DRAGONS centre Tyler Morgan is confident that he will catch new Wales boss Wayne Pivac's eye after the agony of failing to get a second World Cup call from Warren Gatland.

Four years ago the centre from Caerleon, then 19, was with Gatland's squad preparing for England 2015.

He made his Test debut in the warm-up against Ireland in Cardiff and after missing the initial cut was called into the squad because of injuries, featuring in the group stage success against Fiji and quarter-final loss to South Africa at Twickenham.

Since then Morgan has been hindered by injury misfortune and he won the last of his five caps against Tonga in November, when he scored his first international try.

His hopes of a late charge for the World Cup training squad were hindered by a blow to his right shoulder suffered against the Ospreys in March and his name was not among the 42 chosen by Gatland.

As nice as a weekend at a sunny Glastonbury was, Morgan would loved to have been being flogged by the Wales conditioning staff.

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"It was gutting, to be honest," said Morgan. "I was racing against time to get fit for Judgement Day but I didn't get back in time for it.

"They told us in a team meeting who was in, I backed myself to get into a wider squad but they picked a smaller number, which went against me.

"I'm just cracking on with the Dragons now, enjoying the pre-season here. I'm probably getting just as fit here."

Morgan was disappointed to miss out but is a realist and knows that earning a spot for Japan would have been tough with Hadleigh Parkes and Jonathan Davies shoo-ins and Scott Williams and Owen Watkin battling to be back up.

"I spoke to the coaches and they were happy with my autumn campaign," said the Dragon.

"With Jon in front of me, I can't have any quarrels really. He's going to play every game, hands down.

"All I've got to do is take time to get better than him. That's not going to happen in a couple of days because he's obviously very experienced.

"I'm in no rush and I feel like my time will come, but obviously the sooner the better."

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Morgan made his Dragons debut in 2013, his first league outing was against the Ospreys at Judgement Day and he slotted in next to Jamie Roberts against the Springboks in a World Cup quarter-final.

The 23-year-old has packed in plenty – "I value all those experiences and feel like I have been through a whole career in seven years, it's crazy" – but time is on his side in the bid to become a Test regular.

"Looking back, it was all a bit of a blur. It went very quickly," said Morgan about the 2015 World Cup. "I loved it at the time and I don't think I quite realised the situation I was in.

"I was young and I just went out and played. I remember Gats coming up to me and asking if I was going to be ready to play in the quarters.

"I went out, enjoyed it and got addicted to it. As soon as I played that first game at the Millennium, I just wanted to do it again and again.

"I do miss it and the aim is to try and get back there, but there's plenty of time. I'm still considered a baby in this position and there's still a lot to learn."

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That will come with time in the middle and Morgan needs to improve on his 14 appearances from last season and get back towards the 24 outings that he enjoyed in 2016/17.

"Being injury-free would be nice, so we will keep working hard on pre-hab, even though it's sometimes down to luck," said the centre, who was diagnosed with diabetes last year.

"I just want to play as much as I can this year and get back to the level that I know I can be at, then break my way back into the Wales squad. I am out of the mix at the moment but I know I will eventually get back in there.

"All I want to do is play rugby to the best of my ability and win some games, because that's the reason I started playing."