Williams and Henson set for changes?
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:56
Welsh stars Shane Williams and Gavin Henson could both find themselves out of position this weekend as Osprey’s boss Sean Holley looks to get one over the Leicester in their Heineken Cup opener on Sunday.
With first-choice scrumhalves Mike Phillips and Jamie Nutbrown sidelined with injury Holley has only two young guns in Rhodri Wells and Rhys Webb as regular number nines but, in Williams, Holley admits he believes he may just have another option.
Williams filled the No. 9 spot for the Welsh side against Harlequins in their 24-23 win on Sunday and, especially given the recent law adjustments, Holley has not ruled out moving the prolific try scorer to the base of the scrum.
“With Mike and Jamie out injured we have to consider all options and it was quite a cauldron at Welford Road,” said Holley.
“Shane is one of our best players and he might be more of an option to put at scrum-half at some point in the game.
“He is so dangerous and the new laws lend themselves to someone like Shane attacking from the platform of a scrum.”
Henson, considered by many to be one of the world best inside centres, may also be on the move. With the injury to Wales outisde center Sonny Parker probably ruling him out of the fixture Holley confessed that shifting Henson a channel out was definitely something he was looking at.
“It is unlikely Sonny will be available for the weekend which is bad news for us,” said Holley.
“But we are blessed with options and I have a selection conundrum in that position as well as others.
“We have a reliable replacement in Andrew [Bishop] while Tommy [Bowe] showed encouraging signs against Ulster.
“And moving Gavin out from inside-centre is also a possibility.
“Wales have spoken about that option for the autumn series and he is more than capable of doing that.”
