JAC Morgan has spoken on his pride at being one of three uncapped players selected for Wales' 36-man squad for the 2022 Guinness Six Nations campaign.
The Ospreys back rower, a former pupil at Amman Valley Comprehensive, previously captained the Wales Under-20s side in their Six Nations tournament.
"It's a proud feeling to be picked for the squad, I'm quite happy to be honest," said the modest 21 year-old, who came through the Scarlets' academy.
"It feels great, everyone has aspirations to play at as high a level as possible, and being picked for Wales is a great feeling and quite an honour.
"I'm grateful for all the support of everyone who has been there for me in rugby, from when I was younger playing in the juniors to now.
"I spent 10 years playing for Cwmtwch in the juniors, and went through Amman Valley Comp, and then on to the Scarlets and now the Ospreys.
"I'm just very thankful for everyone who has helped me and supported me through everything, especially my family and close friends."
“Jac comes in a position where we have a lot of competition," said head coach Wayne Pivac, who is without several senior players for this campaign.
"Jac gets an opportunity, and we know he’s very good over the ball and has a high work rate.
“We’ll look to add to his game, and see if we can develop him further throughout this competition.
"With the World Cup around the corner, I think we need to be looking ahead as well as the here and now."
Morgan captained the Wales U20s during the 2020 U20s Six Nations campaign, and can play across the back row.
He was expected to captain his country at the World Rugby U20s Championship in Italy last summer, but the tournament was called off due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
He has earned a reputation as turn-over specialist, and has featured in almost all Ospreys fixtures thus far this season.
Toby Booth, Ospreys Head coach, said: “There were two things that stood out when I first met Jac, and that was his maturity and obvious leadership skills.
"He is a very level headed and intelligent young man who was very clear about what he wanted to do and achieve in the game, and how he wanted to go about it.
“The second thing was that he is extremely ambitious as a player.
"He knows what he wants to work on and he knows what he needs to do.”
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