Priestland headed back across border
Fly-half Rhys Priestland will end his four year spell at Bath Rugby to join Cardiff Blues next season.
The 50-cap Welsh international has been at the centre of Six Nations selection talks this week after it was revealed Wales head coach Wayne Pivac had asked the Professional Game Board whether he was able to select the 34-year-old stand-off following a number of key injuries to his number 10s.
With the Scarlets’ Rhys Patchall reconditioning after a long absence with concussion and the Ospreys’ Gareth Anscombe still recovering from a serious knee injury he sustained in the summer of 2019, Pivac asked whether he could select Priestland under the special circumstances dispensation which allowed him to call-up scrum half Rhys Webb for the 2020 Championship on the basis that former British and Irish Lion was going to rejoin the Ospreys from Toulon in the summer, despite the fact he was on a temporary deal at Bath.
In essence it was a reward for the star returning to a Welsh region. A key difference between the situations were Webb’s move to Ospreys had already been officially confirmed. Priestland’s switch has not.
The in-form Priestland, who scored 26 points including a try from inside his own half last time out for Bath, has not played Test rugby since November 2017 against New Zealand after leaving the Scarlets for Bath, ruling him ineligible for international selection as he fell 10 caps short of the WRU’S 60-cap quota for players who ply their trade outside Wales.
But Pivac inquired about the special dispensation on the basis that Priestland’s move to Cardiff Blues on a twoyear contract is a done deal.
Wales Online report the communications team at Cardiff Blues had a press release to confirm Priestland’s signing ready to publish on Wednesday morning should he have been included in Pivac’s 36-man Six Nations squad.
But instead Pivac named Northampton Saints’ Dan Biggar, Bristol Bears’ Callum Sheedy and Cardiff Blues’ Jarrod Evans as his three fly-half options.
Speaking about the Priestland situation, Pivac explained: “In terms of Rhys, we’ve asked the question along the lines of the Rhys Webb question when that was done at the time.
“We have injuries to Rhys Patchell, who’s coming back from a well-documented head knock and is now in a reconditioning programme having been out of the game for a while. Obviously there is Gareth Anscombe, who is still out.
“We asked the question: ‘Can we select Rhys him?’
“We’ve selected what we have on the basis that they’re available and we now know whether or not we can use Rhys if we get further injury.”
When pushed Pivac then revealed he can’t call upon Priestland this season even if Wales suffer injuries at flyhalf during the course of the tournament, which is good news for Blue, Black and Whites director of rugby Stuart Hooper who needs his experienced backline general on club duty.
Earlier last week Bath confirmed the signing of South African number 10 Tian Schoeman on an 18-month contract to provide some much needed depth at stand off, but with Priestland departing at the end of the 2020/21 campaign the club are expected to bring in a new first choice fly-half ahead of next season.
Schoeman could make his debut against Bristol Bears tomorrow. if we need to call upon