Webb’s free to leave... if Gatland still wants him
The latest eruption from the volcanic Mount Mourad may help ensure that Wales go to the World Cup with a bit more lava in their laver bread. The hot ash spewing forth from Toulon’s volatile owner, enraged and outraged in equal measure by his team’s latest defeat, would appear to offer Rhys Webb an escape route from his current predicament as the only Welshman ineligible to play for his country.
M. Boudjellal’s fit of pique has not been restricted to the under-performing Julian Savea, an All Black who reached his peak before the last World Cup and had been on the wrong side of the hill for sometime before Toulon started paying him €1m a year.
Surprise, surprise, Old Moneybags makes no reference to the judgement, or lack of it, by the club’s recruiting agents. Instead he turns his fire on Webb, another expensive import whose decision to opt for a pot of gold on the Cote d’Azur has come at a price.
His flight from the Ospreys has made him the only player to fall foul of the minimum 60-Test rule designed by the Welsh Rugby Union as a deterrent against their better players leaving. Webb has been stuck on 33 since his last Test in December 2017.
At the top of his game, he is the best of Welsh scrum-halves, a status reflected by his appearance from the bench as a substitute for Ireland’s Conor Murray in two of the three Lions’ Tests in New Zealand two years ago. Webb’s contract with Toulon has another season to run but who knows what will happen given the feverish condition enveloping the fallen champions.
Webb’s family have moved from the Mediterranean back home to Bridgend, a development seen by some as an indication that the man himself will not be far behind. Boudjellal claims Webb’s agent has been touting his client’s servic- es in search of alternative employment.
In an attempt to contradict that, Webb has issued a statement underlining his full commitment to the Toulon cause. As for Boudjellal, well he sounds rather less than committed.
“His agent is offering him all over Wales while he still owes us one more year on his contract,’’ says the president. “Don’t worry, I won’t hold him back. I’m not going to keep him.’’
That last sentence leaves no room for ambiguity – Webb is free to go. Leaving,
“Boudjellal claims Webb’s agent has been touting his services in search of alternative employment”
of course, would mean taking a financial hit but it would offer him a way back in time for the World Cup starting in the autumn.
The route is a narrow one, the choice narrower still given that Wales has only the four fully-professional entities, which may not be the case for much longer. The four regions have two things in common, each has a serious shortage of cash as well as at least one international scrumhalf on the books. The Blues have Tomos Williams and the unrelated Lloyd Williams; Rhodri Williams and Tavis Knoyle are at the Dragons; Gareth Davies and Scotland’s Sam Hidalgo-Clyne at the Scarlets, Aled Davies at the Ospreys.
A move to any of the quartet, therefore, is not as straight forward as it sounds. At some stage Webb will have a tough decision to make, whether to opt for the pragmatic one of getting the most out of a short career by staying put in Toulon or the sentimental one of losing money for the glory of playing for his country.
Removing himself from the persona non grata list requires him to be playing in Wales, not necessarily for a regional team but perhaps among the part-timers of the Welsh Premiership. Making such a move would depend on a tactic agreement from Warren Gatland that Webb would be given a shot at making the cut for the World Cup.
At 30, it will probably be the last one. As a head coach anxious to take his very best players, Gatland would be happy to have his former No.1 back in the fold in time for the first of four pre-tournament friendlies starting in August.
Webb’s advisors will be looking at ways of turning Boudjellal’s promise to let the player go into ensuring that he makes a short-term return home and then heads off to greener fields post-World Cup. If they are not looking at such a proposition, they certainly ought to be.