Chris Hewett is surprised at the inclusion on Mike Phillips on the Wales bench to face France, and blames Dwayne Peel's stay at Sale for the development in The Independent.
"Mike Phillips may or may not be the best scrum-half in European rugby – those subscribing to this view, who include Phillips himself, can bring as evidence three wonderful Test performances for the British and Irish Lions against the Springboks last summer – but this much is certain: the Wales coach Warren Gatland considers him a better bet than Dwayne Peel, his immediate predecessor with the Lions. A day after recalling Peel to his squad, Gatland named Phillips ahead of him for Friday night's Six Nations meeting with France in Cardiff.
"In a major reshuffle of the cards at No 9, the Cardiff Blues half-back Richie Rees will replace his club colleague Gareth Cooper in the starting line-up. With Cooper dropping out of the match-day squad altogether, there was a spare seat on the bench.
"Most observers assumed Peel, who plays his club rugby in England with Sale and is not in particularly good odour with Gatland because of it, would be selected there, on the grounds that while he had been injured, he had not been nearly as injured as Phillips. What was more, he had played for Wales during the autumn."
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