New Year but same old pecking order for the Welsh regions? Coach and rugby analyst Tomas Marks examines the evidence from the Boxing Day derbies and looks for clues as to what might happen on New Year’s Day when the Ospreys host Cardiff and the Dragons welcome the Scarlets. Cardiff and the Ospreys were the resounding winners of the Boxing Day derbies with Cardiff blowing the Dragons away with ease within 40 minutes. The Ospreys survived a tough first half against the Scarlets but managed to score 25 points in the second half to win at Parc y Scarlets for the first time since 2015.

With only two wins in the BKT United Rugby Championship in the first half of the 2023-24 season, Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel is hoping for a better start to 2024 when he takes his side to Rodney Parade for a New Year’s Day derby clash with fellow strugglers, the Dragons. The Dragons are currently propping up the table with only one win, at home against the Ospreys, to their credit.

Former Pontypridd wing Owen Robins is bowing out. Having been one of the most strident and passionate voices within Welsh rugby on social media for years – as well as one of the most regularly abused – this article, he claims, is his final contribution to the ongoing debate about how the sport should be organised in Wales.. After this, no more.

Ian Evans has stepped up to become the new joint head coach at Merthyr RFC until the end of the season. The former Wales and Lions second row – who was a regular alongside Alun Wyn Jones during the early part of Jones’ international career – has replaced Rowland Phillips, together with Gareth Davies..

Toby Booth declared it a case of “job done” after his Ospreys team earned a routine 25-11 derby victory over the Scarlets. The Boxing Day clash was the first time the Ospreys had won at Llanelli since 2015, but the over-riding feeling was, why had it taken them so long?

Dai Flanagan has admitted he is in a fight to save his job at the Dragons after their latest humiliating capitulation. The Dragons head coach saw his team crumble in the Boxing Day derby against their biggest rivals, Cardiff – conceding nine tries at the Arms Park in a hugely embarrassing 55-21 defeat.

Cardiff Rugby have gained local authority permission to increase the capacity of the Arms Park to around 12,000 for their URC Boxing Day derby against the Dragons. The demand for tickets has seen 10,000 sold already.

Shane Williams says the Scarlets will want to produce a big performance for their discontented fans in the west Wales Boxing Day derby – but he’s predicting an Ospreys victory. The Scarlets went down to a 23-7 defeat at home to Black Lion of Georgia in the EPCR Challenge Cup last weekend, leaving them with just two wins from their nine matches in all competitions this season.

Jac Morgan is set to miss the Six Nations because of knee injury that requires surgery. The Wales World Cup captain is poised to undergo an operation within days and may struggle to be fit before the end of the season.

There will be plenty of ‘Festive Fun’ on offer over the Christmas and New Year period with four Welsh derbies on offer in the BKT United Rugby Championship. Among the scores to be settled between Welsh rugby’s nearest and dearest will be the quest by the Dragons to finally pick up a win against Cardiff Rugby. When the two teams met at Rodney Parade earlier this season, the Blue & Blacks won 16-9.

Ask Aaron Wainwright what he does when he isn’t playing rugby and his answer points to a man with an unstinting passion for the game. “I coach down at my local club,” replies the Dragons RFC and Wales back row star.

Tributes have been paid throughout Welsh rugby to former Wales and Newport captain Brian Price who has died at the age of 86. Second-row forward Price captained Wales to a Five Nations Triple Crown in 1969, six years after leading Newport to victory over New Zealand.

Gareth Anscombe has vowed to get fit and return to the field despite having his dream move to Japan wrecked by injury. The Wales outside-half insists he can recover quickly after undergoing surgery for a groin problem and is aiming to be back running again within 10 weeks.

The Ospreys completed a miserable weekend for the Welsh regions in Europe as they conceded six tries in a 38-5 defeat to Montpellier in the EPCR Challenge Cup. All four Welsh regions lost in Europe, leaving them with a collective record of two victories from their opening eight matches. Last season Toby Booth’s Ospreys side completed a notable double over the then French champions in the Champions Cup, but they were no match for the home side in Round 2 of this season’s second tier tournament against the bottom placed side in the Top 14.

Cardiff against Bath in the top tier of European rugby immediately takes the mind back to 1996 and the Heineken cup quarter-final at the Arms Park. It was Jonathan Davies v Mike Catt, Mike Hall v Jeremy Guscott, Dai Young against Victor Ubogu, Derwyn Jones v Nigel Redman – the English champions against the previous season’s Heineken Cup finalists.

Cardiff will have the benefit of home comforts when they host Bath at the Arms Park on Saturday in the European Champions Cup, but head coach Matt Sherratt has urged supporters to bring patience and realism along with their backing. The Welsh regions are facing financial struggles with the budgets of the four professional sides reduced to £5.2m for the 2023-24 season, which is much less than the top French, Irish and English sides.

Merab Sharikadze will renew his rivalry with Scarlets cente Johnny Williams at Parc Y Scarlets in the second round of the EPCR Challenge Cup on Friday night in a game against Black Lion that is a potential banana skin for Dwayne Peel’s home side. The Scarlets were highly competitive, yet ultimately well beaten, in their opening game in Pool 3, going down 36-14 in Castres.

Rob Howley is back in Welsh rugby with Wales – four years after a ban for betting on matches forced him to stand down. The former Wales captain has been re-appointed to his old role as assistant to Warren Gatland, re-uniting the pair ahead of the forthcoming Six Nations.

Former Wales internationals Catrina Nicholas-McLaughlin and Ashley Beck will head the respective coaching and management teams for Gwalia Lightning and Brython Thunder next year. The new WRU-owned franchises will play Irish and Scottish opposition, home and away, in the cross-border tournament.

Hot on the heels of only their second win of the season, over Oyonnax in the EPCR Challenge Cup, Dai Flanagan’s Dragons have been given another major boost with the return to action of Argentine World Cup scrum half Gonzalo Bertranou. The 29-year-old was given extra-time to recover from his French exploits, when he helped the Pumas reach the semi-finals before narrowly missing out to England in the Bronze Medal match.