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We need to talk about Rhys Webb

(Photo by Kevin Barnes - CameraSport via Getty Images)

We need to talk about Rhys Webb. The 31-cap Wales and Lions scrum-half is reported to have bid a final adieu to Toulon after a challenging 18-month stay down on the Cote d’Azur. This after the French superclub reached a verbal agreement with the player and his agent to sever all ties.

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It was a typically dramatic turn in what has been a tumultuous time for the returning Osprey.

Webb has been a cause celebre since moving to France in the summer of 2018 given he was 29 caps short of the 60-cap limit implemented by the Welsh Rugby Union at the same time he signed on the dotted line with Mourad Boudjellal.

Only the key protagonists will ever know whether Webb was informed of the ruling before signing but either way there is sympathy for his plight.

Continue reading below…

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The Bridgend-born No 9 was part of a golden generation. He put in a decade of service for his beloved Ospreys, turning out on 154 occasions, all the while watching the steady trickle of his peers leave for France and England for ‘life experience’ but also the financial rewards on offer. Dan Lydiate and Jamie Roberts headed for Racing 92, Leigh Halfpenny to Toulon, Jonathan Davies had a whirl at Clermont Auvergne, while Mike Phillips made hay at Perpignan and then Racing 92. The English Premiership gained George North, who headed to Northampton, Liam Williams to Saracens and Taulupe Faletau who decamped to Bath. Oh and that’s not forgetting, Richard Hibbard, Luke Charteris and James Hook. All had prosperous periods outside the Welsh goldfish bowl. Last out of the door was his old mucker Dan Biggar to Northampton.

That’s pretty much an entire backline and pack of Welsh Lions moving to sunnier financial climes. Throughout this unsettling player-drain, Webb must have been thinking, ‘what about me?’ so when the opportunity knocked, the pull and sense of entitlement must have been overwhelming.

Rhys Webb Toulon
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Yet behind the sunny Instagram posts by the pool in his Budgie Smugglers, it has been far from a smooth journey. First his wife, Delyth and the couple’s three kids decided there was no place like home and returned to Bridgend, leading to tear-stained interviews. On the pitch, it has been a mixed bag. He has played competently in fits and starts but his Toulon side have lost the sheen of the three-time Champions Cup winners, flirting with relegation and staving off rumours of unrest.

Indeed Boudjellal has made more headlines in spats with star players – see Julian Savea – than headlines on the pitch in recent years, before flouncing off and leaving Bernard LeMaitre to run affairs.

All the while, in Wales, the wheels have kept turning. His long-time adversary Gareth Davies has become one of Wales’ most explosive players, topping the scoring charts at the 2015 Rugby World Cup in Webb’s absence through injury and scoring key interception tries, notably against England and Australia in consecutive World Cups. The common consensus has been that he’s conducted himself with great aplomb. If that wasn’t enough, a young buck by the name of Tomas Williams has come onto the scene and through a cute box-kicking and running game is being heavily tipped to become the Wales’ first-choice No 9 sooner than later.

Rhys Webb moving
(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
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There’s also been a shifting narrative in the thousands of words written since his departure. A feeling that he’d left Wales for money and couldn’t take anything for granted on his return. For some, he’s been on the naughty step and is getting his just desserts. This seems harsh after a glut of his teammates had committed the same egregious crime and been welcomed back with bouquets and garlands.

If anything, Webb had grounds for hurt feelings at his exclusion in what was a unique case. Tomas Francis has been able to continue his successful Wales career on a technicality, being able to extend his Exeter contract rather than sign a new one – semantics if ever there was one, and Rhys Carre was able to sign for Saracens even though he’d made only a handful of regional appearances and still appear at a World Cup.

It must be added that the 60-cap rule appears to be working for a Wales and their regions with the likes of Webb, and Williams returning and new caps Nick Tompkins, Louis Rees-Zammit WillGriff John all sounded out about a return to Wales.

So where does this leave him? Well the sight of him at training, mucking about with Justin Tipuric, all smiles has been heartening. As for his reintegration back into the squad, time will tell, but you wonder how the dynamics have changed? Will he be happy to carry the tackle bags as a clear No 3? Aled Davies may have carried out that role in Japan, but Webb, the arch-competitor, is a different case entirely. Never short of self-belief, he’s already started making an impression on Wayne Pivac, who said he’d been impressed with his sharpness at training and brought a level of experience and vocal assertiveness that comes with a Test Lion. “He brings a level of communication that comes with experience. That confidence to challenge other senior players during the training session”, chirped, Pivac. “I think it’s fantastic he’s keeping everyone on their toes. As a 9 you want everyone barking instructions. Nines and 10s have a role to play in terms of delivering the patterns and the plays that we want to use.” So reading between the lines, Webb appears to be ticking every box.

As for his captain, Alun Wyn Jones, again, there is the familiarity of playing together for a decade. At the Six Nations launch, mention of his name brought a smile, and due respect. “We all know what a quality player Rhys is. It will be good to see the competition we have at scrum-half. He’s gone through a bit to get back into the jersey. As long as he and his family are happy, I think Rhys will flourish as he has before. A Rhys Webb back in the mix with the two nines that we have, Tomas Williams and Gareth Davies, really puts a cat amongst the pigeons. It’s good to have him back in the mix and up for selection.”

When you think about Wales’ probable fly-half being Dan Biggar, someone who has played over 200-times with Webb since their late teens, and that understanding and natural ability to boss a pack shouldn’t be easily discarded by Pivac and his coaching team.

Of their natural understanding, Biggar once told this writer their familiarity gave them an advantage as a halfback pairing. “I can read his body language, how he’s shaping up, when he’s going to snipe, when you want to get on the end of a short pass.”

As for Webb, he knows for all the talk, it’s now down to him. There’s no doubt he’ll be hungry, having missed 23 Tests since his flight South. He’s already been doing ‘extras’ with old Bridgend scrum-half Kevin Ellis and as an obsessive trainer, you can be assured that he won’t be carrying extra timber.

Many naysayers will point to the fact he’s just turned 31 and say he’s a spent force but that’s a red herring. Look around the Six Nations. Ben Youngs is nine months younger, Willi Heinz is a year older. Over the Irish Sea, Conor Murray is only five months younger, and the recently retired Greig Laidlaw turned 34 in Japan – the same age Webb will be in France. Further afield, Will Genia was the same age at the World Cup, Aaron Smith is a month older and you’re not hearing catcalls to retire. With little rugby in the last 18 months, and some long injury-enforced breaks, Webb could have several years left.

With the Lions tour less than 18 months away, Warren Gatland, a confirmed fan, will be watching from afar with enough contacts to get regular, informed bulletins.

For Davies and Williams, life is about to get a lot more difficult and how they react will be instructive, while for Pivac, managed correctly, the talented trio could hold the key to retaining the Six Nations title.

Can Webb can retain the No 9 shirt? Don’t bet against it.

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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