THE extent of the impact Wales newbie Mackenzie Martin is making this season can be judged in many ways.
His club, Cardiff Rugby, are delighted with his progress and awarded the home-grown 20-year-old his first senior contract in January and have played him 10 times this season.
Warren Gatland took a punt on the 6ft 5in, 18st 4lb back rower in his Six Nations squad and gave him a debut off the bench in the defeat in Dublin against the Irish.
The other metric is how the people of Ely, where he was born and raised, are reacting to his dramatic rise as a professional sportsman. It is not an area usually associated international rugby players but ‘Big Mac’s’ rise has already struck a chord within his community.
There are young lads now sporting what is being described as the ‘Big Mac Mullet’.
“It’s been pretty crazy. I started the season with Cardiff RFC and then luckily Matt Sherratt gave me the chance to play for Cardiff Rugby,” said Martin. “I took the opportunity, and that’s exactly what I want to do here with Wales. I haven’t really thought about the whole season, I’ve just worried about the next training session or the next day.
“I’ve tried not to get too far ahead or to think too much about the past. I hope I can be a trailblazer and I hope the kids are going to look up to me.
“When I went down to Ely the other week, before I made my Wales debut, there were a good few kids copying my hair cut. They came up to me and were saying ‘I’ve got the same hair as you’ and that type of thing. All theirs looked better than mine, so I was a bit jealous.”
Martin is one of the many new kids on the block in the Welsh squad and a potential central figure to the new pack Gatland hopes to build for the not-too-distant future. He has all the physical attributes and also possesses one of the main ingredients demanded by his international boss, a strong work ethic.
“I’m rough around the edges, but I’m definitely hard-working. Growing up, it obviously wasn’t the easiest as anybody can imagine,” confessed Martin.
“But my family has always been great, and I’ve learned from them. I was always going to work hard because I think my dad’s the hardest worker I know.
“My brothers and my dad really let me know that it doesn’t matter where I come from, I could still make something of myself.
“My dad (Stuart) is actually retired now - he’s got
