I can’t wait for Gareth Anscombe to return, but go slowly! | Shane Williams

IT'S great news Gareth Anscombe is poised to make his long-awaited return from injury this season because he is a player the Ospreys, and to a lesser extent Wales, need desperately.

But I must make my opinion clear that we cannot rush Gareth back into action too quickly; to do so would be criminal.

It's really pleased for Gareth to be back in training and it's positive news for everyone concerned because he has been out for so long with a horrible knee injury.

The Covid-19 pandemic has warped everyone's sense of timing a little so it's crazy when you think Gareth hasn't played any form of rugby since August 2019.

He is yet to play for the Ospreys since leaving Cardiff Rugby, previously known as Cardiff Blues.

Gareth will have done so much hard work to get to this moment. Only he will know what he's been through – especially with his recovery taking place during the pandemic – and he will now be thinking he can almost taste a return to action.

I was lucky not to suffer serious injury in my career. So, while it is difficult for me to relate to Gareth's situation because I never spent two years on the sidelines, I do know what it is like to miss months of action. It is an awful experience.

You are constantly worried if you are going to come back as the same player and there are worries over losing your place both at regional and Test level.

Gareth will have experienced all these emotions. It must have been very tough which is why it would be criminal to throw it all away now.

I am sure that won't happen, but I do have a small concern especially when it comes to the Ospreys because I think they desperately need a playmaker at 10 for the start of the new United Rugby Championship. Stephen Myler has done a great job since coming in, but he is a very different player to Gareth who is superb at taking the ball to the line in attack.

Toby Booth must resist the temptation to throw Gareth back in too soon because I think it would be a brilliant achievement if he can get some form of games in before Christmas.

A lot of Wales fans will have forgotten just how good a player Gareth is. I haven't. Wales' 2019 Six Nations Grand Slam was not only a superb achievement, but it also saw the team play some of the best rugby they produced under Warren Gatland. Gareth was at the heart of that.

He kicked all the points and created Hadleigh Parkes' try with a lovely chip in that Gram Slam-sealing win over Ireland in Cardiff. It felt like a career-defining performance and like a lot of people, I thought Gareth would go on to star at the 2019 World Cup and become a British & Irish Lion in South Africa this summer. Of course, through pure bad luck, it didn't work out but I truly believe Gareth will come again because he is still only 30.

“We cannot rush Gareth back into action too quickly; to do so would be criminal”

Dan Biggar has been No.1 fly-half for a while now, but I think there could be an interesting dynamic at No.10 this autumn.

I'm fascinated by Rhys Priestland's move back to Welsh rugby and I wouldn't rule him out of an international return even though he is at the end of his career and hasn't played Test rugby since 2017. It will be interesting to see how both he and Jarrod Evans go at Cardiff.

Rhys Patchell should also be back in action this season and then there is Callum Sheedy who is a coming force. Wayne Pivac really is spoilt for choice in that area when everyone is fit.

Playmaker: Gareth Anscombe was starring for Wales before his injury

PICTURE: Getty Images

I'm sure Wayne will be keen to have Gareth back available at some point in the 2021-22 campaign because he is the full package. I'm sure Gareth will also have a big say on when he's ready.

When you've been out injured, you can do all the contact work you like, but it's nothing like making the first tackle in a game and ending up at the bottom of a ruck with bodies piled on top of you. It's at that stage that you really know if you're ready for the rough and tumble!

At the moment, I imagine Garreth's doing purely fitness work. That will go up another level in the weeks to come. Gareth will be like a new signing for the Ospreys and Wales. I can't wait to see him back out there, whenever that is.

I've been in Chepstow this week while my daughter takes part in a competition with her horse so I was very shocked when I heard the Rugby Championship might be moving… to Wales!

Switching the tournament to the north is being considered after Covid outbreaks in New Zealand and Australia.

With all the problems we've had with the pandemic in the last 18 months, I do look at New Zealand with a little bit of envy. They have one case and they shut the entire place down!

I don't think we can afford to laugh though. They've led the way in how to deal with the pandemic and if that means the All Blacks staying put and not playing rugby, then so be it I suppose. I do understand Dave Rennie being angry they haven't travelled to Australia when the Wallabies did the reverse when the virus was at a higher level.

But we just have to try and cope with it as best we can. If that involves New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina finishing the Rugby Championship in the north, then that is something I am sure rugby fans in Europe would relish.

The four big southern hemisphere teams are coming to the north in the autumn anyway so I suppose it does make some sense.

I am also sure crowds here would relish watching a Bledisloe Cup game, maybe at Principality Stadium. You have to say that would be pretty cool!

It would also be a bit bizarre, but something the players would embrace. I'm sure the WRU would also love to host matches because of the income they would bring.

SHANE WILLIAMS