Afon Bagshaw has spoken of his pride after his stateside World Cup Sevens exploits with Wales.

The Flint-born RGC fullback was an integral part of the Dragons side who finished in 11th place at the 40-team showpiece tournament in San Francisco.

An impressive victory in their opener against Zimbabwe gave the Welsh a perfect start, before a 35-0 defeat to the USA eliminated them from the main competition.

Reflecting on the tournament experience, Bagshaw said: “Overall it really was a great tournament on a personal level.

“If you’d told me at the start of last season that I’d be at the Sevens World Cup representing my country, I just wouldn’t have believed you.

“Being out there and being a part of the set-up was just incredible and I felt so proud to be a part of it. We arrived there on the Tuesday and we headed to the AT&T stadium for a training session.

“At that point it was still set up as baseball pitch, but the surface they put down was great underfoot and perfect for fast attacking rugby. The support out there was really overwhelming too, with some really big crowds turning out for games.

“I felt we showed some good character to come from 12 points down and win against Zimbabwe and that our class eventually brought the scoreline back in that one.

“To then go up against the USA, who are one of the best teams in the world was tough, but we played pretty well overall.

“There was some ill-discipline in our play at times which certainly didn’t help us, but I didn’t think the scoreline was a fair reflection of the game”

The Welsh restored some pride in the Men’s Bowl competition with a dramatic 24-19 success over Samoa.

But that result was overshadowed by an alleged post-match assault by Samoa’s Gordon Langkilde that left three Welsh players with facial injuries.

Matchwinner Tom Williams sustained a broken nose and cheekbone in the incident, in which team mates Luke Morgan and Ben Roach were also injured.

The swift fixture turnaround at the tournament meant the Welsh trio all missed the next games against Ireland, in which Bagshaw scored a try but could not prevent a 27-12 reverse.

With criminal proceedings against Langkilde now active, Bagshaw would not comment on the incident itself but admits that it affected their remaining games.

“Obviously I can’t say too much about it now, but it was a shock for everyone who saw what happened in the players tunnel.

“It had an effect, definitely. We were without three key players for the Ireland game and it certainly didn’t help our preparations for that game, which we lost 27-12.

“So that was tough to take and overshadowed the Samoa result a bit after we’d played some very good rugby against them.

“So again we had to pick ourselves up and re-group, and we were able to sign-off with a really decent win against Canada.

“Players like Adam Thomas and our coach Gareth Williams were both moving on after this tournament, as was our physio Gary Ahmed.

“There’s a really good unity among the whole Welsh squad and the coaching staff, so it was good to sign off with a win for them and end the tournament on a high.

“I’m back home now and have had the chance to think back on the experience of being being out there.

“It’s something I loved being part of and something I really want to experience again in future.”

Bagshaw will now enjoy a month-long summer break before returning to pre-season training with RGC.