Scott Baldwin has admitted he could have lost his hand, his career, and the chance to play with his young son as a result of stupidly smoothing a lion in a South African safari park. The 29-year-old Wales hooker finally returned to action with the Ospreys in last weekend’s Champions Cup defeat at Saracens after missing three matches and having to undergo four operations. In his first press conference since the incident in Bloemfontein he talked about how the severity of what happened to him only really hit home last week.

Steve Tandy has told his Ospreys they have to beat the Dragons on Friday before they can talk about genuine recovery. The head coach took satisfaction from his team’s double bonus point defeat at Saracens in the European Champions Cup, but the 36-34 scoreline was still that – a defeat. That is now seven in succession for the Ospreys and despite the massive improvement in standards at the home of the European champions, they have lost 10 out of the 11 matches they have played when pre-season fixtures are added in.

Rhys Webb has said he will not be withdrawing from his decision to join Toulon next season, meaning Wales will not be picking him. That has produced plenty of debate, but Geraint Powell argues the outpouring of anger only serves to show how divided the country has become between those who support only Wales and those who care for the regions. Whilst it is a matter of personal sadness for me – someone who has been called an “arch-regionalist” or more accurately an “arch-aligner” enough times on social media – few will have been surprised by some of the negative reaction against the revised criteria to the Welsh Rugby Union’s Senior Player Selection Policy (the “WRU SPSP”, the so-called, but terribly misnamed, “Gatland’s Law”). There is a brutal truth revealed by the reaction to this policy revision, perhaps fuelled by Rhys Webb being caught through his vague and most definitely in need of clarification agreement with Toulon, that many rugby fans in Wales care passionately about the Welsh national team and care very little for their professional region or any others.

What odds on an Ospreys win at Saracens this weekend? It’s a bit of a long-shot according to most bookies. On their return to the Champions Cup this season the Welsh region head to London to face the reigning champions in a game in which the home side are 1/25 on to win and you can get 20/1 on an Ospreys triumph.

The threat to Rhys Webb’s international future is self-defeating and was entirely avoidable, says Robin Davey. If the new national selection policy was well-intended, it has been poorly targeted at a player who deserved better. Why has Welsh rugby shot itself in the foot again when there was absolutely no need? Why have the powers that be decided to score an own goal, to mix my sports, by making an example of Rhys Webb?

Wales coach Warren Gatland believes Rhys Webb may decide to back out of his move to France in order to keep playing for Wales. Webb will become the biggest casualty of the Welsh Rugby Union’s new selection policy which will permit players outside of Wales, only if they have 60 caps or are already there under contract. The change, announced on Monday, means Webb will no longer be eligible for selection if he goes ahead with his planned move from the Ospreys to Toulon as he only has 28 caps.

European rugby is back, but Robin Davey believes poor scheduling and some poor form means the Welsh regions will struggle to make much of a splash in their respective pools. European rugby takes centre stage this weekend, but before a ball is kicked there’s anger that clubs and fans are being given scant respect and in some cases treated with disdain. Already two clubs – the Scarlets and Wasps – have complained about schedules which are far too tight, especially at a time when concern about player welfare is so prevalent and rightly so.

Look out, Boris Johnson – Europe is on the march! At least, it is in rugby as the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup swing open the borders to competition this weekend. Although, as Geraint Powell notes, there are fewer people waving the flag with quite the enthusiasm of a few years ago. It’s a familiar story of English land grabs and cash battles which have spectacularly backfired. I recently looked in my personal blog at the question of the ongoing omission of a Welsh regional rugby double-header at the Principality Stadium in Round 5 of the Guinness Pro14 (https://thevietgwent.wordpress.com/2017/10/02/the-pro14-round-5-another-season-and-once-again-where-was-the-other-welsh-regional-derby-double-header-at-the-wru-stadium/), to kick start the regional season for the wider rugby public, even though there were Welsh derby matches in Round 6. A crowd of only 8,178, inclusive of the vocal Dragons travelling support, watched the Cardiff Blues secure a 43-29 win in the eastern derby on Friday evening.   

Angry Lions, resurgent Dragons, and nose-diving Ospreys – Robin Davey examines the health of the beasts in the Welsh rugby game park after a dramatic few weeks on and off the field. Welsh rugby is never without its dramas and though we are only just into the second month of the current season they are there in abundance – some of the am-dram kind, but another with potential to please the critics. Who would have guessed little over a month ago that previous top-gunners the Ospreys would lose both their Wales and Lions half-backs Dan Biggar and Rhys Webb at the end of the season?

Wales scrum-half Rhys Webb will leave the Ospreys at the end of the current season, it has been confirmed. Webb, 28, whose deal with the Ospreys and Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) runs out at the end of the season, is expected to sign a three-year deal with Toulon. After weeks of speculation in France that the Lions No.9 would be joining the former European champions, the Ospreys have admitted he will be joining half-back partner Dan Biggar in leaving the region at the end of the season.

The Ospreys flew 18,000 miles in order to play two matches last week and all they got for their troubles was two defeats, 60 points conceded, and a bite on the hand for would-be lion-tamer Scott Baldwin. Peter Jackson wonders whether the regions may have missed a trick closer to home. When the fledgling Ospreys first took flight in the Celtic League, they had no idea that it would come to this: a ten-day trek to Europe and Africa. The tournament’s quantum leap from inter-provincial to inter-continental handed the former double champions a trip from Swansea to Bloemfontein via Treviso, from one non-Celtic region to another. New Frontierism isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be.

What is it about rugby and the tour mentality? As Scott Baldwin counts his blessings – and his fingers – Graham Thomas suggests it’s time for a new approach to actually doing the job of being a rugby player. At least Steve Tandy didn’t blame the lion. “In fairness, it was nothing to do with the lion,” said the Ospreys coach after his hooker Scott Baldwin was bitten on the hand – a hand which he had opted to push through iron railings in order to pet the animal’s head.