Joe Hawkins Reacts to His Wales Return and Targets South Africa challenge

Monday, 24 November 2025 at 08:13

byHarry Tovey

Against New Zealand at Principality Stadium, Joe Hawkins, for only the second time this season, started at 12. The last time being in the opening round of the United Rugby Championship (URC) against Munster at Parc y Scarlets.

But all six of his international caps have come wearing the 12 jersey. This is despite playing a lot at 10 for the Scarlets this season and being on the bench during their tour of South Africa.

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If you can carefully brush aside the 52-26 loss and look at some of the positives from the encounter against the All Blacks, Hawkins was one of them.

He’s comfortable at outside half and inside centre, and this can only benefit Steve Tandy’s side from an attacking point of view.

He had standout moments throughout the contest, especially when looking for gaps behind the All Blacks’ defence. The 23-year-old has talked previously about wanting more involvement in games, and he certainly made an impression.

Hawkins’ partnership with Max Llewellyn looked the best it’s been for a while for Wales. This is an area that hasn’t been firing as it once did so magnificently.

Could that be the partnership, which faces off against England at Twickenham in Wales’ curtain raiser in the Six Nations?

“The system and the way the team wants to play means you get a lot of touches on the ball, which is perfect for me,” added Hawkins.

“I guess it is just trying not to be too one-dimensional.

“Just feeding the ball around to the other boys, trying to have a bit of an impact on the game physically myself.

“As a team, we’ll keep developing and keep pushing on with the way we want to play.”

Last Saturday was his first start since Wales’ last triumph in the Six Nations against Italy in Rome. “Yeah, it’s amazing,” he added.

“It’s class to be back in that atmosphere, and I couldn’t have picked a better one to come back in with the All Blacks, facing the haka and all that stuff pre-game.

“It was amazing. It was definitely a big step forward (against New Zealand) from last weekend.

“Obviously, we had some decent moments against Argentina on the first weekend.

“As competitive rugby players, you are never happy with a loss.

“Definitely happy with some of the stuff we put on the field and the way we stuck to the game plan as well was a step forward.”

Unlike 13 of Tandy’s players who are heading back to their English or French clubs, Hawkins remains at the Vale Resort training base for one final Test match of 2025.

As Monday goes on, expect call-ups to be made, Tandy stated in his post-match press conference.

Scarlets counterpart Joe Roberts is Tandy’s only natural option at 13, whilst this may allow Johnny Williams or Eddie James to receive a call-up. Only time will tell.

South Africa is the opponent for Saturday’s daunting challenge, which takes place outside of World Rugby’s international window. Two hours earlier, Cardiff Rugby, prior to kick-off at Principality Stadium, start their crucial contest in Parma against Zebre.

Talk about good timing. But, with that all to one side, seemingly what the WRU has done to play this fixture, there are positives according to Hawkins heading into the clash against the World Champions.

“Yeah, I think so (a lot of positives). The way we stuck to how we wanted to try to play,” he continued.

“I think just before 60 minutes, there was only three or four points in it.

“We really applied some pressure onto New Zealand, but it’s just a bit of inaccuracies our side that are in our control.

“That swung momentum back their way.

“If you give a team like New Zealand that many entries and opportunities, they are going to capitalise at some point.”

Rassie Erasmus’ side comes into the contest off the back of recording their first win in Dublin against Ireland since 2013. “Everyone has seen with South Africa that historically they are physical and they overpower teams,” he added.

“But it seems to be over the last couple of years; they’ve added a bit of attacking flair to their game.

“You are not just trying to stop them upfront, now you’ve got to do that, but also worry about the threats they’ve got behind.

“They are an unbelievable team and are number one in the world for a reason, but for us, the part of the journey we are on, it is super exciting to be able to go out and compete against that.”