Gareth Anscombe says his move to the Scarlets could be the final playing project of a career shaped by injury and comebacks.
The 35-year-old, who made his Scarlets debut in the pre-season defeat to the Dragons, left French club Bayonne in the summer without a club, unsure where his future lay.
“I felt like with the way the season went in France, I didn’t play as much as I would have liked, particularly towards the back end,” he said, speaking on the BBC’s Scrum V.
“I wanted to keep playing and felt I could contribute, and was hopeful something would happen.”
The offer came from former head coach Dwayne Peel, with the Scarlets looking for an experienced number 10 alongside Wales fly-half Sam Costelow and teenager Carwyn Leggatt-Jones.
“I wanted to go somewhere I could be the right fit, and the Scarlets felt like that. The squad excited me and I feel like I’ve got a nice place to fill in supporting those young guys,” he said.
“I would love to see Sam and Carwyn progress and have long careers ahead of them. I want to be playing a bit, supporting the group and hopefully passing on some knowledge I’ve learned over my career.”
‘It’s a young man’s game’
It is a role Anscombe, long a first-choice number 10 for club and country, admits he would not have accepted a decade ago.
“Maturity and getting older kicks in and I realise I am 35. It’s a young man’s game and I am aware of that these days,” he said.
“Don’t get me wrong, I want to play and play well, and there is always that competition. My competitive nature will come out and I’m hoping to still make the coaches have difficult decisions.”
A career of comebacks
Anscombe will also hope for a clear run at fitness, having played only intermittently since a serious knee injury in 2019 that kept him out for more than two years.
On his return he managed just 18 games across two seasons with the Ospreys between 2021 and 2023 before another serious injury, part of a stop-start decade he now hopes to leave behind.
He is set to feature against Saracens this weekend before the Scarlets open their United Rugby Championship season at home to Cardiff on Saturday 26 September.
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