Player Profile - JoHnny mCniCHoll

PLAYER FEATURE

It has been a strange few weeks postisolation for the Scarlets with matches against Bristol, Bordeaux-Begles and Cardiff falling to Covid restrictions. “it’s been five matches cancelled in a row now, but at least we’ve had a couple of weeks training to brush off the cobwebs,” adds Mcnicholl.

“We’ve been looking good in training and want to get stuck into these derby matches.”

A sign of McNicholl at the top of his game is the confidence he brings to the Scarlets’ attack, the desire to counter from loose kicks or produce an audacious off-load

“I think that’s come from playing since i was five years old,” says the former Crusader. “I’m not afraid to make mistakes. I try things and sometimes it might not work, I might throw an offload to the ground but i try to not let that affect me because I know that next time it could be a try-scoring opportunity. So I will still throw the offload again because they are the moments that can break games and they’re some of the biggest strengths that I bring.

“My biggest mindset is to go out and express myself, do those things and not worry if they don’t work. Next time it might work. If I have a bad day at the office, then i have a bad day but I’m not going to let that affect my performance.”

That philosophy has the full endorsement of his coach Peel added: “With players like Johnny, you give him the licence to go and play. That (counter-attacking) is his game and he’s good at it, as long as the risks are calculated. SCARLETS Vs ospreys

“Like any player of that ilk, he may give up one or two turnovers but it’s not a negative of his game. His game is massively positive. He makes stuff happen.

“There’s a lot of talk about skill and flair going out of the game, so players like him are gold dust for us. He can do something out of nothing. “You have to change the way you play with him. you expect an offload, expect a little back door now and again. I’d be massively encouraging that.”

As for Mcnicholl, he is equally comfortable at wing - where he starts this evening’s derby clash against the Ospreys - or preferably at full-back, where he featured in that opening block of urC fixtures and the Autumn matches against the All Blacks and Springboks.

“I asked Dwayne to play a lot more at full-back in the summer,” he adds. “i just feel like that’s my best position. This week, I’m on the wing and I’m happy to be there.

“I play like a full-back anyway when I’m on the wing. I go looking for the ball and I don’t really hang out on the wing. But i just wanted to show them that my best position is full-back, get my hands on the ball, that’s where I’m dangerous and they are the assets I bring to both Wales and the Scarlets.

“I seemed to do that in the early games and then in the New Zealand and South Africa Tests as well, so that was good.

“i enjoyed the autumn series, i enjoyed myself a lot. It came off the back of a really tough pre-season.

“Hopefully i can maintain that form. we will see.”