It’s derby day in Wales this weekend and Robin Davey is feeling optimistic that all four regions now have sufficient quality to make the outcomes difficult to predict. But he still fancies the Cardiff Blues and the Scarlets. A fairly uneventful start to the Guinness Pro 14 season is about to explode into action with the arrival of two hotly contested derbies on Saturday in front of near full houses. In the west, the Scarlets take on the Ospreys at Parc Y Scarlets on Saturday afternoon and just over two hours later in the east the Dragons face Cardiff Blues at Rodney Parade.

Former Wales scrum-half Richie Rees has told his Cardiff Blues A team they must improve their decision-making after they blew victory against Munster A with one of the strangest calls of the season so far. The Blues A team lost 33-32 at the Arms Park after they were awarded a penalty late in the match, with time to kick for the corner and launch a final attack. Instead, full-back Tom Williams took a 60-metre shot at goal, which fell well short, and the Blues stumbled to their third successive defeat.

Wayne Pivac paid tribute to Jonathan Davies – and others – after the returning cavalry helped the Scarlets up to second place in Conference B of the Guinness Pro14. The Wales centre played his first match back after 10 months out injured and looked as if he had never been away as he scored two tries in the 54-14 thrashing of Southern Kings in Llanelli. Paul Asquith and Ioan Nicholas joined Davies in making their first starts of the season as Pivac refreshed his squad following their defeat to Connacht the previous week.

The Guinness Pro 14 is hardly into autumn and already coaches are chopping and changing their teams. Critics have declared this undermines the tournament. Not so, argues, Harri Morgan who says freedom to select some and rest others actually protects its future. Cast your mind back to the halcyon days spent playing on Championship Manager. The scenario – you’re boss of a newly promoted club, fighting to retain Premier League status. You’ve got Taribo West on a free transfer. That’s not relevant, but you always get Taribo.

John Mulvihill has admitted huge relief at his first win as Cardiff Blues coach after revealing: “We’ve been to hell and back.” After three opening Guinness Pro14 defeats – following no wins in his pre-season matches – the Australian was understandably reassured by his team’s thumping 37-13 victory over Munster at the Arms Park on Friday night. The Blues gained a winning bonus point with four tries on a night when centre Willis Halaholo reminded people why there was excitement at his arrival from New Zealand two years.

John Mulvihill hopes that truth hurts – and that it will be Munster who feel the pain at the Arms Park on Friday night. The Cardiff Blues coach has revealed his players held a “truth session” in the aftermath of their third successive defeat last week. Mulvihill says he was encouraged by the response of his squad to their winless start to the Guinness Pro 14 season and that the frenzy he witnessed in training will be unleashed on their Irish opponents.

John Mulvihill has admitted Cardiff Blues fans are being short-changed following the region’s poor start to the season. The Blues head coach has overseen three straight defeats in the Guinness Pro14, all of which involved the surrender of winning positions. The latest came in Parma on Saturday where despite the perfect preparation of week based in Italy following their loss to Treviso the previous weekend, Mulvilhill’s side crumbled – losing 26-24, having been 21-0 ahead.

Former Wales prop Craig Mitchell has resurfaced at Gallagher Premiership club Newcastle Falcons. The tight-head spent last season at Yorkshire Carnegie in the English Championship after spells at both the Dragons and the Cardiff Blues which appeared to suggest his career was in decline.But Mitchell has impressed the Falcons playing for their reserve side in recent weeks and director of rugby Dean Richards has opted to hand the 32-year-old a three-month deal.

Wales scrum-half Gareth Davies has been accused of “dirty play” by former Ireland international Luke Fitzgerald for allegedly aiming a knee at Leinster’s James Lowe. The incident occured in the first-half of the Scarlets’ thrilling 23-21 victory at home to the Guinness Pro 14 champions on Saturday. New Zealander Lowe scored just before half-time, but as he slid in at the corner he was challenged by a sliding Davies as the players collided.

It will be a season of transition at Cardiff Blues, no longer able to call on Sam Warburton and no longer coached by Danny Wilson. Robin Davey suggests, however, that their upward trend may well continue after some notable recruits and an increasing strength in key positions. Cardiff Blues finally delivered last season, when, after years in the wilderness, they ended the season in a blaze of glory by winning the European Challenge Cup final. The challenge for the new season will be to build on that, particularly in the Guinness Pro 14. And new head coach John Mulvihill admits expectations will be high as a result of their European success.

Having recently looked at the Principality Premiership, Geraint Powell turns his attention to the survivors of the great 2003 Welsh rugby shake-up, the regions. These like to consider themselves as independent business operations. How’s trade? “Project Reset”. Two words that send a shudder down the spines of those who want to forever remain with the non-aligned April 2003 fudge without the requisite never ending evolution/modernisation. This is compounded by ill-advised fixed term “cliff edge” agreements between the WRU and the regions, an excuse to stand still for periods of five to six years.

The Scarlets will begin their Heineken Champions Cup campaign against last year’s beaten finalists Racing 92 at Parc y Scarlets. Wayne Pivac has one last opportunity to add European silverware to the Guinness PRO12 title he won in 2017 before he takes over as Wales head coach after the World Cup. Their Pool 4 campaign begins on Saturday 13 October before a six day turnaround to face two-time champions Leicester Tigers.