There will be a familiar face, and beard, back in Welsh rugby this season with the return to big Jake Ball to the heart of the Scarlets pack.
But for those who haven’t seen the 50-cap former Wales second row for a while there will be one noticeable difference – he’s leaner!
B
ack in the 2015 World Cup he weighed in at 127kgs, which he now admits was a bit extreme.
Since then he has changed his diet, his body, and his mind about retirement, and will kick-off the season with the Scarlets when they host mighty Munster in the opening round of the BKT United Rugby Championship tipping the scales at no more than 120kgs.
SCARLETS v MUNSTER – SATURDAY 27 SEPTEMBER 5.30PM KICK OFF
– All you need to know about the big opening day game at Parc y Scarlets HERE
The new body configuration is aimed at having another shot at playing international rugby. He may be 33, but Ball believes there is still enough left in his tank to go round again and perhaps add to his cap tally.
When he initially left the Scarlets three years ago, he extended his career by playing for the NEC Green Rockets in Japan for four years. He had intended to retire after his contract ended in Japan, but then the Scarlets came calling and the lure of west Wales tugged on his heartstrings.
Now he can’t wait to get started again and hopes to add to his 133 games to date for the Scarlets.
“Physically, I feel in a better place than when I left and the ambition to play at the top level still burns bright,” he says.
“I’ve changed a lot of things nutritionally. I’ve started my own supplement company now and I started doing my own blood work back in Australia.
“I just started looking at certain markers seeing where I can make improvements. What you eat affects certain markers, which also affects performance.
“The heaviest I’ve ever got to was 127 kilos which was in 2015 during the World Cup which to be honest in hindsight was probably a bit too heavy. I think my good playing weight is around 120-119kg, which is where I’m sat at the moment.”
Part of that shift has come from experimenting with diet in meticulous detail. During his time away from Welsh rugby, Ball began tracking hormonal markers and recovery indicators through blood testing.
“During those periods I did one thing around testosterone. A lot of people say you can’t alter things like that through food and nutrition, so I set out during that four-month period to eat a certain way every day,” added Ball.
“I actually ended up proving you could increase certain levels through nutrition and eating. I actually posted it online – I increased it by about 50%, which is a lot through that period.”
His regime involved a steady diet of eggs, red meat, Greek yoghurt and berries, along with what he calls “smart supplementation”.
“It was interesting to see because I obviously filmed and took pictures through that whole period of how I trained and what I was up to. It’s pretty crazy, some of the strength gains I made through that period,” he said
That scientific curiosity, Ball argues, has made him more resilient than when he left Scarlets in 2021.
“In a nutshell, I realised for a long period I wasn’t functioning at my best and at the time you think it’s normal but certainly for me it wasn’t normal. I didn’t realise that until I started changing things,” said Ball.
“I’d train flat out, do a session, and then I’d feel really tired and want to go to sleep. Sometimes, I’d eat certain meals and that would make me feel tired. I guess I started really paying attention to that and changing things, structuring my day the right way and timing carbohydrates.”
It means that when Scarlets reached out after Alex Craig’s departure to Glasgow created a vacancy in the second row, Ball was not a fading force returning out of sentimentality, but a player who feels physically sharper.
Head coach Dwayne Peel agrees and the liklihood is that Ball will slot straight back into the team that hosts Munster in the Scarlets’ United Rugby Championship opener on Saturday night.
The lure of playing again at Parc y Scarlets, and the sense of “unfinished business”, pulled him back to Wales.
“When I left the Scarlets, it was around the time of the coronavirus pandemic and it didn’t feel like the farewell I wanted,” he said.
“Since I finished in Japan and announced my retirement from rugby, I have had this feeling of unfinished business. When I heard the Scarlets were looking for a second row, I talked to them and they spoke about what is building at the club, the exciting young talent coming through, the environment and ambition there, and I wanted to be part of that.
“I never officially retired from international rugby, but if you play well for your club then potentially those things come around. That really is all the focus I’m going to put into that.
“I’m just focused on Scarlets and if someone does give me a call then that’s a conversation to be had. It would be pretty special to run out at the Principality Stadium again.”