The back-rower was named in Steve Tandy’s summer squad last week
Keddie admits he had a “pretty good week”(Image: Kian Abdullah/Huw Evans Agency)
Dragons star Harri Keddie has seen his paternity plans ripped up after becoming a father again just over 24 hours from being called up to represent Wales this summer.
Last Monday, the uncapped back-rower was named in Steve Tandy’s 48-man squad for the summer clash with the Barbarians and Nations Championship fixtures against Fiji, Argentina and South Africa. The following evening, his dream week got even better as he became a father of two, with his partner giving birth to their second daughter.
Keddie, who was with his partner and first daughter at a children’s football session when he got the call from Tandy, was unsurprisingly all smiles when he returned to training with the Dragons later that week.
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“It’s been a pretty good week to be fair,” he told the BBC. “I had a smile on my face when I came in to train on Friday, that’s for sure.”
After wrapping up his season with the Dragons with a draw against the Scarlets on Saturday, Keddie will now enjoy a few weeks with his newborn daughter and family before getting stuck into training again with Wales.
While he has never won a Test cap for his country, he has previously experienced training with the senior side, albeit a decade ago.
In 2016, Keddie was a standout performer in Wales U20s’ Six Nations Grand Slam-winning side and was called in to help the senior squad prepare for their autumn international matches.
Having trained alongside some of Wales’ greatest ever back-rowers in Sam Warburton, Dan Lydiate and Justin Tipuric, the 29-year-old returns as a full squad member and one of 10 back row forwards in Tandy’s plans.
As well as Dragons teammates Aaron Wainwright and Ryan Woodman, there is serious competition for places with Jac Morgan, James Botham, Olly Cracknell, Tommy Reffell, Taine Plumtree, Alex Mann and Kane James all named in the squad.
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However, Keddie is targeting a place in the side to face the Barbarians at Twickenham on June 27 in the hope of retaining his place in the squad for the inaugural Nations Championship campaign.
“I guess I probably just had a mindset of focusing on performances for the Dragons and not worrying past that,” he said as he reflected on earning his first call-up two months out from his 30th birthday.
“I just wanted to see where that would get me eventually and I just feel incredibly privileged to have been deemed good enough to get called up.
“I am looking forward to testing myself to see how much better I can get and to see what I can learn.”
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