Ioan Lloyd move increases chance of Warren Gatland rolling the dice on him
Both Wales and Scarlets could benefit from this new partnership
by Ben James · Wales OnlineWhile dining out in France during the World Cup, talk amongst the travelling journalists turned to how long before Ioan Lloyd would be tipped for the Welsh 10 jersey.
With Lloyd having signed for the Scarlets, the joke was that it would be a matter of weeks from when Wales and Warren Gatland returned home before the two-cap international was in the frame for that famous Welsh jersey. It was all said light-heartedly, with a knowing wink towards how quickly players tend to find themselves catapulted towards the national team, but, funnily enough, it turned out to be prophetic.
Within weeks, Sam Costelow was injured on Wales duty against the Barbarians and Lloyd, fresh from joining from Bristol, was handed the the Scarlets' 10 jersey.
Enjoying an extended run in the position saw Lloyd thrust into the Welsh fly-half debate. After one performance, another man familiar with the jersey, James Hook, said Lloyd would be first-choice were Wales playing the next day.
Even with the Scarlets' struggling for form, Lloyd's pieces of magic have been the rare positives in a tough season down west. It certainly feels like he should be a name discussed in coaches' meetings before Wales' Six Nations squad is revealed later this month.
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Of course, there's no guarantees Lloyd is in contention. Would Gatland necessarily trust the 22-year-old as a fly-half option? He's already investing in Costelow as a young, exciting option. He might want to balance that out with more experienced choices, be it Owen Williams, Jarrod Evans or Callum Sheedy, in the wake of Dan Biggar's Test retirement.
However, fly-half isn't the only position Lloyd is capable of playing. He headed back to Wales in order to focus on fly-half, having been played across the backline at Bristol.
Wayne Pivac capped him as a full-back, while Pat Lam tried him in the back-three before trying to use his playmaking skills at inside centre. Arguably, the more time and space you give Lloyd, the better he is in terms of impact.
Even when he was impressing at fly-half this season, it was largely down to his ability to pick and choose when to step in at first-receiver and when to hang back.
While just 28 per cent of his senior starts have come on the wing - compared to 36 per cent at fly-half, 26 per cent at full-back and 11 per cent in midfield - that ability to combine a genuine running threat in the vein of beating defenders through a sidestep with playmaking ability is something that Gatland has looked to on occasion in the past.
Back in 2008, he deployed Shane Williams as a playmaker at first and second receiver often. The win over Australia that year was built over two tries created by Williams.
The first, ultimately finished by the wing, was started by Williams stepping through Australia's midfield from second-receiver, while the second score came from Williams running laterally from first-receiver before putting Lee Byrne through a gap.
It was similar to the sort of playmaking from the wing that James Simpson-Daniel would do for Gloucester and England in the early 00s. Having flirted with a second playmaker in Joe Hawkins last year, Gatland might be tempted to find another first-receiver option somewhere in his backline - with full-back being a position where new options could be needed.
Which brings us onto the Scarlets' New Year's Day defeat to the Dragons. Once again, there was little for fans to be positive about afterwards, but it was Lloyd who at least raised the hopes temporarily at the rain-soaked Rodney Parade.
With Costelow back from injury, Lloyd was moved to full-back. In the heavy rain, the Scarlets didn't create much - but everything good they did was down to Costelow and Lloyd combining.
"Those two will always flourish together as a partnership," said Scarlets coach Dwayne Peel afterwards. "We saw from that first try, lovely little outside break from Ioan."
Indeed it was, with Lloyd sucking in Cai Evans after Costelow held his feet nicely to put the full-back outside the Dragons' edge.
"He's taken the second try well too," added Peel. Again, Costelow holds his feet nicely, but it's that extra time and space that Lloyd is afforded out wide that allows him to drift inside two defenders to score.
"The weather wasn't favourable to running rugby today," carried on Peel. "It was an awful night. But there's plenty of excitement in those boys."
That much was evident as the Scarlets chased victory, with Lloyd continually being the one looking likely to break the Dragons down.
One kick return saw him create an opportunity for Keiran Hardy from nothing, while another pull-back play involving Costelow once again put Lloyd on the edge of the Dragons' defence.
However, on that occasion, Ewan Rosser did well to hold onto him as the Dragons survived the late attack.
Even if he didn't feel anything other than disappointed afterwards, the brief flashes of Costelow and Lloyd in tandem were a slight consolation for Peel.
"Both of them together can be a good partnership together, whether Ioan is playing 15 or 10," he said. "We saw some glimpses and that'll continue. They're both young men and they're both just 22."
Of course, how much the Scarlets see them working together this season remains to be seen. At least one will be in the Six Nations squad, so opportunities for the pair to play together might be limited.
However, it does at least point to where the Scarlets need to get to in order to, if not turn their fortunes around, at least show some signs of improvement. Having their two playmakers on the field allowed them to play to space on occasion, with the Dragons caught out whenever Costelow found Lloyd outside the 13 channel. But, beyond that, the Scarlets' attack looked limited.
Confidence is low, and the weather was awful, but there's a lack of cutting edge in this Scarlets team right now. Leaning on the pick-and-go game probably isn't the way to turn things around.
Hopefully, having their best two playmakers working together is the way. And, in a funny way as he returned to Wales to target the fly-half jersey, it might also be Lloyd's best chance of a Test return.
He isn't guaranteed to be anywhere near the Six Nations squad, but if he does get the nod, having him pop up from deeper within the backline, like full-back, might be more palatable to Gatland than trusting him with the fly-half jersey.