The Welsh rugby warrior who's mounting a dramatic late bid to make Wales' squad for South Africa

A former team-mate once described him as phenomenal, while another called him a freak athlete, but Ollie Griffiths still has only one Wales cap in his locker and the years are ticking by.

Injuries have checked him whenever he seems poised to make a breakthrough.

But 27-year-old has the remarkable ability to engage top form immediately after returning from time on the sidelines and he did so for the Dragons against the Ospreys in Swansea last Sunday, with a whale of a performance that saw him make 19 tackles without a single miss, pass the ball 15 times and contribute nine carries for 34 metres. Griffiths was also strong over the ball.

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It was an eye-popping effort from a player who’d been out since late March with a groin problem resulting from a collision against the Bulls in Pretoria which Dragons director of rugby Dean Ryan described as a truck smash.

Really, a player who’d been inactive for seven weeks shouldn’t be able to perform like Griffiths did on his return.

But the former Newport RFC captain breezed it, and Ryan believes the versatile forward who can play across the back row is someone whose name will figure in Wales discussions for the summer tour of South Africa, with the squad announced next Tuesday.

Asked if he was pleased with Griffiths’ effort against the Ospreys, the team boss said: “I’m always pleased with Ollie Griffiths — his ability to come back and perform immediately. He’s had a lot of practice at it, sadly.

“I certainly think he’s somebody who’d be forcing his name into discussions for the summer.

“In any discussion I’ve ever had, everybody’s a great advocate of Ollie’s.

“What we have to do is keep him on the field week-in, week-out