Regan Grace made a stunning comeback for St Helens on Saturday night as his club coach continued to answer questions about his future in rugby league.
The Welsh winger has been missing for the Super League leaders since March after a long injury layoff, but returned with a 40-metre try against Toulouse at the Stade Ernest Wallon. Grace's try against Toulouse capped off a fine performance in a five-try victory for the Saints, with former Wales international Morgan Knowles, who has since switched allegiances to England, crossing for their first.
However, reports of a code switch to rugby union have been rife recently, with Saints head coach Kristian Woolf once again forced to address Grace's future. With his contract up at the end of this season, a host of Gallagher Premiership sides and Welsh teams are understood to be interested in the services of Grace, who has now scored 85 tries in 135 games for the Super League outfit.
Having already admitted earlier in the week that "a guy like Regan is going to have a choice", Woolf added post-match the club would try to sit down with the 25-year-old to convince him to stay at the Totally Wicked Stadium.
"I thought he was great," said Woolf when asked about Grace. "It was great having him back in there.
"You miss players but once they're back in the team, the speed, the footwork, the amount of threat that he caused particularly as the game went on and he got more confident, I just thought he got better and better
"It was great having him back. He was our best player, for me, and came up with some really special play.
"In terms of him re-signing, nothing's changed from earlier in the week and we've certainly left him alone as the week's [gone on]. It's his first game back, he can worry about playing and get that out of the way. Certainly over the next couple of days, we'll get back on to trying to get something finalised there.
"We certainly want to keep him, we're working really hard to. That doesn't mean that he's made a decision to stay or anything like that. He's got a few decisions to make, but we're going to do our absolute best to keep him and he showed his worth tonight."
Grace has previously stated his intention to play for Wales in the 15-a-side game, but the interest from English clubs in union could turn his head - with the Port Talbot-born star dual-qualified. Reports that the WRU are currently dithering over offering Grace a deal could only push him further towards a Premiership club.
With the Rugby League World Cup being held in England later this year, which would be Grace's third international tournament with Wales after the 2017 World Cup and the 2019 World Cup 9s tournaments, it could be the perfect time for Grace to finish in rugby league and try his hand at a new code.
