Sean Davies casts his eye over the coming season
BBC Sport |
How will the Blues, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets fare in 2006/7?
 | TEAM-BY-TEAM PREDICTIONS |
Welsh rugby is riding its traditional pre-season high, with a rampant belief that the regions have gathered themselves to challenge at the highest levels.
Last season was about as successful as King Canute holding back the sea, none of the sides making it past the group stages of the Heineken Cup and offering a limp challenge to the unchecked dominance of the Irish regions in the Celtic League.
The Scarlets' charge to the final of the Anglo-Welsh Cup was a rare highlight, but otherwise predictions of over-stretched resources caused by the addition of the new competition proved well founded.
This year, the Welsh Rugby Union is giving an additional �300,000 in funding to each of the regions, the money helping to fuel summer recruitment drives that provide more strength in depth.
Inevitably there have been grumblings about the influx of more overseas players whilst Welsh youngsters have headed to sides in England.
But overall the trading appears positive, with world-class talent like Justin Marshall and Ben Blair coming in and journeymen who have never quite made the grade becoming grist to the treadmill of the Guinness Premiership.
The homecoming of the likes of Stephen Jones and Colin Charvis will be welcomed with open arms, and the veterans will be joined in the regional squads by a healthy influx of promising youngsters from the academies.
Even more important to Welsh ambitions at all levels should be the return of the legion of international stars from injury.
The demands of the 2004/5 Grand Slam drive and subsequent Lions tour had a huge impact on Wales and its regions last year.
| PREDICTED WINNERS Anglo-Welsh Cup: Leicester |
But the likes of Ryan Jones, Brent Cockbain, Gavin Henson, Kevin Morgan, Gareth Cooper, Dafydd Jones, Dwayne Peel, Gethin Jenkins and Martyn Williams should be ready to peak in World Cup year, while everybody hopes that Tom Shanklin can come back to his world-class best.
The pressures on the players have not eased, the Anglo-Welsh competition necessitating league games in midweek and on international weekends.
Wales will call on their international stars for a punishing four-Test autumn series and the Six Nations, while the forthcoming World Cup will not be far from the players' minds.
The regions' rotas may have been strengthened, but with so many demands they may struggle to compete with the heavyweight English squads in the Anglo-Welsh Cup.
The Ospreys and Scarlets will fancy their chances of making the semis, but expect a winner from one of the English sides just off the pace in the Guinness Premiership and in Europe. Leicester will not be far away in any case.
The Heineken Cup has thrown up another horror draw for the Welsh sides, and qualification for the knockout stages would be a major achievement.
 Can Wales challenge the Irish sides this season? |
The Scarlets and Blues do not look to have the firepower, and while the Ospreys believe they can compete at the highest level they have yet to win on French soil and are likely to miss out to Stade Francais.
The Dragons, of course, do not have the Heineken Cup to worry about.
The Gwent side have a favourable draw in the Challenge Cup and - with neither Bristol or Bayonne likely to target the tournament - the excitement of a European quarter-final could await them.
The Celtic League continues as the bread-and-butter competition for the Welsh sides, though.
Alone of the Scottish regions, Edinburgh have shown the ability to maintain a sustained challenge to the top teams, but few would tip them for ultimate honours.
It is the stranglehold of Triple Crown holders Ireland that the Welsh have to break, with Ulster, Leinster and Munster all outstanding in 2005/6.
Such success is difficult to back up, as Wales found to their cost last year, but the Dragons are more likely to be involved in a basement battle, while any injuries to key personnel could scupper the high hopes of the Blues and Scarlets.
That could leave the Ospreys scrapping with Munster and Leinster for the Celtic crown, with the west Wales side my tip for the title.
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