Australia v Lions: my team

Aside from the excitement over the arrival Down Under of Shane Williams, there is a serious business for the Lions: beating Australia.

A number of injuries have hit Warren Gatland’s squad, and the team I’d pick has taken those into consideration (I’ve left out those who are seen as doubtful). It means, for example, that neither winger would be starting were it not for injuries to others.

Backs (five Welsh, two Irish):

15: Leigh Halfpenny
14: Alex Cuthbert
13: Brian O’Driscoll
12: Jonathan Davies
11: George North
10: Jonathan Sexton
9: Mike Phillips

Shane Williams called up by the Lions

Shane Williams has been called up by the British and Irish Lions and will start on the wing against the Brumbies in midweek.

Leaving my phone on just incase we get a call from the lions, with Simon Easterby and Gareth Edwards #hereshoping pic.twitter.com/4tdInbkqZc

— Jonathan Davies (@JiffyRugby) June 15, 2013

Simply put, this is barely believable.

And awesome.

Shane Williams awarded MBE

Congratulations to Shane Williams, who has been made an MBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list.

He joins Martyn Williams – who bowed out of international rugby at the same time as the winger in Wales’s win over the Barbarians at the Millennium Stadium earlier this month – as a Member of the Order of the British Empire. Martyn Williams picked up the award in the 2012 New Year’s Honours list.

Earlier this week Shane signed a one-year deal to play for Japanese Top League side the Mitsubishi Dynaboars.

Shane Williams caps thrilling Pro 12 finish for champion Ospreys

Leinster 30-31 Ospreys

Congratulations to Shane Williams, who scored a last-gasp try to win the Rabo Direct Pro 12 final for the Ospreys at the RDS Arena in Dublin in his last game for the region.

Dan Biggar’s nerveless touchline conversion gave the Ospreys the narrowest of wins as the Welsh side denied Heineken Cup champions Leinster the double.

It was a fitting way for Shane – who also crossed for a late try in his final international, albeit in a losing cause against Australia  at the Millennium Stadium in December last year – to end his club career. The winger has played for the Ospreys since their inception (as the Neath-Swansea Ospreys) in 2003, and starred for Neath between 1998 and 2003.

And few would bet against the diminuitive paceman repeating the feat again when he plays for the Barbarians against Wales in Cardiff next Saturday.