{"id":560460,"date":"2026-05-01T11:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T11:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/560460\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T11:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T11:47:10","slug":"uncapped-star-can-get-wales-out-of-trouble-after-coachs-phone-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/560460\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncapped star can &#8216;get Wales out of trouble&#8217; after coach&#8217;s phone call"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The 31-year-old has been in fine form for the Dragons this season<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_-jpgAng.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"Dragons co-captain Angus O'Brien\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Dragons co-captain Angus O&#8217;Brien(Image: Gareth Everett\/Huw Evans Agency)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Dragons talisman Angus O&#8217;Brien has once again been tipped for a maiden Wales call-up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The 31-year-old has enjoyed a strong season for the Men of Gwent, with Wales attack coach Matt Sherratt even making contact prior to this year&#8217;s Six Nations. Ultimately, a call-up for the full-back didn&#8217;t come his way then.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">But, with the Dragons in a European semi-final this weekend, momentum is once again building for Steve Tandy to take a look at O&#8217;Brien this summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Wales face the Barbarians, Fiji, Argentina and South Africa this summer, with Tandy naming his squad this month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">And former Dragons wing Ashton Hewitt believes O&#8217;Brien should get the nod for Wales after a stellar season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;I think his kicking game could offer Wales something,&#8221; said Hewitt. &#8220;That&#8217;s something that Wales have been looking to figure out who exactly they want to play and find their identity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;That kicking game&#8217;s gone a bit missing a little bit in terms of somebody that can get you out of trouble when you&#8217;re trapped in your 22. We&#8217;ve seen Angus do it time and time again for the Dragons, under a little bit of pressure then before you know it, the opposition are pinned back on their tryline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;So I think that would be his biggest strength, his kicking game and getting Wales out of trouble the same way that he does with the Dragons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;But also his attacking threat as well. Now, obviously there&#8217;s a focus on (Louis) Rees-Zammit at 15 and I&#8217;m not going to make the leap and say that Angus is more of an attacking threat on a counter-attack than Rees-Zammit, but he&#8217;s been making those linebreaks on that kind of attack when he lifts his head up and sees that space. So he does have that variety to his game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;He&#8217;s also a 10, so he gives you that option both sides of the ruck. I think it would add to Wales an attacking threat as far as ballplayers which they&#8217;ve been looking for in the 12\/13 combination that Wales have been trying out. I think Angus would add that a little bit wider.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;But first and foremost, the kicking game he has would be a massive, massive step forward for Wales to have that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">O&#8217;Brien, along with Wales internationals Ben Carter and Aaron Wainwright, will be crucial if the Dragons are to reach a first European final this weekend, when they face Montpellier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;They&#8217;re massive,&#8221; added Hewitt. &#8220;It&#8217;s not long since I&#8217;ve been out of the environment and when I was there, as far as leadership groups go and how that leadership transcends onto the pitch, they were class.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;I was surprised that Angus didn&#8217;t get his call-up to the <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/six-nations\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Six Nations<\/a> because he&#8217;s been pivotal in everything the Dragons have done this season. I think his kicking game has been really, really strong for the Dragons. Just the number of metres he makes, he&#8217;s right up in the league with total kick metres and successful kicks off the tee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;He just demands from the players around him. It&#8217;s the same with Aaron. He leads through his actions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;Ben&#8217;s the exact same, just operating that lineout and adding another tool to the Dragons&#8217; armoury in that sense. They&#8217;re absolutely massive. I think the Dragons&#8217; squad has grown from strength to strength.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Premier Sports is the home of Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup in the UK and Ireland &#8211; with every minute of live action from four thrilling semi-finals this weekend plus Finals weekend in Bilbao on May 22\/23. Tune into Premier Sports 2 from 12 noon on Sunday for all the live action from Montpellier v Dragons RFC with Lauren Jenkins, Ashton Hewitt, Bernard Jackman, Tom Shanklin, Connor Morris, Johnnie Beattie. To join in <a aria-label=\"[object Object]Link opens in a new tab.\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"http:\/\/www.premiersports.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\">www.premiersports.com<\/a> from just \u00a311.99 a month @PremSportsTV<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 31-year-old has been in fine form for the Dragons this season Dragons co-captain Angus O&#8217;Brien(Image: Gareth Everett\/Huw&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[26923,5903,101,56,54,55,9015],"class_list":["post-560460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-dragons","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wales-rugby-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560460","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=560460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}