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.
It is undoubtedly a blow for the Ospreys and for Wales and on top of that all manner of rumours continue to circulate around some of their stars and their likely departure. It’s a sharp reversal of fortunes for the outfit nicknamed the Galacticos not so long ago.
Whilst Biggar will become the sixth current Wales international to be playing in England next season, his Wales and Lions half-back partner Rhys Webb is said to be interested in moving to France or England, his agent apparently circulating his name as being available.
A third Osprey, prop Dimitri Arhip, a lynchpin of their scrum, is another who may be quitting the Welsh region for a lucrative deal across the channel.
As if to foreshadow the tough times that may lay ahead for the Ospreys, they struggled against Zebre, failing to earn a bonus point in their unimpressive 22-13 victory.
A trip to Scotland on Friday to face the highly rated, free-running Glasgow side promises to be a daunting task.
It’s the Scarlets, the Pro12 champions, who look like repeating the act of being Wales’ most serious hope for silverware this season.
All four sides were home last weekend, with only the Scarlets really impressing, and this time they are all away, every one on Friday night.
The Scarlets roasted South African newcomers Southern Kings 57-10, rubbing home their superiority in the second half with Steff Evans again impressing, nearing the start, surely, of a successful international career.
In contrast to the loss of Biggar, the Scarlets paraded the arrival of Leigh Halfpenny, a returnee from France with sufficient Ospreys connections to make the contrast between the two moves hard to swallow for those fans at the Liberty Stadium who grew used to the biggest names and often the best.
In the second round the Scarlets travel to Italy to face basement strugglers Zebre, still going despite almost falling by the wayside in the summer but surely unable to stop the rampaging Scarlets who have carried on where they left off last season with some scintillating rugby.
How the Dragons could do with a big name or two. They have made huge strides off the field under the ownership of the Welsh Rugby Union, a new pitch, major ground improvements and the appointment of more coaches.
But they remain some way down the pecking order from a results point of view and despite the presence of a number of promising youngsters they badly need a boost and an injection of experience.
Two more rolled off the production line last week, wing Jared Rosser and Maro Itoje lookalike Max Williams, both late replacements while new head coach Bernard Jackman started with two more in Leon Brown and Harry Keddie.
The threequarter line of Ashton Hewitt, Tyler Morgan, Jack Dixon and Hallam Amos is also full of potential while Gavin Henson and Zane Kirchner have added their knowledge.
Further development will take time and Jackman has again indicated the Dragons are only just embarking on a three-year project, starting with giving the existing squad every opportunity, then recruiting and finally aiming to be the top Welsh region.
So fans will have to be a little more patient and while there was some improvement against Leinster last week, despite their 39-16 defeat, real progress will take a year or so.
They have also suffered a major blow with the loss of flanker Nic Cudd possibly for the season with damaged knee ligaments.
Edinburgh on Friday will not be the best place to reverse their losing record, winning just four times last season, the Scottish team promising a much better season under the guidance of gnarled new chief Richard Cockerill.
Which brings us to Cardiff Blues, arguably the most disappointing of them all on the opening weekend. They went down 20-10 at the hands of Edinburgh at the Arms Park, but it was the manner of the defeat which really surprised.
They appeared off the pace with little direction, on top of which they will be without key flanker Ellis Jenkins after he suffered a serious hamstring injury.
They can hardly expect any return from Friday’s trip to the RDS to face Leinster who already look one of the favourites for the new Pro 14 crown, blessed with a host of Irish internationals and a big, highly capable squad.
I can’t see anyone other than the Scarlets emerging with a victory out of the four regions on Friday. Much more of this and the alarm bells will start ringing.
