Mike Phillips believes Tomos Williams and Kieran Hardy would claim scrum-half places if a Lions squad were picked now.
There would be no shortage of competition, of course, with Ireland boasting Jamison Gibson-Park and Conor Murray, Scotland having Ali Price as their main scrum-worker and England possessing Harry Randall and Ben Youngs. But Phillips, who played in 99 Tests over his international career, reckons the Welsh pair would nail down two of the spots. The Wales and Lions scrum-half great dubbed Hardy as "outstanding" and appears to reckon Williams is even better as Wales' first choice.
Read more: The unbelievable journey of Kieran Hardy
"I’m a big fan of Tomos Williams — for me he is Wales’ No. 1 now," Phillips says in a column published in the May edition of Rugby World. "He was great at Twickenham and it’s nice to see him grow because he needs time to develop.
"He’s clinical, has a great passing game and distribution, and he’s got an edge to him. He’s a footballer. Gareth Davies is more effective using his pace off the bench, rather than starting." You can read more about the 'magic Welsh kid' Williams here.
As for Williams' scrum-half rival, Phillips had this to say: "Kieran Hardy is outstanding. Every time he’s stepped up he has shone. Without doubt he’s a future Lion. If you picked a Lions squad squad now, Williams and Hardy would be two of the nines. I don’t know who the other one would be and that says a lot.”
Hardy hasn’t been championed by many as being of Lions calibre just yet, but the Scarlet looked sharp off the bench for Wales against England and followed it up with another significant cameo against France. The assumption is he might need to start more Tests to make the Lions’ tour to Australia in 2025, but there’s an argument the the 26-year-old has yet to hit his prime.
Phillips reckons England should be looking at options other than Youngs, while he reckons “if you’ve got the best No. 9 in the world you win the World Cup, and Antoine Dupont is the best player in the world right now”.
