By Steffan Thomas
The United Rugby Championship will take a month off after this weekend with the intention of not clashing with the autumn internationals. This break will give Dai Young, Dean Ryan, Toby Booth, and Dwayne Peel an opportunity to look at their wider squads.
TRP understands Cardiff favour giving their players more exposure in the Welsh Premiership, whereas the Dragons, Ospreys, and Scarlets have arranged A team fixtures with each other and English opposition.
“We’ve got two or three confirmed fixtures to give people a chance in our squad,” said Ospreys head coach Booth.
“We’ve had all our boys out playing Welsh Premiership but to play as a team for the Ospreys is important as well. We are playing against Ealing, Exeter, and the Scarlets.
“That’s the plan to allow us to get some moment for other players and keep them motivated. We won’t play the boys who have played a lot and it allows us to have a mini pre-season.
“We’ll train against other teams as well to keep us sharp. As soon as the window finishes, we are back at it.
“I’m actually quite pleased with where it is and how it fits because it allows us to focus on ourselves a bit more.”
Big week ahead for our boys in the @WelshRugbyUnion squad 💪🏉 pic.twitter.com/CjdfxhGlgW
— Ospreys (@ospreys) October 25, 2021
The Dragons will also take on the Scarlets in a regional A fixture over the next couple of weeks. And Dragons boss Ryan insists bridging the gap between the semi-professional Welsh Premiership and the URC is a problem for the four Welsh regions.
“We’ve got a regional A game against the Scarlets,” revealed Dragons director of rugby Ryan.
“I think we are also looking at if we can create something in-house and if we can create some opportunities because we have a lot of players who aren’t playing enough.
“We are communicating with some of our clubs about what that might look like because we might struggle to get a full roster up. We need to get some game time for those players who haven’t played enough rugby so that they are ready to come out and play come December.
“Second team rugby an appropriate amount of games is a dilemma for everybody. If you look to share those transition players with others you end up on a collision course around their availability.
“It’s a difficult challenge. The Premiership is right for some players but there are players who get caught in that space where it’s not.”
