Cardiff climbed to fifth in the Magners League table thanks to two tries from Rhys Thomas, one each from Leigh Halfpenny and Xavier Rush and 23 points from the boot of Ben Blair.

But after watching Shanklin orchestrate play from midfield, Young has tipped the 30-year-old British and Irish Lion to regain his international place.

“In the three games so far Tom has been outstanding,” said Young. “He has been strong and full of energy and has got us over the gainline in every game we have played.

“He had a bad injury towards the end of last season so was out for a long period but he has come back energised and is enjoying his rugby.
“I am sure he has missed playing international rugby and that is where he wants be.

“He knows his first job is to cement his place in the Blues side and, if he keeps his current performance levels he can’t be far away from the Welsh starting side.”

Ospreys coach Sean Holley insisted the speculation surrounding Gavin Henson’s future wasn’t responsible for his side’s 22-10 humbling against Munster.

Henson admitted in midweek he wanted to leave the Welsh outfit for London but all four capital clubs have distanced themselves from an approach.

On the pitch Ospreys found themselves 3-0 down at the break before a Doug Howlett try and 14 further points from the boot of Ronan O’Gara rendered scores from Tommy Bowe and Richard Fussell redundant.

But despite turning in an under-par showing across the Irish Sea, Holley claimed Henson’s comments hadn’t rocked the Ospreys’ boat.

“It wasn’t a distraction at all,” he said. “Obviously it’s so public, the boys have a little chat about it here or there, but it doesn’t distract us.

“Games like this in our job are too important for us to get distracted.”

“Teams are coming at us a bit more this season because we are champions, but we expect that and we have got to front-up to it.

“We have said that we are not just champions for a week, we are champions all season. We’ve got to start behaving like it.

“I’m bitterly disappointed and frustrated. It wasn’t a performance that you come to expect from an Ospreys team.

“We are the champions and we didn’t show that quality. We would expect to put up a better contest.”

Finally after watching Jonathan Davies grab a hat-trick as his side downed Aironi 49-10 on Friday night, Scarlets boss Nigel Davies switched his sights to this Friday’s clash with the Dragons.

“It was a performance we have probably been building towards over the last two games,” said Davies.

“We’re pleased but we realise there is a long, long way to go. We have got another massive game next Friday at the Dragons.

“That will give us an opportunity to build on this. We are selecting from a position of strength.

“When you go to a place like the Dragons, it’s about having hungry players and everybody is now hungry to play.

“It’s a local derby and it’s going to be blood and guts. We are going to need players who are really hungry for the jersey.

“It’s a massive game. It’s (Newport) a place we have won at the last twice we have gone there and we’d like to make it a hat-trick.”