Ryan Elias

Ryan Elias followed in the footsteps of his Scarlets skipper Ken Owens from the junior ranks of Carmarthen Athletic and Ysgol Bro Myrddin into the regional set-up. He then made 45 appearances for Carmarthen Quins between 2013-16 in the Welsh Premiership.

He toured South Africa with Wales U18 in 2013 alongside Steff Evans, Josh Adams, Tom Williams, Rory Thornton, Ollie Griffiths and Adam Beard and went on to make eight appearances for Wales U20 in the 2014/15 season.

In the space of a month during the 2014/15 season he went from being fourth-choice hooker at the Scarlets to playing in a derby win over the Ospreys. His first start in the Guinness PRO12 came at Glasgow and his Champions Cup debut came against Leicester Tigers at Welford Road.

He started for the Scarlets in the Guinness PRO12 semi-final and final wins over Leinster and Munster in Dublin in 2017 when skipper Ken Owens was injured. He came on as a replacement for Owens in the 2018 final defeat by Leinster in Dublin. He reached 100 games for the west Wales region in the 2018/19 season.

He made his senior Wales debut came as a replacement against Tonga in Auckland on 16 June, 2017 on the summer tour. A week later he made his first start in the 19-17 win over Samoa in Apia. He was drafted into the 2018 6 Nations squad two days ahead of the opening game against Scotland when Scott Baldwin was injured in training, but didn’t figure in the tournament.

He toured with Wales once again in the summer of 2018, scoring the match winning try in the victory over South Africa in Washington DC. He was on the winning side in each of his first seven games for Wales. His 6 Nations debut came as a replacement in the victory over Italy in Rome on 9 February, 2019.