Wales international prop Kemsley Mathias has become the latest home-grown player to commit his long-term future to the Scarlets.
The 25-year-old follows Macs Page, Tomi Lewis, Joe Roberts, Eddie James and Taine Plumtree in extending his contract at Parc y Scarlets, given Dwayne Peel and his coaching team a real boost in the wake of their big win over Leinster last weekend.
A naïve of Pembrokeshire, Mathias played his junior rugby for Narberth before coming through the Scarlets pathway. He was a member of the club’s Academy and went on to be capped by Wales U20.
He made his senior debut against the Dragons in 2020 and had made 63 appearances over five seasons since then. He won the first of his seven Wales caps in the 2023 World Cup warm-up against England.
“I’m very happy to resign for another couple of years. This is my boyhood club and kit’s where I grew up watching the Scarlets play,” said Mathias.
“It feels like we have kicked on from last season as a club. We have play-off aspirations in the final two games of this season and have built a good, young and exciting squad.”
Currently battling to overcome a calf injury, Mathias is hopeful of travelling with Scarlets to South Africa for their final two matches against the Lions and Sharks.
“I’m hoping to be right for South Africa, and I want to play a part in the play-off push. We’ve shown this season, in games like the Bulls at home and last weekend against Leinster, we can produce big results,” added Mathias.
“It will be brilliant if we can achieve some more knockout rugby.”
Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel describes Mathias as “a quality young loose head” and a “strong scrummager”.
“He has gone toe- to- toe with some of the best front row forwards in the world in recent seasons. He also has a big work rate in the loose,” said Peel.
“He’s been unfortunate with a couple of injuries, but we hope to see him back before the end of the season as we push for that play-off spot.”