Leinster Rugby v Ospreys, Saturday, 7.35pm. Ospreys coach Toby Booth is calling on his team to draw inspiration from Borussia Dortmund as they take on the Leinster “juggernaut” in Dublin.

A statue honouring Cardiff’s legendary ‘Rugby Codebreakers’ – has won the ‘Celebrating Black Sporting Heritage Award’ category at the Sporting Heritage Awards. Unveiled in Cardiff Bay in July last year, the statue of Billy Boston, Clive Sullivan and Gus Risman is the first in Wales ever to feature non-fictionalised, named black men.

Cardiff have certainly had their money’s worth out of Tinus De Beer since he arrived from South Africa last summer. The fly-half has started all 19 games for the Arms Park outfit in the BKT United Rugby Championship and Investec Champions Cup this season. Remarkably, he has been on the field for all but 82 minutes of the campaign.

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.

Scarlets head coach Dwyane Peel has paid a fulsome tribute to Jonathan Davies, claiming the Wales centre became “the best No.13 in the world” during his time with the region. Davies, 36, has announced he will be leaving the Scarlets at the end of the season, bringing down the curtain on a 16-year involvement with his home region over two spells.

Cardiff have moved quickly to replace the departing Rhys Carre by signing two new looseheads for next season. Six-times capped Irish international Ed Byrne, a veteran of 10 seasons at Leinster, will be heading to the Arms Park this summer along with 25-year-old Exeter Chiefs prop Danny Southworth.

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.

Dragons coach Dai Flanagan believes he has added another piece to the jigsaw of the region’s rebuild with the capture of Shane Lewis-Hughes from Cardiff. The former Wales back row forward will move to Rodney Parade ahead of the 2024/25 season.

Last weekend both Che Hope and Joe Westwood were playing against Connacht for the Dragons in the BKT United Rugby Championship, but this Saturday they will be taking on a different challenge. The two Wales U20 caps will be leading the charge for Newport as they attempt to reach the final of the Indigo Premiership when they host Ebbw Vale at Newport Stadium. To some it may appear to be a step down, but that’s not how either of them see it.

Llandovery are the best rugby team in Wales outside of the regional structure and they can prove that status once more this weekend. With none of the four regions in action – having long ago departed the scene of European competition – it gives a welcome opportunity in Wales to shine a light on what else is going on.

The Dragons have signed Australian centre Harry Wilson – the son of former Wallabies captain David Wilson – for next season. Just days after announcing the capture of Tongan back row Solomone Funaki, it’s another statement move by the region.

Llandovery skipper Jack Jones claims the Drovers have their sights firmly set on retaining their Indigo Premiership title as they head into Saturday’s play-off semi-final showdown against Cardiff at Church Bank (5.15pm kick off). Coach Euros Evans’ men made history by finishing top of the Premiership standings for the first time after running in nine tries to cruise to a 62-13 home win over Bridgend in their final regular league match.

Tonga back row forward Solomone Funaki has been backed by Dragons coach Dai Flanagan to make a big impact at Rodney Parade next season. The 30-year-old – who can operate across the back row – will make the move to Newport this summer from Moana Pasifika in Super Rugby.

It’s been a difficult Women’s Six Nations for Wales captain Hannah Jones and her squad with four losses, one victory and a wooden spoon. But they did salvage pride against the backdrop of their biggest ever home crowd at the Principality Stadium. Over 10,00- supporters spurred the team on to victory in the final five minutes against a very competent Italian team.

The build up for Cardiff’s final home game against Edinburgh began before they had left the pitch at Kingspan Stadium last weekend after a sickening defeat to Ulster. Head coach Matt Sherratt wanted his players to transfer the feeling of bitter disappointment at the end of their 19-17 defeat into the Arms Park clash with the Scottish capital side in a bid to capture that elusive first win of the year.

The Ospreys will be looking to maintain their perfect record against South African opposition when they take the field at Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld on Saturday. So far this season, they have beaten the Emirates Lions in both the URC and EPCR Challenge Cup, while there have also been league wins against the Hollywoodbets Sharks and, just last weekend, the DHL Stormers.

Wales will break their attendance record for a stand-alone home Test match, when they face Italy in the Women’s Guinness Six Nations on Saturday at the Principality Stadium. Ioan Cunningham’s side may be facing the prospect of a wooden spoon, but the surge in interest in the women’s game shows no signs of slowing.

Theo Cabango feels he has returned from injury in even better shape than before and that was certainly how things looked on his first start in more than five months. Back from a lengthy lay-off following a shoulder dislocation, the 22-year-old Cardiff wing scored two scintillating tries in last weekend’s dramatic United Rugby Championship clash with Ulster in Belfast. It looked as though he had completed a hat-trick when he raced over two minutes from time, only for the score to be ruled out for an offence in the build-up, enabling Ulster scrum-half John Cooney to land a match-winning penalty.

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.

There will be a very special father and son reunion in the United Rugby Championship this weekend as John and Taine Plumtree find themselves in opposing camps. If things had worked out differently, they could have been together at the Hollywoodbets Sharks as coach John was keen to bring his boy over to Durban from New Zealand. But Taine, who was born in Swansea while his dad was coaching there, opted to go down the Wales route, joining the Scarlets from the Blues Super Rugby side.