Josh Macleod is on the verge of a Wales return after overcoming setbacks for Summer tour

Born in Monte-Carlo, Monaco, Macleod’s journey back to the Wales squad hasn’t always been plain sailing since his first call-up back in 2020. In the past he has endured a ruptured Achilles, knee ligament damage, shoulder surgery and hamstring issues.

He has endured misfortune for long period of times, for instance when the 28-year-old was named in Wayne Pivac’s Autumn squad in 2020, that was halted as he damaged his hamstring against Glasgow the day before he was due to meet up with the squad. Then sidelined, he watched another uncapped star at the time, James Botham grab his opportunity and went on to make a handful of appearances for Wales in that campaign.

Since then he’s only made two appearances for Wales and even more injuries in a short period of time has dented that number from growing. He missed the 2023 Rugby World Cup with a shoulder injury and had his start of that season hindered due to an ankle injury which ruled him out for 2 months.

But after guiding his regional side, Scarlets to knockout rugby in the United Rugby Championship this season. He’s had a stellar campaign and scored nine times in 20 appearances.

He now turns his attention to the Far East and will hope that’ll he’ll get an opportunity to shine as Wales look to end a brutal run of 17 consecutive Test defeats against Japan this summer.

“Decent bit of bad luck over the years, but this year one of the main focuses was just to stay fit,” said Macleod at the Vale Resort.

“I think it was the 2023 World Cup training camp and obviously a shoulder injury set me back, but I’ve just kept my head down with the club and trying to perform for the Scarlets and look, it’s great to be back.”

One of the more positives around Welsh rugby, is the depth when it comes to the back-row. Jac Morgan, Taulupe Faletau, Aaron Wainwright have all shone in a team that have endured a long period of downs.

“They’re (Taulupe and Aaron) obviously world-class operators,” explained Macleod. “We’re always learning off each other and there’s a great atmosphere at the moment, so it’s exciting times.”

Everyone knows what’s the focus when it comes to heading to Japan, putting an end to the losing run. Winning a Test match for the first time since the 2023 World Cup, is the task. Wales travel to face Eddie Jones’ Japan in Kitakyushu on 5 July before the trip to play in Kobe on 12 July.

“As a group, we haven’t shied away from it, we’ve touched on the fact that we are looking to end that (losing run).

“It would mean a lot, but again it’s not outcome focused, it’s processed focused and hopefully by behaving in that sort of way, we’ll do the job,” he concluded.