Wales and Ospreys starlet Keelan Giles on his hopes of emulating his hero Shane Williams for club and country

Exclusive: The 19-year-old's breakthrough opportunity may yet arrive this autumn, when Wales take on Georgia as well as New Zealand, Australia and South Africa

Keelan Giles is hopeful his breakthrough opportunity with Wales arrives this autumn (Getty)

Keelan Giles knows enough of the history of Wales’s greatest-ever try scorer to appreciate why patience may be a virtue when it comes to international caps and eventual stardom.

Giles will not turn 20 until January, but the teenager’s exciting barrage of tries for Ospreys this time last year, and rave reviews for his performances in Wales’s under-20 team – not to mention successive summer tours when he was part of his country's senior squad without playing a match – make it feel as if the flyer from Gorseinon has been gathering cobwebs waiting for his Test debut.

That breakthrough opportunity may yet arrive this autumn, when Wales take on Georgia as well as the southern hemisphere’s big three – New Zealand, Australia and South Africa – at the Principality Stadium. To be selected in Warren Gatland’s squad later this month, Giles could do with catching the eye in the next three weeks, as Ospreys take on a trio of spectacular assignments – at home to their great rivals Scarlets in the PRO14, followed by Clermont Auvergne at the Liberty Stadium and Saracens in north London in the European Champions Cup.


 Giles is pushing for a call up to the senior squad 
 (Getty)

But, for now, Giles is mindful of the example set by Shane Williams, whose early career seems relevant in more ways than the obvious one.

“It took Shane a few years, didn’t it?” says Giles of his illustrious predecessor in the Ospreys jersey. “He had a shot at Wales when he was young and he had to bide his time. I’ve watched his DVD documentary many times, and he used to be one of my favourite players growing up. And he’s a top guy as well. I’ve met him a few times, a really nice guy. Last autumn, when I was on the bench for [Wales’s autumn Test against] Japan, he sent me a message on Twitter saying ‘good luck and just enjoy yourself, play with a smile on your face and just express yourself’. It was nice to get that message off him.”

As it transpired, an unexpectedly tight match that Wales won 33-30 with a late dropped goal by another up-and-coming Osprey, Sam Davies, passed by with the tyro wing never leaving the bench. “It was a tight game, it was understandable,” Giles says from beneath his baseball cap bearing the Ospreys logo, as we chat at the region’s Llandarcy training-ground HQ. “The second game in the summer, I had my hopes up a bit more but it’s up to the selectors then. I totally backed the boys then and supported them.” And, true to Williams’s advice, an optimistic smile rarely leaves his face. “If somebody asked me a year or two ago, would I like the position I’m in now, I’d have bitten their arm off. It’s all come quick and I’ve just to keep working hard. If it [a Wales cap] comes, it comes, if it doesn’t, I’ll keep on training harder.”


 Giles knows he still has work to do to prove himself on the biggest stage 
 (Getty)

The great man, Williams, was just turning 23 when he made his initial breakthrough in the Six Nations Championship of 2000, after which the big concern of successive Wales coaches Graham Henry and Steve Hansen surrounded his lack of size and weight – officially 5ft 8ins and 12 stones 4lbs, according to the match programme at his debut against France in February 2000. Williams was 26 years old before he laid a regular claim to a Wales jersey, from the 2003 World Cup onwards, and he racked up 60 tries in 91 Tests, to stand fourth in the world’s all-time scorers’ list.

The Ospreys give Giles’s height as the same as his boyhood hero, and tipping the scales at a smidgen over 12 stones. But the youngster has a similar ability to tear up defences use his knifing sidestep, agility and instant, surging acceleration to fox bigger opponents – and they are almost invariably bigger.

Giles’s possible opposite numbers in Ospreys’ upcoming matches range from Nick Abendanon, of Clermont, at 13st 7lbs, via Scarlets’ Steff Evans and Johnny McNicholl, and Saracens’ Nathan Earle, all around the 6ft, 15-stones mark, to the imposing and aptly-named Rémy Grosso of Clermont at 6ft 3ins and more than 16 stones.


 Giles may be small but believes he has what it takes 
 (Getty)

Steff Evans of Scarlets was one of Wales’s starting wings in the summer, and his region are the PRO14 champions and bang in form, top of their conference. Ospreys, by contrast, have lost four matches out of four since they won their season’s opener against Zebre, when Giles ran in two tries.

“Defensively, it gets me up more if I see a bigger guy,” says Giles, who missed a possible Six-Nations debut last spring when he had a hamstring injury, and surprisingly stayed uncapped behind Evans, Alex Cuthbert and Cory Allen on the summer trip to face Tonga and Samoa while regular Wales players George North, Leigh Halfpenny and Liam Williams were busy with the Lions. “I just want to smash him even more, and prove that I can handle them. I tend to go in low and hit the legs – and hope someone else comes in higher.”

Giles says Gatland and his fellow Wales coaches have advised him to keep working on his basic skills and “reading the game”. What about adding extra muscle to his slight frame? “It’s a balance of not getting too bulked up, too big, which would take away my ability to do what I normally do,” Giles says. “I’m getting that protection around my shoulders and upper body. But it’s not at the forefront of my mind. Performance is the main thing.” He also plays a straight bat to the suggestion that Wales’s current patterns may not suit him. “The play is evolving, trying to get a bit more expansive,” he replies. “They haven’t said much to me, so it’s wait and see, really.”


 Giles is hoping to emulate Wales' most prolific try scorer 
 (AFP)

It is not so long since Giles had a photo on his bedroom mantelpiece of Halfpenny – aka ‘King Gorseinon’, as the 75-cap full-back, who is now playing for Scarlets, is from the same town as Giles between Swansea and Llanelli – presenting him with an under-11s medal. Now, having graduated rapidly from Swansea’s white jersey to Ospreys’ black, Giles is signing autographs for his own fans.

“I understand it’s special for the young kids, I totally understand because I was in their shoes not long ago,” he says. “I’ve grown up seeing someone like [Ospreys back] James Hook, and I was a big fan, so I used to wait after the game for him.

“My main thing is to keep my feet on the ground and stay humble. I’m still friends with the boys I went to school with - they can tell you I haven’t changed one bit. And if I did change my mother would let me know straight away.

“At the end of the day, this is professional sport but it’s nothing to change your personality about. If you’re good at a sport, it’s nothing to brag about. You might see someone who’s a good plumber, and he doesn’t go round bragging about it. That’s my mindset.”