Glenn Delaney spent years trying to snatch players away from the Scarlets but is now reaping the rewards from one of the best rugby academies in the UK. One of the graduates of the Scarlets school – Dan Jones – kicked 11 of their 16 points on Boxing Day as they beat neighbours the Ospreys in the festive derby which was switched to Llanelli. While coaching at London Irish, Delaney openly admits how the Exiles used to target the Scarlets academy for potential new recruits.

Toby Booth has admitted the Ospreys have given themselves a harder task by taking their Boxing Day derby clash against the Scarlets to the home of their opponents. With the Liberty Stadium pitch being relaid, Booth’s region did not have much choice in the matter but their head coach reckons the move to Parc Y Scarlets has forced a hardening of their mentality for what is always a testing fixture. “It doesn’t affect our preparation. In fact, it means we probably have to be even better. We are putting more pressure on ourselves by playing away, said Booth.

The Ospreys will face another tough away day task on Boxing Day – just a week after their stunning weekend comeback victory at Worcester Warriors. The region made it three successive victories for the first time since April 2019 as they came from 29-18 behind to win 38-29 in their European Challenge Cup tie at Sixways. Now, though, they are poised to lose home advantage for their crunch Boxing Day clash against the Scarlets with the game now set to be played in Llanelli.

The Ospreys are on the point of doing something they haven’t done for over 18 months – winning three matches in succession. Their captain, Dan Lydiate, admits last season “wasn’t pretty” but insists change has come under new head coach Toby Booth, as he tells Graham Thomas. Dan Lydiate has thrown his weight behind Toby Booth’s Ospreys revolution and believes the English coach has already unified the squad after the cracks of last season. The region’s captain – who took over from Justin Tipuric and led the Ospreys to a convincing win over Castres last week – reckons Booth is starting to make his mark after 10 matches in charge.

The Ospreys are ready to sign Wales prop Tomas Francis from Exeter, who look unlikely to be able to offer him a club and country base next season. Francis has often pledged his loyalty to the Chiefs, who are the current European champions and have become the strongest side in England following Saracens’ demise. Only last season, he said: “It would be a terribly difficult decision to leave Exeter, one I do not want to have to make.

The Welsh regions believe they require a £40m injection of cash to keep them from collapsing during the current pandemic. That figure is double the amount the four have so far been promised in the form of a loan, secured by the Welsh Rugby Union but for which the regions themselves are liable. Last week, the chief executive of Cardiff Blues, Richard Holland, led the call for Welsh Government support and now one of the most respected figures in the game, Ospreys chairman and current Professional Rugby Board (PRB) member Rob Davies, has demanded a “fair and proportionate share of state funding” to help keep the professional game afloat. 

Dan Lydiate has told the Ospreys they must now build on their corner-turning victory over Castres and mount a European campaign like those of old. The region ended the worst losing streak in their European history as they put the French club to the sword with a five star performance in a 39-15 win. The Ospreys had lost their last nine European games, but hit back in style to get their 2020-21 campaign off to a flying start at the Liberty Stadium. It also proved to be an extra-special night for new Wales hooker Sam Parry, who marked his 100th game for the region with two of the five tries.

The Ospreys begin their European campaign tonight in the Challenge Cup and will include a man who knows his way to the final. Former England cap Stephen Myler tells Steffan Thomas why and how he thinks his new team can enable him to make it a hat-trick of final appearances. Stephen Myler has vowed to earn European success with the Ospreys this season – and repeat two of the highlights of his distinguished career. Back 2014 the England international kicked 20 points as Northampton Saints clinched the European Challenge Cup with a dramatic win over Bath in Cardiff. 

The Scarlets, Dragons, Cardiff Blues and Ospreys are all in action this weekend, as international rugby moves aside and the new format of the Heineken Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup gets underway. James Dodd takes a look at the chances of the four Welsh teams going into round one.  Like most else in our lives, European rugby is different this year. Thanks again, pandemic. In the top tier competition, the Heineken Champions Cup, there will be two pools, each containing 12 teams.

Dwayne Peel has revealed it was always his plan to return to Wales after Cardiff Blues confirmed he would join them next season from Ulster. Former Wales and Scarlets scrum-half Peel will leave the Irish province in the summer to take up a role as senior assistant coach at the Arms Park – a job that would appear designed to prepare him as a natural successor to current head coach John Mulvihill. Where current assistant coach Richie Rees – another Wales scrum-half – fits into any succession plan remains to be seen.

Dewi Lake has been tipped as the Wales hooker of the future but only if he improves his throwing in at the line-out. The former Wales Under 20s captain has been in red hot form for the Ospreys recently with his dynamic ball-carrying and raw physicality catching the eye, despite their struggles in the Guinness Pro 14. In the absence of veteran hooker Ken Owens, both Ryan Elias and Elliot Dee have struggled to fully convince for Wales in this autumn’s Nations Cup.

Former Dragons boss Bernard Jackman has urged the WRU to follow the IRFU’s lead by pumping more money into the four Welsh regions or see them slip further into the abyss. Three of the four professional sides in Wales are privately owned with the WRU normally providing them with payment for the services of their players.