Wing Alex Cuthbert admits he thought his Wales career was over before his recall from the international wilderness.
Cuthbert shone in the 23-19 Six Nations defeat against England as he continued his Wales revival.
The 31-year-old was available for Wayne Pivac after joining Ospreys in the summer of 2021 from Exeter, who he linked up with from Cardiff in 2018.
“When I left, I thought that was going to be it for Wales,” said Cuthbert.
The move to Exeter meant Cuthbert was ineligible for Wales because he had not played the required 60 internationals for his country.
Playing for a team outside Wales renders players ineligible to play for Pivac’s side unless they have won 60 caps or more, due to a rule created in 2017 called the Senior Player Selection Policy.
“I signed for Exeter to concentrate on them and start enjoying rugby again,” added Cuthbert.
“I enjoyed every minute of the three years and that rejuvenated me.
“I knew I was good enough to play. When I was fit, I was in that starting team at Exeter.
“I always had an inkling – if I ever came back to Wales, would I get back into the Wales team? Deep down I thought probably not.
“Wayne has given me a chance and I’m trying to take every opportunity I can.”
Fifty not out
Cuthbert’s powerful performance came on his 50th Wales appearance, something that might have not seemed possible after his international career stalled in 2017.
His try-scoring return against Fiji in November 2021 was followed by successive Six Nations starts and he was preferred to Louis Rees-Zammit against England.
“It means everything,” added Cuthbert.
“When you get into this environment and playing game after game, you can lose the concept of how much it means and how privileged you are to be in this situation, to play for Wales.
“We’ve got more than three million people in Wales and I’d say most of them want to play for their country.
“To have that opportunity against Fiji, it showed how much it meant to be scoring that try.
“It’s something I’ve worked awfully hard for even during those three years at Exeter.
“I didn’t know where I was going to be, I always wanted to play for Wales again, especially being so close to 50. That was a big milestone.
“It was one of my goals when I first started so to finally get it, I’m honoured.”
Wales captain Dan Biggar described Cuthbert’s performance against England as reminiscent of when he was in his prime for Wales and the British and Irish Lions in 2013 and 2014.
Cuthbert made 176 metres in 14 carries at Twickenham.
“I wanted to get my hands on the ball as much as possible, that’s why Wayne put me in the side,” says Cuthbert.
“I used my strength and power. I’ve been feeling good these last couple of weeks, coming back to Wales.
“Coming into camp, Wayne [Pivac], Stephen [Jones] and the other coaches here have given me that license to go and do what I do best.
“Like Biggs said, in 2013 I was loving rugby then. It’s like back when I was 22 or 23, when I had opportunities I took them.
“When I start enjoying it, I get that confidence and want to do the best I can for the team and put us in situations to win games.
“This is the biggest game of the year for rugby player in Wales. I’m gutted we’ve lost.
“We didn’t make it easy for ourselves, but ended up putting ourselves in a situation where we could have won it.”
Baby boost
Cuthbert completed a busy week which saw the birth of his baby daughter Coco three days before the England encounter.
“A lot of my mind has been on my little one and that came safe,” explained Cuthbert.
“It was an elective C-section so we knew it was going to be Wednesday.
“They told us to go in at 9am and we were supposed to be fourth, but there were five or six emergencies.
“So I was there until midnight that night, she came just before then. I got a couple of hours with her and then I had to shoot back to camp.
“It was good to have a bit of time with her and my partner.
“I’m looking forward to getting back and seeing them. I was thinking about my little one a lot throughout the game.
“I’ll go back and am sure I’ll be changing nappies at 2am, 4am and 6am.
“I’m lucky to have a willing partner and she was the one making sure to tell me that my head was on [the rugby] this weekend.
“When I was younger, I put more pressure on myself. Having a young family has taken my mind off a lot of the rugby.”
