At a time when the judgements on Welsh rugby tend mostly to be harsh ones, it would be easy to dismiss this weekend’s Judgement Day as almost an irrelevance when it comes to the business end of the United Rugby Championship. After all, the Ospreys need a series of unlikely and complicated results on the final weekend in order to sneak into the play-offs.

There will be three very interested spectators at Cardiff City Stadium at Judgement Day on Saturday all hoping for different things out of the regional double-header. The traditional derbyfest ends the season for the four Welsh teams in the United Rugby Championship – unless the Ospreys can squeeze into the play-offs.

Cardiff skipper Liam Belcher led his side to a memorable first win of the year in Durban last weekend and has now set his sights on delivering a huge ‘Thank You’ to the fans on Judgement Day. A year ago, Cardiff pipped the Ospreys not only to the Welsh Shield, but also to the final place in the Investec Champions Cup with a superb 38-21 win that enabled them to finish as ‘top dogs’ in Wales in the BKT United Rugby Championship.

When two greats of the Welsh game like Shane Williams and Justin Tipuric describe a player as “superb” and “amazing”, that’s praise indeed. Those were their plaudits for the Ospreys No 8 Morgan Morris after he produced yet another Man of the Match performance in his team’s 26-13 victory over the Dragons in Swansea.

This time 20 years ago, the Scarlets were busy winning what was then the Celtic League and everything in their garden looked, well . . . scarlet. But 2024 appears very different to 2004 and the current side are reaching the end of their season 14th out of 16 teams in the United Rugby Championship.

It looked like a misprint. But it was true. Gloucester did indeed lose 90-0 away to Northampton. That’s 14 unanswered tries against a club with a proud reputation as representing one of the hotbed areas of English rugby, where regulars in The Shed are renowned for their noisy allegiance.

Ospreys head coach Toby Booth has confirmed wing Alex Cuthbert is to leave the club at the end of the season. The departure of the Wales and Lions wing will bring an end to his three-year stay at the club, after joining from Exeter Chiefs in 2021. “This part of the season is always a tough time, especially when you have to say goodbye to players that have given a lot to the club over the years,” said Booth.

Tom Shanklin has called on the Welsh Rugby Union to show some vision and offer some hope for the future after another bleak weekend for the game in Wales. All four Welsh teams lost in the United Rugby Championship over the weekend – the fifth time this season they have suffered a collective whitewash.

Something is stirring in the Dragons’ lair. For too long, the wheezing also-rans among the four Welsh regions – and none have run particularly well in recent years – the Dragons have suddenly found their voice, if not yet, their fire.

Filo Tiatia has been backed as the man to finally plug the leaky Dragons’ defence next season. The former Ospreys ‘Galactico’ is returning to Wales as the defence coach at Dragons RFC.

It doesn’t need a long, hard stare at the United Rugby Championship table to realise it has not been a vintage season for the Scarlets. The most recent Welsh winners of the tournament seven years ago have won just three matches and stand 14th in the 16-team table. On Friday night, the Scarlets are at home to the Sharks, who are also having a season to forget and have won the same meagre number as their hosts.

When Toby Booth was once asked if he felt pressure as a regional rugby coach in Wales, he responded: “Pressure? Pressure’s for tyres! “What I have is a fantastic opportunity.” These days Booth is fully pumped and primed as the biggest – some might say the only – success story in the Welsh game.