Rhys Webb has been backed for a return to the Wales squad ahead of next year's World Cup after a man of the match performance in the Ospreys' win over Cardiff on Saturday evening.
Skipper Webb conducted the orchestra superbly along with half-back partner Gareth Anscombe. He looked threatening throughout the match, kicked superbly and took his try well. It was the kind of performance which will once again throw him back into the conversation around the national side.
Webb has been exiled by Wales boss Wayne Pivac ever since he suggested he would rather be at home supporting his wife and kids than be third-choice Wales scrum-half. Those comments came at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, when it was particularly tough for players being away from their families and vice versa. They also came after Pivac left Webb out of the 2021 Six Nations squad, citing issues with his pace and passing accuracy.
This season, though, Webb has been a top performer at the Ospreys and his display at the weekend came opposite Wales favourite Tomos Williams, which will have made things a little sweeter for him.
When asked if Webb is still good enough to play for Wales, Ospreys boss Toby Booth said: "Yeah of course he is, 100 percent. He led from the front.
"I think when you go to World Cups in particular, you need to be good on both sides of the ball. He created problems. I've made him captain because I think he leads the team well and if I was going to a World Cup, I'd want someone who is a competitor and he certainly is that.
"We need to make the ball available to him and we need to play a certain way to help him but I can only comment on how he's been in the group and on the pitch. He's been one of our standout players of the year.
"He'll keep banging the door down. I know he's desperate to play for Wales. He's such a proud Welshman and I think his performances have been very good."
Webb's detractors might use his age against him but the 33-year-old half-back - Alun Wyn Jones was 34 at the last World Cup - keeps himself in remarkable condition. It allows him to continue to operate at the highest level and, this year, he's been resurgent.
"Unbelievable," Booth said of Webb's physical condition. "We've got a lot of young players learning their trade, learning how to be very good professionals. Brad Davies and Rhys Webb were up at 6am, doing their prep because they know what they have to do to their bodies to allow them to train, the choices they make, their post-match recovery. That's leading by example. Those two boys, the reason they're still playing at the level they are at the age they are is because they're competitors and they know what needs to be done."
