Bring back old guard to steady the ship | Shane Williams

WAYNE Pivac starts 2021 with a big conundrum. The question facing him is whether he should make a nod to the past in his bid for glory in the future or resolutely plough on by looking forwards and not back. It is an interesting dilemma.

For me, two of the best and most consistent performers in Welsh rugby right now are Dan Lydiate and Jamie Roberts. I saw both men come into the Wales set-up when I was playing.

Whatever happens to them in the next few years, they have had great international careers. Jamie is 34 and Dan 33. Neither of them are likely to feature at the next World Cup and Wayne has constantly made the case that the 2023 tournament in France is his end goal.

But after a poor 2020 in which he won only three games, Pivac knows he will need to get some victories under his belt this year. If he doesn't, there is a very real chance he might not make the next World Cup as there is a two-year break clause in his contract.

To get wins you tend to pick your best players and for me, Jamie and Dan fit into that bracket right now. They were both excellent over the Christmas period.

Dan has been at the heart of the resurgence at the Ospreys and his work rate is still as strong as ever. His tackling is the best in the PRO14 as far as I'm concerned.

In the Autumn Nations Cup Wales were awful at the breakdown. Could Dan's expertise in that area help Wales play the sort of quicker game they want? Undoubtedly. As for Jamie, he was head and shoulders above most of the players when the Dragons played the Ospreys even though his team still lost. He looks rejuvenated and reborn to me.

Centre is not a position where Wales have a great deal of strength in depth at the moment. Jonathan Davies is not firing on all cylinders and has not been helped by injury.

Johnny Williams has been injured and Nick Tompkins has been outplayed by Jamie. Both he and Dan would certainly deserve a place in Wales' Six Nations squad if you were selecting solely on merit. Will they be picked by Pivac? I'd be surprised, but they should definitely be worthy of consideration. After all, age is just a number and Alun Wyn Jones (35), Ken Owens (34), Jonathan Davies (32), Dan Biggar and Justin Tipuric (both 31) and Taulupe Faletau (30) are all still key men.

I doubt Wayne will want to go down the path of picking Dan and Jamie but for me it would have its benefits. Even if they were in the squad and didn't play, how much would the younger players coming through the ranks benefit from their knowledge? A great deal, I would say.

Fans of the Ospreys and Dragons wouldn't be pleased if their best players in recent times warmed the bench with Wales and I totally understand that. But their value to Wayne right now could well be huge given the strength of their performances in the last month.

Whatever Wayne decides, I'm sure he'll be delighted with the return to form of George North. He's been firing on all cylinders again for the Ospreys and it's been great to watch. George would have been disappointed to be left out by Wales at the end of last year, but he is also big and ugly enough to understand it was because he hadn't had a run of games.

George is like any other winger, or player for that matter, in that playing regularly helps no end. I've seen a fair bit of the Ospreys in the last month and his return to form started against Benetton.

He was then excellent in the Challenge Cup win at Worcester where I watched him live. George's footwork, workrate off the ball and power were in evidence there and he continued in that way over the Christmas derbies. Criticism would have hurt George, he's only human. I scored 58 tries for Wales but I was criticised and it hurt me. I've been there and I'm sure George is the same. When I've watched him recently his footwork is back and there is a twinkle in his eye.

He has to be rewarded for his form with a starting spot for the first game against Ireland, especially after Liam Williams was handed a ban for his sending off against Cardiff Blues. Liam won't play in the Ireland game so I'd have George and Josh Adams on the wings with Leigh Halfpenny at full-back. Wales will have a lot of hard work to do whoever gets picked by Pivac. On the basis of the Autumn Nations Cup the team is miles behind England and France and probably Ireland too.

I always start every Six Nations in a positive mood and thinking Wales will win the Grand Slam. I'm thinking like that again this year, but in a more realistic manner! Ireland as the first game is very tough. I think it will help Wales to be back playing at Principality Stadium in Cardiff rather than at Parc y Scarlets which was just so unusual for everyone involved.

But there will still be no fans in Cardiff. If there had been a crowd – however big – I honestly think it would have made a huge difference to Wales. Sadly, that won't be the case.

There are positives for Wales and I was pleased to see Tomas Francis signing for my old team Ospreys last week. He will join for next season and is a great capture for Toby Booth. It also shows the Welsh Rugby Union's 60-cap rule is working in keeping the best players in the country and bringing the others back from England and France. Tomas follows in the footsteps of Jon, Leigh and Ross Moriarty among others who have come back to play in Wales and that can only be a good thing.

Let's hope, too, that Ross and Ken are back from injury for the Six Nations. Ken was a big miss in the autumn because we all saw how the lineout struggled in his absence. Hopefully he'll be fit enough to play a part at some stage because behind him none of Ryan Elias, Sam Parry or Elliot Dee have staked a claim.

Ifan Phillips could be a surprise pick after some fine recent form for the Ospreys.

On the whole I expect a similar Wales squad to the one which was involved in the Autumn Nations Cup and I was pleased to hear Alun Wyn's recovery from the knee injury he suffered against Italy is on track. Maybe Dan and Jamie will join him in the squad.

Wayne and Wales could certainly do a lot worse.