Faletau is back to his brilliant best - with years in front of him

I WAS fortunate enough to play with Taulupe Faletau at the tail end of my career and I saw at first hand what a superb player he is.

He was the first name down on Warren Gatland’s team sheet at the peak of his powers and he won’t be far off that with Wayne Pivac after the Six Nations he had.

No wonder he picked up the man-of-the-match award after the big win over England and it was little surprise to see him listed for the Player of the Tournament award as well. Now he is everyone’s first choice for the No.8 spot in the British & Irish Lions Test team again.

There have never been any question marks over his skill and talent, but when he suffered a succession of broken arms and other injuries it looked as though we might have seen the best of him. Oh ye of little faith!

What we saw from him as Wales lifted the Six Nations title again – he started every game in 2012, 2013 and 2021, but missed the 2019 Grand Slam through injury – was remarkable consistency, brilliant game management and awesome power with the ball in his giant hands.

He now has 86 Welsh caps to go with his four Test appearances for the Lions and, at 30, is maturing like a fine wine. Sergio Parisse is still going strong at 37 and ended his international career with Italy on 142 caps. If Taulupe can stay fit then there is no reason why he can’t play through to the 2023 World Cup and way beyond.

Injuries permitting, he is all set to become another Welsh centurion cap holder.

I just hope that Leigh Halfpenny can also join that exclusive club.

He is currently stuck on 99 caps for Wales and the Lions after suffering a head knock during yet another good Six Nations campaign for him. It would be awful if he, like Mike Phillips, gets stuck one cap short of the 100.