Wales’ best scrum-half Rhys Webb has been out of the squad since the summer after his move to Toulon – but he may become available for the Rugby World Cup following a new development.
It has been confirmed that his family are to leave France and return to Wales after struggling to settle, which could open the door to an early return.
The news has been confirmed by Webb’s fiancée, Delyth Hewitt, in an emotional blog post that revealed how the couple’s children have prompted the decision. Webb will stay in Toulon…for now.
“It had been obvious to us that, for some time, Regan had been struggling,” she wrote in a blog post titled ‘One-way ticket for four’.
“He hasn’t been himself for a long while, and we had an inkling that he was unhappy, but it wasn’t really until we spoke to him after this incident that he broke down and told us what we probably already knew: he wanted to go back to his old school. He misses his friends and his family, he misses going out to play and he misses chatting to anyone and everyone.
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“We had built him up for this move and he honestly couldn’t wait. None of us could. And at first it seemed that everything was going exactly how we’d wished for it to. Both he and Jesse had the summer of their lives: a pool outside their back door, ample space to run, plenty of exploring to do and the weather to compliment it all.
“And then September came and with it, the reality of what his new life was going to entail.”
You can read the blog post in full here.
The news is likely to raise speculation about Webb’s future. Toulon
And with players such as Chris Ashton escaping contracts in the past, it isn’t beyond the realms of possibility that Webb could move back to Wales, putting him back in the mix for a World Cup place.