GATLAND LEAVES DOOR OPEN FOR WEBB RETURN
RHYS Webb insists he’s not given up hope of ending his international exile and says he still dreams of pulling on the famous red shirt of Wales once more.
The 29-year-old has been out of the international picture since his high-profile move to French giants Toulon earlier in the year.
Under current rules, Webb is ineligible to represent his country, as his tally of 31 international caps is short of the 60-mark needed for players based outside Wales to be considered for a call-up, having seen his international career curtailed by a series of injuries.
His exclusion means that the merits of the new regulations, brought in as a replacement for ‘Gatland’s Law’, were almost immediately placed up for debate.
The WRU appear to be keen on holding firm on the issue, and there’s no indication that the rules will be relaxed to allow the door for international rugby to once again be left ajar for the former Osprey, but he is nevertheless staying optimistic and insists he’s determined to keep his name in the conversation ahead of next year’s World Cup.
Speaking to BBC Sport’s Scrum V programme, he said: “If I’m playing for Toulon I want to be the best player I can be to put me in the window for international honour.
“I haven’t given up hope on my country... it’s a dream to represent my country again.
“I’m just going to give 100 per cent to Toulon... I just want to play the best rugby I can play here, be the best number nine in the world - so hopefully people will start talking about me and find it hard not to pick this Rhys Webb.
“When you play club rugby, you want to be the best you can be to gain international honours, but you can’t think too much about that. You can’t think about Wales.
“As rugby players, playing for your country is the world. It’s a dream come true to represent your country.
“But for now it’s about Toulon and I want to continue winning trophies with this club.”
The opportunity to focus on performing at one of Europe’s biggest clubs has made Webb’s exile from the Wales set-up a little easier to take, and the number 9 believes the move has presented the sort of challenge needed to take his career to the next level.
Nevertheless, he’s once again stressed that it wasn’t a move that was taken lightly.
“It’s one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make and I suppose it was quite a selfish decision from me really,” he added.
“I’d just come to a stage where I needed freshness to take me to a level that I’d maybe not been before.
“I’ve done a Lions tour, the Six Nations and competed against some of the best 9s in the world. I know where I am now in that sense of things.
“But coming to Toulon I feel 25, 26 again.
“I feel like I’ve just come into a new club now as a youngster and I’ve got to prove myself by working hard on and off the field. I want to be the best player I can be, I’m not coming here just for the lifestyle side of things.
“I came here to one of the biggest sides in Europe because I knew they could win trophies and I knew they could compete in the league. The amount of silverware shows for itself. Me coming into a club like this I wanted a fresh start to just prove myself.”