along with injuries and a lack of consistency, we’ve had some very hard draws in our pool.”
 
Come Twickenham on 2nd June, Wales will hope the hand they’ve been dealt works in their favour, drawn as they are with Australia, Ireland and Spain. “We want to kick-start our season in London, but we have to be on our mettle if we want to qualify from that group.”
 
Although only 24, Jenkins will be competing in his 30th tournament in London. Does he feel he’s maturing as a player? “That’s the beauty of having that time on the World Series: you learn the intricacies of the game, knowing what to do at what time,” he says, acknowledging how impressed he was by the impact of Hallam Amos and Justin Tipuric in adjusting to sevens in such a short space of time.
 
Jenkins will have seen the latest crop of Wales U20 players training at the National Centre of Excellence and perhaps recalled his own time in the side five years ago. A late call-up to Danny Wilson’s squad, having been injured most of the year after a dislocated ankle, Jenkins had only just made his World Series debut in London when he was brought into camp the following Monday.
 
“I’ve got really good memories from that time,” he says of the competition, which will again be held in France this summer. “There was no inclination that we’d get to the final, but during these tournaments you gather momentum. We beat Samoa and Scotland to set up what was essentially a quarter-final against Argentina. We won that, and then beat South Africa in the semis. I didn’t play against the Junior Boks, though – I was like John Terry running on the pitch at the end!”
 
He did come off the bench in the final against an England team full of future Lions, which took the spoils 23-15 in Vannes. “It was disappointing to lose, of course, but it was a great experience to play in a World Cup final, which hopefully I can do again this summer at the Sevens World Cup in San Francisco.”
 
The Wales U20 captain in 2013 was Ellis Jenkins – who will share the armband with Cory Hill at senior level this summer – and with namesake Owen being a former Cardiff Blue, he’ll be willing the region on in Bilbao tonight. “I sent Ellis a good luck text this morning,” he says. “The Blues can definitely go out there and win.”