Don’t forget me says Welsh winger Tom James

Wales‘ forgotten man Tom James is more determined than ever to pull on the Three Feathers and is targeting an autumn return.
The Cardiff Blues wing has not played for Wales since facing New Zealand in 2010. He has been blighted by injuries and fallen down the pecking order following the emergence of George North and Alex Cuthbert.
But James, once dubbed ‘the Merthyr Express’, is desperate to hit the ground running for the Blues this season to earn further international honours.
James, 25, said: “I’ve been devastated to miss out with Wales. I always want to be involved and score those tries but when someone like Alex comes along and does so well you can only take your cap off to them.
“I have to knuckle down and a Wales return in November is my target. A lot of it comes down to being at the right place at the right time.
“I had a good start to last season but had a bit of bad luck with injuries, it took a couple of games to get fit and the autumn internationals were gone. Then I scored four tries against Harlequins but did my hamstring and was out of  the Six Nations.
“But right now I feel perfect, it’s the best I’ve felt in six years. I want to be back in that Welsh squad and have that No.11 shirt. I’m always hungry but this is the hungriest I’ve been.”
Some question marks still remain over Warren Gatland‘s relationship with James.
They fell out after James blasted the head coach for using him as a 78th minute replacement against South Africa in 2008.
But James insists there are no hard feelings and he hopes being fitter than ever will enhance his chances.
He added: “I got called up to that New Zealand game after the fall-out we had and he said everything was forgotten if I knuckled down. I was just unfortunate that Alex and George came along.
“But they select on form, I have the physicality they like and with the pre-season I’ve had I should be flying.”
James reckons the current training regime, under new coach Phil Davies, is the toughest he has experienced and another player being put through his paces is Jason Tovey.
Tovey switched from the Dragons in the summer and is hoping to use the move to launch his own bid for international honours. The highly-rated fly-half reckons he stagnated at the Dragons but hopes the competitiveness at the Blues will push him to new levels.
Tovey said: “One of the problems at the Dragons was there was no one pushing me, apart from the two young boys coming through (Steffan Jones and Lewis Robling).
“But here there’s Ceri Sweeney, Gareth Davies and Rhys Patchell all competing. Hopefully I will perform under that pressure.
“The quality of player the Blues have across the squad, taking nothing away from the Dragons, is a step-up in class. Playing with these players was a big factor for me.
“Wales is still a massive goal. The first thing I have to do is perform well week-in week-out with the Blues. My fitness levels are the highest they have ever been.”
MIKE BROWN