Pain-free Griffin starts Bath's Gloucester derby after two years of sesamoid surgery

Archie Griffin will start Bath’s West Country derby at Gloucester on Friday night, his first appearance in the starting XV this season, after recovering from surgery to remove a fractured sesamoid bone in his right foot — an injury he says had plagued him for two to three years.

The 25-year-old tight-head, who holds 15 Wales caps, had the bone removed rather than repaired during the summer, a procedure that ruled him out of Wales’ July internationals but has since transformed his day-to-day comfort. “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,” Griffin said.

He described the pre-surgery pain in vivid terms. “Underneath your toe are these things called sesamoids that sit underneath your toe joint and effectively act as a kneecap. My one, which sits on the inside of my right foot, was fractured at some point — I don’t know when — and just kept getting fractured over time. It felt like I had glass in the bottom of my foot.”

The recovery was immediate. “I could walk out of the surgery and it instantly felt better, even with my foot having a big cut in it,” he added.

Griffin’s return is well-timed for Bath. The club lost first-choice loosehead Thomas du Toit to the Sharks and has been without Billy Sela through injury until at least the end of November. Griffin has logged just under 100 league minutes across the first three rounds as cover for Will Stuart, but steps into the starting role for the trip to Kingsholm.

The Sydney-born prop, who moved to England at 13 via Singapore, is unfazed by Gloucester’s artificial surface, even as 4G pitches have attracted criticism in the Premiership following Wales teammate Louis Rees-Zammit’s public call for action after suffering burns at Saracens. “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 notice the most on those pitches,” Griffin said.

Beyond the club game, Griffin has been called into the Wales squad for November’s Nations Championship, where Warren Gatland’s side face Japan, New Zealand and Australia on consecutive weekends. Wales scrum coach Paul James, a former Bath prop himself, made the call personally. “It’s good to be able to work with him again; I am really looking forward to it after missing the summer,” Griffin said.

For now, his focus is straightforward. “I just want to keep building consistent game time, playing week on week, and then keep developing my scrum,” he said.