Archie Griffin ready to go toe-to-toe with the best after surgery

Finally pain-free, Bath and Wales prop Archie Griffin is hoping to put his best foot forward for club and country over the coming weeks.

Griffin’s recovery from toe surgery in the summer has been timely for Bath, given the departure of Thomas du Toit to the Sharks and the loss of Billy Sela to injury until the end of November.

The Sydney-born 25-year-old, who arrived in England as a 13-year-old via Singapore, has clocked up just under 100 league minutes across the first three rounds as back-up to Will Stuart, but starts tonight’s West Country derby away to Gloucester.

“I just want to keep building consistent game time, playing week on week, and then keep developing my scrum after getting my toe op in the summer,” he said, in his usual understated manner.

Looking at tonight’s big test, Griffin didn’t seem phased by playing on an artificial surface when chatting to the media earlier this week.

4G surfaces have come under scrutiny in the PREM following his Welsh teammate Louis Rees-Zammit’s ‘someone do something about it’ social media plea after he received nasty burns to his leg in Bristol’s 30-7 defeat at Saracens.

“It’s 4G so you have got to adapt a bit,” the 15-cap tight-head acknowledged.

“It is going to be wet so we probably won’t get burns, it’s probably just the momentum you get in carries and scrums that you probably notice the most about playing on those pitches.

“It’s a good stadium, with the Shed obviously. It’s just another (set of) loud home fans. I have only played there once, last season, so I am looking forward to playing there again.”

Head-to-Head

Last 5 Meetings

Wins

1

Draws

0

Wins

4

Average Points scored

23

37

First try wins

80%

Home team wins

80%

As for his troublesome toe, which prevented him being involved in Wales’ July internationals, Griffin says he feels like a new man.

“It’s the first time in two or three years where I haven’t had to get my toe strapped or get any injections in it. I wouldn’t say I’m a particularly good person with needles to begin with, so, that wasn’t the best bit.”

Griffin says the pain he experienced before surgery was like walking on a shard of glass, making surgery a necessity.

“You’ve got underneath your toe is these things called sesamoids that sit underneath your toe joint and effectively act as a kneecap,” he explained.

“My one which sits on the inside of my foot on my right foot was fractured at some point, I don’t know when and just kept getting fractured over time, which affected my pushing off it and it felt like I had glass in the bottom of my foot.”

Discussing the op further, he added: “It was a removal not a repair of my tendon joint, I could walk out of the surgery and it immediately felt better, even with my foot having a big cut in it.”

While Griffin has a head down, next game approach to his rugby, his Wales call-up was welcome news.

Wales face Japan, New Zealand and Australia, the country of his birth, on consecutive weekends in November in the Nations Championship.

“Paul James (Wales scrum coach and ex-Bath prop) called me. It’s good to be able to work with him again; I am really looking forward to it after missing the summer tour,” he said.

“I have a lot of connection with Australia personally, so that game alwways means a lot, and New Zealand is always a good Test, with the Haka.

“The stadium (atmposhere) we had the last time we played them at home was an unbelievable game to be a part of, and then Japan is obviously a good game for us coming up.”