Toulon and Wales International scrum-half Rhys Webb is set to leave the club after agreeing to mutually end his contract early, according to reports in his home country.
According to Wales Online, Webb has reached an agreement with the Top 14 club to end his stay with French team earlier than expected.
The 31-year-old, who has already agreed on a move back to his former club Ospreys at the end of the current season, is now expected to join the Swansea-based team sooner than originally planned.
However, should the scrum-half join the Ospreys before the end of the season, then it will most likely be around March time.
This would be due to the fact that Webb is currently preparing with the Welsh team ahead of their Six Nations opener in nine days time against Italy.
Webb is in line to add to the 33 caps that he has already gained as a Welsh International after being named in Wayne Pivac’s first Six Nations squad as new head coach of Wales.
This was something that is said to have also had an impact on Webb’s time in France coming to an end as soon as it has, as Pivac’s decision to call up Webb caused quite the stir with Toulon.
Due to Webb playing outside of Wales, he is currently required to hold a minimum of 60 caps to become eligible for selection. However, the WRU granted Pivac permission to call up Webb which did not go down well with the team from the south of France.
Rhys Webb at fault for issues says Lemaître
Talking to a French radio station, Toulon owner Bernard Lemaître did not hold back on his thoughts on Webb being called into International duty.
Lemaître said:
“The one at fault is Rhys Webb. He’s the one who’s lent himself to all these manoeuvres. This brings us to a situation where Rhys will no longer play in the Toulon jersey by the end of the season.
“His attitude was dishonest towards the Toulon.”
After 29 games (scoring 20 points) in a Toulon shirt, it seems that the curtain on Webb’s time in France is about to fall and bring a close to what has been an unconvincing stint in the Top 14 for the Welsh nine.
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