Loosehead Southworth qualifies for Wales through his grandmother who hailed from Mountain Ash in the Cynon Valley.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrowing up, I was always aware of my Welsh family heritage,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Fixture<\/p>\n
United Rugby Championship<\/p>\n
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Cardiff Rugby <\/p>\n
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Scarlets <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n \u201cIt was something that was always in the back of my mind.<\/p>\n \u201cMy gran only passed away about five years ago. I was very close to her. She was born here and lived here until she was in her 20s and then moved to England.\u201d<\/p>\n Born in Barnstaple, Southworth began his rugby journey with his hometown club at a very young age.<\/p>\n \u201cI started playing really early on,\u201d says the 26-year-old.<\/p>\n \u201cI was five when my old man took me down to the rugby club, so I have been playing a while now.<\/p>\n \u201cI played centre until I was about 12, believe it or not, and then No.8 until I was 18, so I transitioned a little bit later into prop.<\/p>\n \u201cI was told I was probably not going to make it in the back row, so best move into the front row and luckily that\u2019s paid off.\u201d<\/p>\n He attended Barnstaple\u2019s Pilton Community College until he was 16 and then moved on to Ivybridge Community College, near Plymouth, where his rugby ability saw him picked up by Exeter.<\/p>\n In all, he made 26 appearances for the Chiefs, while also having a couple of spells out on loan at Championship outfit Coventry, before signing for Cardiff 18 months ago.<\/p>\n He swiftly established himself as a regular at the Arms Park and his fine form was rewarded this autumn with a call up from new Wales head coach Steve Tandy.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a big shock. I didn\u2019t expect it whatsoever. I was totally blown away by it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cMy parents were on the other side of the world at the time, travelling in Asia. I called them and we shared a nice moment together. A few tears were shed. It was a very special call that I will remember for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n Then came the next step of joining up with the Welsh squad.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first couple of days, I was pretty nervous coming in, but I settled in ok. The stress levels dropped a little bit.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was good. Everyone was really welcoming. I felt like every day was a learning day and it was just a case of taking everything on board.\u201d<\/p>\n He wasn\u2019t involved in the first three autumn Tests, but then came his big moment as he made his debut off the bench against world champions South Africa<\/a> at the Principality Stadium. It was a tough day for Wales as they lost 73-0, but an occasion Southworth will never forget.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone talks about how you never forget your first bus ride to the stadium and they are probably right,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cThe build-up, the anthem, seeing all the fans, everything before the game was just so special.<\/p>\n \u201cJust to see my name on the back of a Wales shirt was just a dream come true.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was obviously a really tough occasion, but nonetheless still probably the greatest day of my life. I was so grateful to wear the Welsh jersey.<\/p>\n \u201cFriends, family, my missus, a lot of people from back home were there. The support from them has been immense and I\u2019m just grateful that I\u2019ve been able to do something for all the people who have been supporting me my whole life.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m hoping it\u2019s not my last cap. The team is building and hopefully I can be a part of that going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n Southworth is quick to pay tribute to the Cardiff coaching team for the part they have played in him reaching the international arena.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s credit to the coaches who have given me the opportunity to play consistently,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s probably something I haven\u2019t had before. When you can get a good run of games and consistency of performances, I think that really helps.\u201d<\/p>\n Reflecting on how his game has developed, Southworth says: \u201cMy set piece has come on a long way in scrum and maul. I am always working on that. Every day is a learning day in the scrum.<\/p>\n \u201cI think my point of difference is around the breakdown, while I feel I am physical and aggressive in the carry as well.\u201d<\/p>\n The 26-year-old made a big impact on his return to club duty in last weekend\u2019s dramatic Challenge Cup<\/a> victory over Ulster<\/a> Rugby, scoring the try which sparked a late comeback and then sharing in the huge scrum shove which enabled Callum Sheedy<\/a> to land the match-winning penalty with the last kick of the game.<\/p>\n Now it\u2019s back to BKT URC action for second-placed Cardiff, with home games against the Scarlets and the Dragons, which are set to draw bumper crowds to the Arms Park.<\/p>\n \u201cWe talk a lot about making it a fortress and a really tough place for teams to come and play. That\u2019s a big driver for us,\u201d said Southworth.<\/p>\n \u201cThe more fans we get, the louder it is and the more that spurs us on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Danny Southworth may have been born and raised in Devon, but he has always been very much aware…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-318845","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}