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

Ospreys coach Steve Tandy admitted his team’s “brutal” defeat to Glasgow is already putting pressure on them to stay with the Guinness Pro14 Conference leaders. The high-flying Scots handed out a 31-10 drubbing at Scotstoun and Tandy admitted pace-setters Glasgow and Munster are already opening up a gap on the Ospreys who have taken four points from two games.

Dan Biggar’s move to Northampton next summer will allow Ospreys and Wales fans plenty of time this season to quantify what they’ll be missing. Seimon Williams says the move has blown apart the dual contract strategy and says it’s time for a fundamental re-think. .So Dan Biggar has announced – in one of the worst-kept secrets in Welsh rugby – that he will leave the Ospreys at the end of this season for Northampton Saints. It’s perhaps no real surprise. Biggar has been with the Ospreys his whole career. He has been among the finest European fly-halves for the past 3-4 years and performed with credit on the recent Lions tour to New Zealand. He will turn 28 next month and has, probably at most, 4-5 years left as an elite player. The pay – at, allegedly, up to £600,000 per season – is substantial.

Dan Biggar’s confirmed departure for Northampton next season underlines turbulent times at the Ospreys, says Robin Davey. But the Cardiff Blues and the Dragons have plenty to concern themselves with, too, and only the Scarlets can be happy with the way they started the season. The Scarlets lit up the start of the new Guinness Pro14 on a disappointing weekend for the Welsh regions, made more so by the subsequent confirmation that Dan Biggar is to leave the Ospreys. Biggar will move to Northampton at the end of this season, the Saints excitedly announced on Wednesday afternoon, almost a full 12 months before he will be pulling on their jersey.

Dan Biggar’s confirmed departure for Northampton next season underlines turbulent times at the Ospreys, says Robin Davey. But the Cardiff Blues and the Dragons have plenty to concern themselves with, too, and only the Scarlets can be happy with the way they started the season. The Scarlets lit up the start of the new Guinness Pro14 on a disappointing weekend for the Welsh regions, made more so by the subsequent confirmation that Dan Biggar is to leave the Ospreys. Biggar will move to Northampton at the end of this season, the Saints excitedly announced on Wednesday afternoon, almost a full 12 months before he will be pulling on their jersey.

Alun Wyn Jones is preparing for his Ospreys return – possibly against Munster on September 16 – after being given an extended break following the Lions tour to New Zealand. Peter Jackson assesses the milestones the Wales forward is capable of passing this season and beyond. If his track record is anything to go by, Alun-Wyn Jones will pass another landmark towards the end of the coming season. His 400th competitive match is on the horizon, putting the durable Welshman on course to reach it faster than any other player of the 21st century. Nobody ought to be one bit surprised because nobody gets through games on a scale to compare with Jones. He has averaged as close to 30 per season as makes no difference, not for one season but the last eleven. And that at a time when just about every other player contracted to his national Union plays no more than 25. Kieran Read tops the All Black list at 27.

The Guinness Pro 14 kicked off on Friday night – and then spread into Saturday, when every other oval and round ball game was providing an alternative. Geraint Powell says it doesn’t have to be like this. The question of the optimal kick-off time in which to play Welsh regional rugby has once again been brought into stark focus on this opening weekend of the new Guinness Pro 14 season. Obviously, official attendances have to be taken with a pinch of salt. As many will already know, the market practice is to use a “tickets out” basis and this will include all free tickets handed out to corporate sponsors and all season ticket holders – whether in actual attendance or not. Some were querying the wisdom of all four Welsh regions playing at home on the opening

The Guinness Pro 14 kicked off on Friday night – and then spread into Saturday, when every other oval and round ball game was providing an alternative. Geraint Powell says it doesn’t have to be like this. The question of the optimal kick-off time in which to play Welsh regional rugby has once again been brought into stark focus on this opening weekend of the new Guinness Pro 14 season. Obviously, official attendances have to be taken with a pinch of salt. As many will already know, the market practice is to use a “tickets out” basis and this will include all free tickets handed out to corporate sponsors and all season ticket holders – whether in actual attendance or not. Some were querying the wisdom of all four Welsh regions playing at home on the opening

The Guinness Pro14 – 16.6% bigger and possibly better than last season – kicks off on Friday night. Robin Davey examines what might happen on the opening weekend and how the four Welsh regions might perform this season. The phoney war is over, pre-season friendlies which can be meaningless are done, and now it’s the real thing as a new professional rugby season in Wales gets under way on Friday night. The Guinness Pro 12 League has evolved into the Pro 14, split into two conferences of seven teams with the addition of two South African sides, bringing in a much-needed injection of capital.

In part two of Dai Sport’s regional health check ahead of the new rugby season, Geraint Powell puts his stethoscope next to the heart of the Scarlets to determine whether or not they can maintain the healthy beat of last season. If the Ospreys region has been mostly confined to the shadows this summer (http://www.dai-sport.com/ospreys-ready-fly-back-shadows/), the Scarlets region has inevitably been in the limelight as a result of their scintillating romp to the Guinness Pro12 title last season with comfortable play-off wins in Dublin over Leinster (at the RDS) and Munster (at the Aviva). As if that was not enough to secure media attention, to compensate for the loss of Liam Williams to Saracens they then secured the services of the somewhat stranded Leigh Halfpenny as Williams’ replacement on a dual central contract, 60% funded by the Welsh Rugby Union. If any team can rediscover Halfpenny’s early career attacking mojo, it will be the Scarlets.

In part two of Dai Sport’s regional health check ahead of the new rugby season, Geraint Powell puts his stethoscope next to the heart of the Scarlets to determine whether or not they can maintain the healthy beat of last season. If the Ospreys region has been mostly confined to the shadows this summer (http://www.dai-sport.com/ospreys-ready-fly-back-shadows/), the Scarlets region has inevitably been in the limelight as a result of their scintillating romp to the Guinness Pro12 title last season with comfortable play-off wins in Dublin over Leinster (at the RDS) and Munster (at the Aviva). As if that was not enough to secure media attention, to compensate for the loss of Liam Williams to Saracens they then secured the services of the somewhat stranded Leigh Halfpenny as Williams’ replacement on a dual central contract, 60% funded by the Welsh Rugby Union. If any team can rediscover Halfpenny’s early career attacking mojo, it will be the Scarlets.

Leigh Halfpenny will be wearing a Scarlets shirt this season, much to the disappointment of his former region, the Cardiff Blues. Robin Davey believes his choice should be respected and that any draft system – for both older and younger players – would be a mistake. It’s August and it’s holiday time for many, so that means it’s the silly season when it comes to news – and rugby is no different. Hot topic this week is the draft system and whether it’s a good idea or not. Not a silly subject for sure, but silly thinking it could work in Wales.