Jake Ball’s ambition as a boy was to be a professional cricketer and when he was 16 his family moved to Perth to help him fulfil his dream. But seven years on his aim now is to precipitate an Australian collapse when he lines up as a rugby second row for Wales at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.
Ball’s ability as a fast bowler was such that he played for Western Australia at Under-19 level when he was 17 and he was coached by the former Test cricketer Geoff Marsh in Perth. But within two years he had decided cricket was not the sporting route he wished to go down and switched to rugby union, making the Western Force squad as a second row before signing for the Scarlets in the summer of 2012. He moved to Llanelli with the express ambition of playing for Wales.
Although Ball was born in Ascot and raised in Berkshire his father Dave, who played at No8 for London Welsh and Harlequins, was born in Pwllheli. When the 6ft 7in, 19st 11lb lock came off the Welsh bench in Dublin last February he was committed to the land of his father and is now looking forward to winning a sixth cap at the weekend.
“I do miss the competitive edge of the bowling,” said Ball. “I had a slingy action, like Jeff Thomson, and was clocked at 82mph when I was 17. I was probably a bit over the top if I got nicked through slips and that sort of thing, but I hated standing in the field and I was a tail-end batsman as well.
“I ended up spending a lot of time sitting around and I went back to rugby. I played some club games and had a trial with the Western Force academy, making the full squad after being told to go away and work.”
Ball started two matches in this year’s Six Nations, against France and England, but was only involved in the final six minutes of the second Test on the summer tour to Australia and was expected to start behind Luke Charteris this month while Bradley Davies regains match fitness after a long injury.
Charteris has been released to his club Racing Métro this week so that he will be available for the match against South Africa, which is outside the official Test window, at the end of the month. “Being picked in the squad was massive for me, but my goal was to get a starting place and I have achieved that,” said Ball. “It is good to have such strength depth in the second row and there is always competition in training.
“I think I form a good combination with Alun Wyn Jones: I have a massive amount of respect for him and I enjoy playing alongside him.”
Ball knows some of the Australian squad from his time in Perth, mentioning the back-rowers Ben McCalman and Matt Hodgson, and he has no regrets about leaving Australia, where he had qualified for the Wallabies on the grounds of residency. “There is a lot more close-quarter stuff over here, more picking and going,” he said. “I love the breakdown side of the game, and the way rugby is played here suits me massively. I have had a lot of game time with the Scarlets this season and am pleased with the way things have gone.”
He added: “It has been a pretty tough couple of weeks in training with Wales and we will obviously gain the benefits from that. We have been up early every morning and in the altitude chamber, which is not my favourite place. The running fitness is something I have spent a fair bit of work on.
“When I first came into the camp I found that aspect very different. I hadn’t done some of the tests before, but I now have a foothold there. Australia will be like any other international game, brutal, and we will get stuck into it as we would any other.”
