A year ago he was turning out for Rumney 2s just to get a game – fast forward to this weekend and he will be representing his country on the world stage for a second time in two weeks when Wales take part in the Seville leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series.
Souto is the youngest member of Richie Pugh’s squad who returned to the world series last week in Malaga after a two year absence. The Dragons academy prospect is the first to admit things have moved pretty fast in a short space of time.
Until last weekend, his experience of playing sevens was restricted to a few games at school but he’s enjoying the challenge of stepping up to the biggest stage, even if it means getting some good old fashioned ribbing from his mates.
“If someone had said a year ago I would be playing for Wales I don’t think I would have believed them at all,” he said via zoom earlier this week.
“I played a game for Rumney 2s probably about a year ago and now I’ve got the opportunity to be on the World Series. I ran out at the start of the year just trying to get into senior rugby because I hadn’t really played senior rugby because of Covid and now being on the World Series, well, it’s just crazy.
“My mates have being watching the games on YouTube, I’ve been getting a bit of stick now and then but I’m enjoying it,” he laughs.
Souto faced a baptism of fire last week in Malaga, with Wales pitted against France, Kenya and Canada in pool play. With just a couple of 7s games with Monmouth and a two week training camp with Wales at the National Centre of Excellence to fall back on, he enjoyed his first taste of action against France, even if his lungs were going and the physicality was a shock to the system.
“I was pretty nervous for the first game against France, it was the first time putting on the Welsh jersey so you can imagine the pride and how you want to do well for friends and family and your country so there were a few nerves flying about in the warm-up. But when you kind of cross that line they all disappear and I then focused on getting the job done and playing well,” he said.
France brushed Wales aside in the opening game before Pugh’s side hit back with an encouraging win against Kenya on day one.
“The French game was a bit of a shock but I think we really came through in the Kenya game as we were gelling a bit more and understanding how each other plays,” recalled Souto.
“I definitely found out more about myself on how I want to impact the game and that’s what we review a lot on how individually we can impact the game so I think with training another week together, we’ll hopefully be better for it come the next tournament.
Lloyd Lewis soars high to take the ball against France in Wales’ opening game in Malaga
“There’s a lot of thought that goes into a game of sevens because one mistake can be so costly and I think you have just got to be decisive in what you do because any indecision could see the opposition score a try, or quite easily score a couple.
“You have to be very disciplined in sevens, there is no hiding because there are only seven of you and you’ve got to be squeaky clean.”
Wales begin their Seville tournament with a return clash against France tomorrow before playing England and Japan on Saturday in Pool C.
With an unchanged squad from last week, Souto is hoping Wales can hit the ground running against the highly rated French team.
“We are aware of their dangermen and we’ve done a lot of analysis on them so I think that will help as we know what we’re up against.
“England and Japan both played well last tournament as well so we’re in a pretty tough group but the boys are feeling good and looking forward to it more than anything.
“We’ve had another week together and hopefully we can string better performances together this week. We learnt a lot last week in Malaga as a group of players.
“Personally, I’m so grateful for the opportunity I’ve been given. Hopefully I can take it and I think that’s what Richie says about the Welsh jersey. He says it represents opportunity, hopefully I can take the opportunity that I’ve been given and string together a couple of good performances and keep it together.”
