Young considers outside-half options

Apr 2 2008 South Wales Echo

DAI Young faces a major selection decision over who to hand the Cardiff Blues number 10 jersey to for the Heineken Cup showdown against Toulouse.

First-choice Nicky Robinson came on as a replacement against Edinburgh last Friday and his 20-minute cameo was his first action after being ruled out for four months with a hip injury.

Now Young has to decide whether to risk Robinson from the outset against the French side or stick with Dai Flanagan for the European quarter-final when he reveals his team on Friday.

“Nicky’s lack of game time is a concern and in an ideal world we would have wanted him to have played more,” said Young.

“It was great to see him coming on for 20 minutes against Edinburgh last week. We want to step up the intensity in training this week to make sure he is fine.

“Hopefully today and tomorrow he will put himself in consideration for selection.

“I thought Dai Flanagan played well up there so we have some major decisions to make as the week goes on.”

And Young admitted he was unsure about the make-up of the Toulouse half-backs with regular scrum-halves Jean-Baptiste Elissadle and Byron Kelleher possibly linking up and starting the game.

“If you look at their Heineken Cup, Elissadle has been at nine, with Kelleher on the bench but last week at Biarritz they both played at half-back with the Frenchman switching to number 10,” added Young.

“Elissadle will definitely play because he is their goalkicker but if Kelleher plays he is not going to be a weakness for them. We have to plan for both, but we are not sure what they’re going to do.”