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.

As the Ospreys struggle for results and appear ever more vulnerable to losing their best players, Owen Morgan has a radical solution – one that’s common enough elsewhere from Bristol to Barcelona. With Swansea City’s takeover of the Liberty Stadium apparently imminent, the club should take another arguably bolder and even more beneficial step forward.  It’s a step I believe would also be hugely advantageous to their fellow tenants at the Morfa  ground, making the Ospreys more resilient to the kind of raid which has lured star outside-half Dan Biggar away to Northampton in a £600,000 deal. 

Danny Wilson is leaving Cardiff Blues at the end of the season and Robin Davey is less than surprised at a “yo-yo” region where coaches are either on the up  . . . or the way down. The downbeat feel extends to the Ospreys and the Dragons, too, but at least he sees the Scarlets continuing to set the standards. The new rugby season is only a month old but already it’s a tale of woe for three of the Welsh regions with little prospect of things getting any better soon. Cardiff Blues, the Ospreys and the Dragons are all having their problems, though the Scarlets are an honourable exception having got their campaign off to a pretty effective start.

Not enough time at night to sit down and read the WRU’s latest accounts and annual report from cover to cover? No, we thought not. But don’t worry because Geraint Powell has and here are his half dozen headlines. Having reviewed the latest annual report from the Welsh Rugby Union (http://www.wru.co.uk/downloads/WRU_ARA_2017_1o.pdf), these six main themes can be appreciated from the underlying 2016-17 financial and other information. For those who have not yet read it, particularly Chairmen, Secretaries and Treasurers at the constituent member clubs of the WRU, I would, as with every other year, always recommend starting with the Strategic Report prepared by Finance Director Steve Phillips (pages 14-21) before reading the statements by Chief Executive Martyn Phillips, Chairman Gareth Davies, Head of Rugby Performance Geraint John and Head of Rugby Participation Ryan Jones.  

The Ospreys will turn to Alun Wyn Jones and Rhys Webb in order to prevent a drama becoming a full-blown crisis. The Lions pair are to be brought back for their first matches since the summer tour following the region’s poor start to the Guinness Pro14 campaign. Head coach Steve Tandy has confirmed his two biggest names will be pressed into action for their next games – away to Treviso in Italy and then the trip to South Africa to play the Cheetahs.

Cardiff Blues flanker Ellis Jenkins was awarded the Stuart Gallacher memorial ‘Man-of-Judgement’ trophy by the Welsh Rugby Writers Association (WRWA) at its annual dinner on Wednesday night. Jenkins is the second winner of the award following British & Irish Lions, Wales and Ospreys scrum-half Rhys Webb, who picked it up in September 2016. This year’s WRWA Player of the Year award – also presented at the Cardiff Arms Park event – went to Justin Tipuric after his efforts for the Ospreys, Wales and the Lions