What Next for Spikey Mikey?

Welsh Rugby seems to come hand in hand with controversy sometimes; in recent years we've have Gavin Henson show us his immense talent just to go and waste it, Andy Powell and his golf cart, and the recurring incident, Mike Phillips. Two of the above are recurring cases. Henson was the most talented player Wales had seen in a long time, making everything he did look effortless, but he found stardom and rugby took second place. I do not for a second believe that this is why Mike Phillips has been involved so many times, I think he takes his rugby very seriously. However, there are comparisons to be made, but I'm not a psychologist and would rather talk about the on field implications of Phillips' latest stunt.

In the words of the Bayonne press statement, Phillips turned up to a video analysis session 'under the influence of alcohol'. So he was drunk, we know nothing more than that, whether he'd been out the night before and was still drunk or had been drinking that day. What we do know is that this is nothing new for Phillips, last year he was suspended by Bayonne for 'off field misbehavior' and only two years ago he was involved in a fight with bouncers outside a McDonald's in Cardiff. This led him to be suspended from the Wales squad. He worked his way back into that squad, played the in the World Cup that year, has since won two six nations titles, and a Lions tour. He is one of the best scrum-halves in the World unquestionably.

 So why are Bayonne letting him go? A team struggling at 12th in the top 14, a league which has the threat of relegation, this makes the business far more cut and thrust. Surely Bayonne would want their stars all on the field with a relegation battle looming, or have they simply come to the conclusion that Phillips is too much effort for what he brings to the team. Phillips is known as a big game player and performed his best game for a long time against England in the Championship decider and subsequently played very well at the very highest level for the Lions. Maybe he thinks Bayonne are beneath him, he has hardly set the Top14 alight since arriving.

Is this a good move for both sides then, Phillips gets to move on and Bayonne lose a high paid disturbance. There will be clubs crying out for Phillips, he is only 31, experienced at every level of the game, he is worth a go for most sides. Warren Gatland has not banned him from the Wales set-up, so to my knowledge he'll be the only player in the Autumn internationals without a club. Could he be coming home for good, France has not been kind to the scrum-half and previous clubs Ospreys and Blues could both do with some bolstering behind the scrum. The question is, as it always is in Wales, could they afford the move?