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It's official: Rhys Webb is back at the Ospreys
By Online Editors
Ospreys have revealed they have captured the services of Rhys Webb on a two-year deal from next summer.
The scrum-half, whose international career with Wales has been on hold since he moved to Toulon in 2017, revealed at the weekend he was free to leave France a year earlier than intended.
Having already spent a decade at Ospreys, the Swansea-based club were always likely to be at the head of the queue for his signature and so it has proven, the region taking to social media on Tuesday morning to post a video showing Webb arriving ar Cardiff airport and journeying to the Liberty Stadium to put pen to paper.
"It's just great to come back where rugby all started for me," said Webb on ospreysrugby.com. “I'm really looking forward to the challenge and fighting for the Ospreys jersey again.
"I have loved my time in Toulon but it's a relief to come home to the Ospreys. It’s where my family are, where I was brought up, and where rugby all started for me. To return to play for my home region again is just really special for me and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be able to do that again.
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"I have been away for two years, and I know there have been a lot of changes and that there are a lot of exciting young players coming through and some familiar faces too, I am looking forward to the challenge.
"Hopefully, I can pass on my experience to the younger players and I am determined to do as much as I can to help the team. As I said at the time, nobody turns down Toulon and I wanted to experience something different.
"I am thankful that they have released me a year early from my contract and I am as excited about returning to the Ospreys as I was at going to France. Everybody knows how important my family is to me and being able to return home, especially to the Ospreys is massive for me.”
It was March 2008 when Webb first played for Ospreys, debuting against Ulster and going on to play 154 times for the club. Their managing director Andrew Millward said: “All of us at the Ospreys are delighted that Rhys has decided to come home.
"He is a world-class scrum-half and has proved that with the Ospreys, Wales, Toulon and the Lions, and to be able to bring him back home is something all of us should be proud of. The Ospreys are in his DNA.
"During our discussions with him, it became clear how important the Ospreys were to him and how much he wanted to wear the jersey again. His signing is a statement of our intent and ambition to build a squad capable of taking on the best in the PRO14 and in Europe.”
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Larry Brown was 63 when he won the NBA, and Phil Jackson was 64.
I guess my general feeling in rugby is that most coaches seem to decline quite a bit when they hit 60, and to be coaching at the top level when you’re 65 or older is extremely rare. Maybe in american sports people have another 5 years, but that doesn’t seem like a massive difference.
Either way, I’m going to stick with my verdict that appointing Les Kiss at age 60 would be ok as a short term deal - but appointing him at 63 and expecting him to last 4 years would be foolish.
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