Callum was cool under pressure against Georgia...

SO HAS HE EARNED A CHANCE TO KICK ON AGAINST ENGLAND?

NOTHING in Welsh rugby is ever straightforward.

Everyone has an opinion and they usually cover just about every base. One person’s rugby genius can so easily be another’s busted flush in this particular goldfish bowl.

So were you to search Cardiff boy Callum Sheedy’s name on social media, you’d find all manner of posts assessing his performance in the 18-0 win over Georgia.

For every assertion he’s the next product from the famous Welsh outside-half factory, you’ll come across another questioning his aptitude for Test rugby. C’est la vie.

Of course, as with most things, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Sheedy, in only his second cap, looked assured at Test level, even showing some real moments of quality.

There were, as you’d expect, some facets of his game that needed improving with the step up - but you’d argue he’s in credit so far with his performances.

But, with England visiting Llanelli next week, it begs the question of whether Sheedy has done enough to oust Dan Biggar from the starting XV.

We went over his performance against Georgia to see whether he could be handed a surprise start against Eddie Jones’ men next week...

BLESSED ASSURANCE

The first thing to say about Sheedy is, regardless of his execution at times, he looks assured at Test level.

There had been talk about how Pat Lam saw Sheedy as a coach on the field in the week leading up to this match.

And that shone through, with the fly-half unafraid to make his voice heard when it came to doling out instructions.

There were few signs of nerves from the Bristol playmaker but he looks the part at Test level.

FLASHES OF MAGIC

As well as an on-field coach, Sheedy has developed the image of a socks-down playmaker.

The hope would have been that Sheedy would get the backline firing after being started from the off.

While it would be unfair to judge Biggar given Wales’ lack of a platform during the autumn, when Wales did get quick ball against Ireland, the Northampton fly-half appeared to be shipping the ball on, rather than troubling the defence all that much.

However, the conditions in Llanelli weren’t exactly made for running rugby. It wasn’t the night for a Barry John performance.

Sheedy, at times, gave himself a little bit more depth as he dealt with the conditions. As such, things were tidy enough, if a little played in front of the defence.

However, when he played flat to the line, Sheedy did manage to create things.

For the first try, Sheedy takes the ball flat to the line twice off a scrum.

The first time, he picks a line for Nick Tompkins to crash into with a flat pass.

When the centre keeps the ball alive with an offload after his initial leg drive, Sheedy is flat again to float a miss-pass to Louis Rees-Zammit – putting the young winger over for his first Test try.

For Wales’ second try, Wales broke down the left side of the pitch – thanks to Sheedy taking it flat.

Webb sniped around the corner, sucking in Georgia’s blindside guard before feeding Sheedy.

At this point, the fly-half is flat but he manages to get a quick pass away to Rees-Zammit – putting the winger in space to feed Webb.

As well as playing flat, Sheedy did at times offer a solid running threat.

One off-the-cuff hard carry kept the Georgia defence honest, while he looked a good running threat when taking the ball off a pull-back pass. That carry resulted in three points as Georgia just dived off their feet to kill the ball after Sheedy’s half-break put their defence on the back foot.

Wales have yet to nail down their work with pull-back passes and pods this autumn, but having a fly-half who can be a running threat off these passes is a big boost.

And, on the whole, Sheedy got Wales into some decent attacking shapes with options playing off him. At times, everything was a little linear which didn’t help him.

An inside option would have been useful at times to stop the defence drifting.

Of course, things weren’t perfect. A few on social media were quick to criticise his passing technique. However, calls that Sheedy ‘can’t even spin pass’ are just not true.

Given where his options were in terms of spacing, there’s little reason a fly-half would be doling out spin passes to options mere metres away in awful conditions.

Sure, some of his passes looked a little clunky and end-over-end, but I think you’ve got to take into account the conditions here.

MIXED BAG WITH THE BOOT

It was clear from the start that Sheedy was playing the conditions at times - with the extra time and space he afforded himself at points a sign of that.

That was also the same with his kicking game, with Sheedy putting ball to boot fairly often.

This appeared to be a clear plan, but it didn’t always pan out with a few of Sheedy’s kicks a little loose.

However, on the whole, the fly-half had the right idea with how to tackle the Llanelli conditions.

Whereas Biggar and Wales had persisted with an aerial game against Scotland that was turned into a lottery thanks to the swirling wind, Sheedy instead went about pinning Georgia back with lower kicks that found grass and space.

The idea was there, but the execution sometimes wasn’t.

Early on, he put through a low, raking kick. A sensible option, but one that didn’t please Liam Williams as the full-back thought a chance to counter was on. You can read about the unheard on-field exchanges during the match here.

With some of his longer kicks, there were times when he found space behind the Georgia back-three, whereas other times he only found a white jersey.

On one such occasion, having found space with a beautiful diagonal kick seconds earlier, he cuts back against the grain to try find space in a similar area of the field.

However, he kicks it straight down the throat of a Georgian back and suddenly Wales are on the back foot.

There was some nice variation from Sheedy in his kicking game though.

A cross-kick nearly resulted in a try for Rees-Zammit, and a chip-kick on the stroke of half-time - while maybe the wrong option given the field position and time on the clock – showed a varied game with the boot.

All in all, Sheedy had the right idea on how to play the swirling conditions at Parc y Scarlets. However, with England coming next week, execution needs to be near-flawless.

The big question is whether Sheedy is capable of that yet at Test level.

SO WILL HE START NEXT WEEKEND?

The smart money would still be on Biggar starting against England, given a few of Sheedy’s kicks being a little loose.

Biggar had started every Test match under Pivac to date before Sheedy’s outing against Georgia.

Moving forward, it feels like Wales need to move to a fly-half in the mould of Sheedy to further their attacking evolution.

Sheedy could be that No 10 so there’s more than a decent argument he should be handed a starting spot against England now to continue that development.

However, on the whole, Sheedy probably didn’t do enough to really snatch the jersey from Biggar, like Johnny Williams might have done with the 12 jersey.