Shane Williams column: Keep that smile on your face, Keelan!
He was two years old when I made my Wales debut and still in school when I retired so I didn’t get the chance to work with him at the Ospreys. But I have watched him with great interest for Wales U20s and I like what I see.
For a start, he plays with a smile on his face and that is half the battle with any player.
I remember Graham Henry telling me before my Wales debut to just go out there, enjoy the game and express yourself. That’s exactly the same advice I would now pass on the Keelan.
I love the way he plays, like all teenagers should, without a care in the world but has that confidence of youth to go for it.
He was positive in everything he did and, even with his first touch, he was beating a seasoned international like Luke McLean on the outside.
He has great feet and awareness of what is around him but there is no substitute for raw, all-out pace as we saw for his try. It was superb in how he stepped off his wing between three players and then put his foot on the gas.
No wonder he is smiling in virtually every picture I see of him and who can blame him playing in that Ospreys backline. They are playing great rugby and with the likes of Dan Biggar, Rhys Webb and Ashley Beck all on their way back, wings like Giles are only going to get more of the ball in great scoring areas.
Without sounding too much like Scrooge, I have to be the first to sound a word of warning and we all have to be careful we don’t put too much pressure on the boy. Because at 18, that’s exactly what he is. A talent without doubt, but he is still raw and has much to learn.
It happened with myself and then with the likes of Tom Prydie, George North and, to an extent, Alex Cuthbert, and we all had to deal with the fall-out.
Another player who has had to come through adversity – sometimes of his own making – is Tom James.
I was delighted to read he has this week signed a new contract with Cardiff Blues because he thoroughly deserves it.
I played with Tom when he was first involved with Wales and he was a little hot-headed. He was a great lad, honest and spoke his mind, which sometimes got him into bother. But no-one could doubt his athleticism or his passion.
Moving to Exeter Chiefs was the making of him and he has returned a far more mature guy and an even better player. He is the form wing in Wales and must be given a chance in the autumn. It’s a shame Cuthbert has picked up another injury but that should open the door for James.
He was unlucky again in the Six Nations to be picked and then dropped again but he now has the temperament to handle these ups-and-downs.
One wing who never seems to learn from his ups-and-downs is Chris Ashton – or should we now call him Luis Suarez? Quite honestly, what on earth was he thinking? To bite an opponent was just bizarre.
I’ve said before in this column that I am an Ashton-fan. I played against him many times for club and country and I know just how hard he works around the field.
He is a proven try-machine having impressed throughout his career at Northampton, Saracens and England. But he is just so frustrating.
The simple fact is that he is his own worst enemy and the only person who will live to regret his actions is Chris Ashton.
The more he picks up these bans, the more big occasions he will miss and the more difficult it becomes for Eddie Jones to pick him for England.
There’s little doubt Ashton is good enough to play for England but does Jones really want to take the risk – or the hassle – of picking him?
I don’t know what was going through his mind because biting an opponent is something that honestly never crossed mine when I played.
I was gouged once against Castres and that was scary because the consequences can be serious.
But even in all the times I played in France, no-one ever had a bite of me, not even a nibble!
