The Scarlets hooker has been behind Wales and British & Irish Lions star Ken Owens at both club and national level for several years. But with Owens currently out injure Elias has risen to challenge.
And Scarlets head coach Peel is confident the 27-year-old, who is almost certain to be Wales’ first choice hooker in the upcoming Six Nations, will get better and better. “He’s been good,” said Peel.
“Obviously, I was delighted for him in the autumn because he was a big positive. His carrying game was excellent.
“The thing with Ryan is we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. I think when he gets into form and gets a consistent run of games, we can really see him flourish.
“I think we saw a bit of that in the autumn when he played four games back-to-back. That’s been the challenge so far in his career.
“He’s always played well for parts of his career, but he has been behind a test Lion for both his club and his national team. For Ryan, a consistency of games is huge for him.
“He’s a good leader for us. He was captain last year, leads by example, and he’s a big guy man.
“People don’t realise how big he is. I’ve been really happy with him, and he really wants to push on.
“I’m looking forward to getting him back onto the field. It’ll be good for him to have a run of games for Wales in the Six Nations as well.”
With Scarlets captain Jonathan Davies in his 34th year, and the likes of Ken Owens, Scott Williams, and Aaron Shingler also approaching their mid-thirties Peel is keen to develop a new generation of leaders at the Scarlets. And he sees Elias as a player who has a big role to play off the field at Parc y Scarlets.
“He (Elias) is a prime example,” said Peel when asked about leaders in his squad. “He definitely has that quality in him.
“Josh Macleod is another one, and he has real good leadership qualities. Leadership; can it be taught? Is it nature? Is it nurture? It’s a bit of everything really.
“We’ve got a raft of older players who have been really successful in the game, but it’s vitally important that we get voices coming from underneath. Those two to name a few have been good.”
