Peter Jackson: Ignore all that ghostly talk, Phillips is a fixture
Within a fortnight, Phillips had apparently thought better of it, having already made the decision that mattered most of all. Far from retiring, he talked about the next Lions trip in 2017 as “achievable” and that his more immediate target was to go into the World Cup in two years time as: “Number One.”
There is every chance he will do exactly that because, after 82 Test appearances, Phillips is still the main man. Far from his international days being numbered, his rule over the scrum-half roost appears to be just about as absolute as humanly possible.
If he avoids a tendency to shoot himself in the foot and dodge the sort of late-night incident which led to his temporary expulsion from the Wales squad two years ago, Phillips can reasonably expect to be the first British scrum-half to play a century of Tests – a figure reached only by the Wallaby George Gregan and the Italian Alessandro Troncon.
Possession being nine-tenths of the law, Phillips has tightened his grip at a time when Welsh scrum-halves can never have been thicker on the ground in the English Premiership. Martin Roberts is at Bath, Tavis Knoyle at Gloucester, Dwayne Peel at Sale and Warren Fury at Newcastle, not to mention Andy Williams who called it a day at Worcester last year.
All five have a common denominator in that at some stage over the last six years, they competed, however briefly, with Phillips in the national reckoning. Other uncapped Welsh scrum-halves are also plying their trade across the border, Darren Allinson at Wasps and Gavin Cattle whose prodigious deeds for the Cornish Pirates are the stuff of legend.
Phillips has seen others off, like Richie Rees who left the Blues for Edinburgh only to return as a Dragon. His successor at the Blues, Lloyd Williams, finished last season as the leading contender.
He spent almost the entire Six Nations on the bench, appearing as a late substitute in all five matches for a total game time of 53 minutes, including the last four against England.
After learning the harsher realities of international life behind an underpowered Wales pack in Japan last summer, Williams will not be dissatisfied to continue bench service when the autumn series kicks off against South Africa in November.
While Wales’ latest international scrum-half, Rhys Webb, recovers from surgery, a new name has thrown his hat into a crowded ring. Gareth Davies, not to be confused with the Eighties’ stand-off of the same name, scored impressive points last weekend for the Scarlets against Treviso.
Two tries, the first a blinding solo effort from long range, came as a welcome reminder that prospective internationals are still rolling off the regional conveyer belt.
It may be fashionable in some quarters to pillory the Welsh regions for failing to announce themselves in Europe but they have produced exceptional young players without whom the Lions would probably have lost to the worst Australian team since the Seventies.
Davies, from Newcastle Emlyn, turned 23 last month which makes him younger than Test Lions like George North and Toby Faletau. The debate over the next Wales No.9 will continue but there is none to be had over the first-choice against the Springboks on November 2.
Phillips will be the automatic choice and no amount of guff about ‘Gatland‘s Law,’ supposedly giving preference to home-based players over rivals employed in England or France, will make a blind bit of difference.
It may have been touted as an excuse for Peel’s banishment after he left the Scarlets for Sale but the transfer had nothing to do with it, in just the same way that Phillips’ employment at Bayonne makes not a jot of difference to Gatland. Why? Because he knows Wales will be all the poorer for leaving him on the other side of the Channel.
