Callum Sheedy: Bristol fly-half relishing Wales fans' return
- Published
Callum Sheedy has won nine caps for Wales since his debut in November 2020
Callum Sheedy is looking forward to the prospect of playing for Wales in front of fans, including his family, for the first time.
Sheedy, 25, made his debut against Ireland in the Autumn Nations Cup, which was played behind closed doors.
But up to 10,000 fans will allowed at the Principality Stadium for Wales' July Tests.
"I'd love to be able to pull the jersey on again in the summer and hopefully with my family there," Sheedy said.
The Bristol Bears fly-half made his senior debut behind closed doors at Llanelli's Parc y Scarlets in November with the Principality Stadium in use as a field hospital due to the pandemic.
Wales returned to the national stadium for the Six Nations but restrictions meant crowds were not permitted for the tournament.
"It's pretty bizarre really but it's all I know," Sheedy told the BBC's Scrum V.
"Obviously I've been in the stadium when the Welsh national anthem has been sung and the atmosphere is electric.
"When you're singing the anthem and there's no crowd there you can hear the guy next to you so it's pretty strange."
Wales face Canada on 3 July with Tests against Argentina on 10 and 17 July, with crowds allowed back under Welsh Government guidelines.
"You still get the butterflies," Sheedy said of waiting to discover whether he would be included in Wayne Pivac's squad for the summer.
"Being selected for your country is never something you take for granted.
"So it was a huge honour once again to be selected and something I'm very proud of."
Sheedy described the season a "rollercoaster" - one in which he was part of the Wales squad that won the Six Nations but were denied a Grand Slam.
On the club front, Bristol's Champions Cup hopes were ended by Bordeaux-Begles, but Pat Lam's side face Harlequins in the Premiership play-off semi-final on Saturday.
"The Six Nations was obviously massive in terms of winning the Championship, which was one of the highs of my career," Sheedy added.
"Two weeks later we got knocked out of the European Cup and we didn't have a good game particularly.
"So that was a low and this season especially with Bristol has gone like that. We haven't been able to fully hit the ground running in terms of the way we've been playing.
"But we've been grinding out results and on a personal level I've done OK and hopefully we can carry it on going into the semi-finals next week.
Bristol team-mates Callum Sheedy (right) and Ioan Lloyd during Wales training
"When the Welsh squad was announced I was really chuffed but now it's about knuckling down to work.
"We let ourselves down in the semi-finals last year and before that we hadn't been in the semi-finals for years.
"It's one of the biggest games in the club's history so we're fully focused on this weekend in what is going to be a huge test against Quins."
Another player hoping to end the season on a high with Bristol before linking up with the Wales squad is Sheedy's fellow Cardiff-born back Ioan Lloyd.
Lloyd also made his debut in the Autumn Nations Cup and Sheedy said: "The talent he has is ridiculous.
"The way he can play 10, 15 and wing and still be one of the best players on the pitch shows how talented he is.
"And to think he's only just turned 20 is terrifying really, and I keep telling him to make sure he stays in the back three because I wouldn't mind a job for a few more few years."