The countdown to the new rugby season has begun. The Guinness Pro12 has become the Pro14, Leigh Halfpenny has joined the Scarlets, and the other regions are flexing whatever muscle they can muster. Geraint Powell casts a beady eye over the goings-on and says this will be a season of signs of what is to follow. Make no mistake, 2017-18 will be a pivotal season in Welsh rugby. Watch very closely, indeed, everything that the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) does or does not do.

Leigh Halfpenny has chosen the Scarlets ahead of others, because of their playing style – according to coach Wayne Pivac. The Wales full-back has signed a three-year deal with the region on a national dual contract, primarily funded by the Welsh Rugby Union. Halfpenny held talks with the Cardiff Blues earlier in the year after his relationship with French club Toulon began to come under stress.

Tournament organisers have confirmed that two South African teams will expand the Guinness Pro12 into a Pro14 this season – with the competition split into two conferences. The Cheetahs, based in Bloemfontein, and the Southern Kings of Port Elizabeth are moving in, having been cut from Super Rugby earlier this year. It means two conferences of seven teams, with the four Welsh regions split into either table.

Leigh Halfpenny used to be able to name his price. Now, he cannot name where he will be playing his next game, for which club, or for how much. Peter Jackson considers the wrong turns and blind alleys travelled by the Wales full-back. Six months ago Leigh Halfpenny found himself under a veritable bombardment of offers on an ever-escalating scale over his next move. They came raining down from all directions, from England, Wales and France; so many eager to pay so much that the poor lad may have found difficulty getting out of his house without tripping over the sacks of gold laid at his front door.

With the winds of change blowing through Welsh rugby this summer, there is now only one region left who carry a geographical label – the Cardiff Blues. Derek Redwood argues it should stay that way and any attempt to drop ‘Cardiff’ would be a mistake. There has been a lot of speculation recently about the possibility of dropping the Cardiff name as part of the need to embrace a wider geographical area for regional rugby. I ask myself why that should be either desirable or necessary? I was born in Cardiff, grew up in Cardiff and still live in Cardiff. I went to primary school in Cardiff and high school in Cardiff. My first job was in Cardiff and my next job was in Cardiff and now I run a business in Cardiff.

Warren Gatland wants Lions captain Sam Warburton to sit out Cardiff Bluess upcoming European Champions Cup play-off. Warburton, named skipper last month for the tour of New Zealand, has been out since damaging knee ligaments in early April.

Danny Wilson has admitted his Cardiff Blues side face a massive challenge if they are to make next season’s European Champions Cup. The Blues finished the Guinness Pro12 season in seventh place – earning themselves a play-off spot to lift themselves out of the European Challenge Cup and into the premier tournament.

Just as those who wanted to do an Irish jig on the grave of Welsh regional rugby were reaching for their dancing shoes, two of them go and make the Pro12 play-offs. Not only that, says Robin Davey, but there are other reasons to be cheerful. It seems the much-heralded demise of the Welsh regions was something of a damp squib, after all. Just at the time when most, if not all, the pundits were fearful of where Welsh rugby was going – amid the sound and fury of the English and French scattering all before them – the Welsh regions have been staging something of a revival.

Willis Halaholo has told Cardiff Blues fans to expect more from him next season after admitting he failed to cope with the switch from Super Rugby to the Guinness Pro12. The Blues centre faces Zebre at the Arms Park on Friday night with his side already assured of a play-off place to try and make next season’s European Champions Cup.

Judgement Day offered points and plaudits for the Cardiff Blues and the Scarlets. WRU Finals Day underlined the progress made by RGC. But Geraint Powell says other results – the financial ones – point to a Welsh rugby structure that no longer adds up. Spring is always a difficult season for the non-Test tier of professional rugby in Wales, the time of year when the hybrid regions/”super” clubs are compelled by UK company law to publicly file/disclose their financial performances for the preceding rugby season.

Danny Wilson paid tribute to his Cardiff Blues side for the battering they gave the Ospreys in their 35-17 derby demolition at the Principality Stadium on Saturday. The Blues coach saw his team score five tries but it was the bullying nature of their first victory over their rivals for seven years that really impressed him. “We were certainly the mote physical of the two sides,” said Wilson.

Cardiff Blues scrum-half Lloyd Williams reckons a wounded Ospreys side will be dangerous opposition when the two teams lock horns at Judgement Day V on Saturday. Steve Tandy’s men have hit a stumbling block in their search for a play-off place, losing their last three matches to Benetton Treviso, Stade Francais and Leinster.