Judgement Day is less about a final verdict this season and more about opportunity. Either the Ospreys or the Cardiff Blues will take a European side-door pass, although the bouncers still have to be won over. For Robin Davey, the outcome depends on three initials – AWJ. It’s the end of season Judgement Day showdown on Saturday – but this one will be like no other. The Dragons aim to end their abysmal record against the Scarlets when east meets west at the Principality Stadium, followed by a likely rip-roaring clash between the Ospreys and Cardiff Blues.

James Hook insists the Ospreys are confident they can beat Cardiff Blues on Saturday – whether or wherever their rivals decide to play Gareth Anscombe. Hook will be one of those players affected by Ancombe’s move from the Arms Park to the Liberty Stadium next season. The 33-year-old has filled a utility role since rejoining the region at the start of last season, providing invaluable experience and cover at outside-half, full-back and centre.

Gareth Anscombe has been hailed as bringing the “X-factor” to the Ospreys as Sam Davies prepares to make room at the region by leaving for the Scarlets. Anscombe’s decision to leave the Cardiff Blues for their regional rivals – a prospect dismissed by Blues coach John Mulvihill just a week ago – will spark a re-shuffle among the No.10s in Wales. Davies has been offered a move to the Dragons and has also previously interested the Blues, but is instead likely to join the Scarlets.

Allen Clarke believes his resurgent Ospreys have rediscovered their swagger as they get ready for a European showdown against the Cardiff Blues. The Judgment Day clash at the Principality Stadium on April 27 is the Ospreys’ final game of the regular season. It will certainly have something riding on it – either a route into next season’s Heineken European Cup directly, or through a play-off, and possibly a Guinness Pro 14 knockout spot, depending on other results.

Forget Brexit, the real cliff-edge moment has arrived for the Welsh regions and their place in Europe. The next three rounds of Guinness PRO14 matches will determine whether or not the Scarlets fail to reach the Heineken Champions Cup for the first time in their history and if the four Welsh regions have any teams in Europe’s top tournament next season. There is so much to play for to ensure the domestic season doesn’t go out with a whimper after such a thrilling Six Nations campaign. Surely, one Welsh region – either the Cardiff Blues or the Scarlets (the Ospreys are a long shot) – is good enough to make the play-offs and play in the Europe’s top-tier in 2019/20.

It’s that annual Welsh rugby tradition – Armchair Weekend – when supporters of the four Welsh regions grab a beer, slump in front of the box, and watch the European knockout stages featuring teams from Ireland, Scotland, England and France. Robin Davey says the full house Celtic contingent this season makes the Welsh absence even more embarrassing. Wales may have won the Grand Slam and the nation is still recovering from the celebrations, but back down on earth professional rugby carries on without almost the entire Six Nations squad. It’s all about Europe – not the Brexit variety – but the quarter-finals of the Heineken Champions and Challenge Cup competitions. And there is not a Welsh team in sight.

Allen Clarke has backed his Ospreys team to continue to recover from the death wish placed on them and suggested no-one outside the region will know the extent of their turmoil. Just two weeks after being crumpled like a piece of waste paper and hurled towards the bin, the Ospreys showed their resolve with a 29-20 bonus point victory over the Dragons. The win – underpinned by four tries from full-back Dan Evans – came in their first game since merger plans with the Scarlets, backed by the Welsh Rugby Union, were abandoned following the outrage that ensued.

Project Shitstorm – obviously hatched in a secret war room in Edinburgh Castle – appears to have done its job. You can hardly see Saturday’s Six Nations fixture in front of you, for all the muck that has been thrown around in the past few days. But Robin Davey insists Wales can rise above the stink, keep their noses clean, and gain the whiff of a Grand Slam in the air by the time they return to Cardiff. Wales should have nothing to fear at Murrayfield this weekend – apart from the echoing bickering going on back at home. Certainly, when you look at this Scotland team and compare it to Warren Gatland’s side then the form, the experience, and the quality stacks up clearly in the visitors’ favour.

The Scarlets have finally agreed with the Ospreys. . . the merger is off. The two regions have now issued statements in the last 24 hours in complete accord that all merger discussions have been taken off the table and it’s as you were in Welsh rugby. Following the Ospreys’ statement yesterday accusing the Professional […]

First it was on, then it was off. Then it was just another back-of-the-fag-packet plan tossed into the bin after 15 months of waiting for Welsh rugby’s leaders to show the way ahead. The shambles of Project Reset is picked over by David Williams who just wants to flush the chain and run away. When is a merger not a merger? When it’s a takeover. That seems to be at the heart of the ‘on-off’ relationship between the Scarlets and Ospreys and their proposed gathering of the west Wales clans for the betterment of Welsh rugby. But who proposed such an unhappy and unlikely marriage in the first place? That seems to be the question exercising most people. Was it a WRU suggestion, or did it come from the supposedly cash-strapped Ospreys?

Welsh rugby’s merger bingo – that now pairs the Ospreys to combine with the Scarlets – will be discussed this evening by the four regions and the Welsh Rugby Union against a backdrop of outrage and suspicion. The proposal that was put to the staff of both west Wales regions on Monday has met with widespread derision, particularly on social media. Only vague plans have so far been given to those at the sharp end, but they are expected to include job losses, including some players.

Ospreys coach Allen Clarke has claimed the threats to the region’s survival is undermining his team. Clarke watched his side fall apart on Saturday – thrashed 46-5 at Connacht, the Irish province least renowned for dishing out any thrashings. It is one thing to leak six tries against Leinster or Munster, but quite another to do so against Connacht and Clarke believes leaked plans to kill off his region – plans that he himself made public a week before – are now taking their toll.