Dan Lydiate has told the Ospreys they must now build on their corner-turning victory over Castres and mount a European campaign like those of old. The region ended the worst losing streak in their European history as they put the French club to the sword with a five star performance in a 39-15 win. The Ospreys had lost their last nine European games, but hit back in style to get their 2020-21 campaign off to a flying start at the Liberty Stadium. It also proved to be an extra-special night for new Wales hooker Sam Parry, who marked his 100th game for the region with two of the five tries.

The tries may have come from their internationals, but the Scarlets had the little known Morgan Jones to thank for their sensational 23-19 Heineken Champions Cup win at Bath. The Welsh region spent seven minutes defending their try line, and saw the referee rule out two potential tries, the last of which was all to do with Wales U20 lock Jones’ wrapping his arms around home scrum half Ben Spencer. “The effort at the end was massive, it was all about commitment and heart. We were under so, so much pressure, that was about character,” said a delighted Scarlets head coach, Glenn Delaney.

John Mulvihill has vowed to use the next nine days wisely as the Cardiff Blues look build a successful European campaign on a solid foundation. The Blues laid the groundwork for their campaign with a 33-20 Challenge Cup victory away at Newcastle Falcons on Friday night, where they turned around a five point half-time deficit. Blues fly-half Jarrod Evans kicked 16 points and Hallam Amos and Tomos Williams scored tries as the region made the perfect start with a gritty win.

The Ospreys begin their European campaign tonight in the Challenge Cup and will include a man who knows his way to the final. Former England cap Stephen Myler tells Steffan Thomas why and how he thinks his new team can enable him to make it a hat-trick of final appearances. Stephen Myler has vowed to earn European success with the Ospreys this season – and repeat two of the highlights of his distinguished career. Back 2014 the England international kicked 20 points as Northampton Saints clinched the European Challenge Cup with a dramatic win over Bath in Cardiff. 

When Cardiff Blues go to Newcastle Falcons on Friday, it will bring back plenty of memories for one former Arms Park favourite and now proud father of one of Wales’ latest internationals. Liam Botham spoke to Graham Thomas. James Botham’s father Liam admits he cannot wait to be in a stadium to watch his son play “in the flesh” for Wales. Until then, however, he will content himself with the next best thing – the televised clash between Botham’s Cardiff Blues and Newcastle Falcons on Friday night.

The Scarlets, Dragons, Cardiff Blues and Ospreys are all in action this weekend, as international rugby moves aside and the new format of the Heineken Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup gets underway. James Dodd takes a look at the chances of the four Welsh teams going into round one.  Like most else in our lives, European rugby is different this year. Thanks again, pandemic. In the top tier competition, the Heineken Champions Cup, there will be two pools, each containing 12 teams.

Rugby fans love an official list, a ranking, a team of this year or that year and so on. For that reason, there was no shortage of interest and debate when the World Rugby Team of the Decade, “picked in association with Mastercard” was announced this week. Eyebrows were raised at the bloke on the right wing. They should not have been, says Harri Morgan. Advocates for including Michael Owen in a Premier League team of the Noughties would likely have been subject to a whirlwind of polite disagreement from social media. At the end of the decade, Owen was predominantly collecting splinters at Manchester United, who he had joined on a free transfer following Newcastle’s relegation at the end of the 2008-9 season.

Ioan Lloyd admits he was star struck during his first few weeks in Wales camp but is adamant working with Leigh Halfpenny and Liam Williams has improved his game tenfold. The teenager is fresh off the back of his first international campaign with Wales and has relished the opportunity. Now, the Bristol Bears playmaker, who is equally at home at outside-half or full-back, is targeting a place in Wales’ Six Nations squad.

Traumatic brain injury expert Dr Willie Stewart believes it was “only a matter of time” before former rugby players with concussion-related issues considered legal action. A group of former internationals, including former Wales No.8 Alix Popham and England World Cup winner Steve Thompson, are planning legal action for negligence against the rugby authorities over brain injuries they have suffered. The ‘test group’ for a potentially much larger action also includes another former England player, Michael Lipman, according to Rylands Law.

Former Wales No.8 Alix Popham is part of a group of former internationals who are planning legal action for negligence against the rugby authorities over brain injuries they have suffered, the law firm leading the case has announced. Popham – who has been diagnosed with early onset dementia – is part of a ‘test group’ for a potentially much larger action along with former England players Steve Thompson and Michael Lipman, according to Rylands Law. The planned action is against World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union, for “failure to protect (the claimants) from the risks caused by concussions”.

Dwayne Peel has revealed it was always his plan to return to Wales after Cardiff Blues confirmed he would join them next season from Ulster. Former Wales and Scarlets scrum-half Peel will leave the Irish province in the summer to take up a role as senior assistant coach at the Arms Park – a job that would appear designed to prepare him as a natural successor to current head coach John Mulvihill. Where current assistant coach Richie Rees – another Wales scrum-half – fits into any succession plan remains to be seen.

As 2020 draws to a close and the coaching record of Wayne Pivac comes under scrutiny, Peter Jackson examines what’s happened to the Welsh coach – a once thriving breed that now appears an endangered species. There used to be a time when Wales led the world in pioneering coaches, when Carwyn James, Clive Rowlands and Ray Williams changed the mentality of Test rugby. Half a century later, the same country is so far behind the eight-ball in question that Welsh head coaches of any description, let alone of the pioneering variety, are as hard to find as words of praise from Edward Jones over the legality of the Irish scrum.

Wayne Pivac insists Wales will be Six Nations contenders in 2021 despite an underwhelming start to his reign. Pivac managed only three Test wins in 2020, with his first year in charge culminating in Saturday’s 38-18 Autumn Nations Cup win over Italy in Llanelli. Italy twice and Georgia were the only sides Wales have beaten this year, but New Zealander Pivac believes he can win over the doubters in his adopted homeland by launching a Six Nations title challenge in 2021.

Alun Wyn Jones has jumped to the defence of Wayne Pivac – claiming the under fire Wales coach has steered Wales towards a “watershed moment” despite poor results. The Wales captain – who leads his team against Italy today – has claimed Pivac has done more in nine months than would have been achieved in two years under Warren Gatland when it comes to blooding new talent. Jones said: “Eight or nine new caps, previously you would not see that in two years. It could be a watershed moment in the way the new regime does kick on.”

Stephen Varney, 19-years-old and a fluent Welsh speaker born in Pembrokeshire, will return to west Wales today for a first experience of Test rugby in his homeland. But when he lines up at Parc y Scarlets in Llanelli for his first international start, Varney will be wearing the blue shirt of Italy rather than Welsh red. Il Canto degli Italiani – not Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau – will be his national anthem.

The debates have raged on during the Autumn Nations Cup. For some, the game has become a snore-fest of kicking, pile-ups, penalties and shapeless set-pieces. For others, these moaners just don’t get the modern game. For Harri Morgan, it all depends on where you sit – and how long you’ve been watching. There is a critical point in the life of a hobby golfer where a decision must be made – continue as a happy hacker or invest the hours into improving. More time spent honing the swing might yield a tad more consistency out on the course, but it will also drive up performance expectation.

The countdown to the Lions tour of 2021 has begun with contenders only likely to have six more Test opportunities in which to press their claims. For the wing spots, Josh Adams has a lead on his rivals built up over the past two seasons according to former Wales wing Nigel Walker, who spoke to Graham Thomas. Josh Adams can underline his status as a Lion-in-waiting when he plays his final international of the year this weekend, according to former Wales wing Nigel Walker. Adams will pair up with Louis Rees-Zammit against Italy on Saturday as Wales bid to end their underwhelming Autumn Nations Cup showing with an emphatic win against Italy.

The Jersey boys will be uniting again tomorrow as three former players of the Channel Islands club – Kieran Hardy, Callum Sheedy and Will Rowlands – prepare to face Italy. Hardy has had a brief taste of Test rugby and now wants to challenge the more established names as James Dodd reports. Kieran Hardy is determined to end Wales’ 2020 campaign by proving he can be first choice scrum-half in 2021. The 25-year-old from Carmarthen made his debut a fortnight ago in Wales’ 18-0 victory over Georgia at Llanelli.

Three of the greatest rugby league players in the history of the game – Billy Boston, Gus Risman and Clive Sullivan – have been selected to adorn a statue to commemorate the Cardiff Bay Codebreakers.The public and a special panel of experts agreed on the trio who will now be immortalised on a statue that will represent all the players who headed north from the Cardiff Bay area to star in the 13-a-side game.

When Wales meet Italy in Llanelli on Saturday, it will be for the less than cherished title of fifth-place play-off winners of the inaugural Autumn Nations Cup. If that title doesn’t sound too grand then it’s because Wales’ result have not been either, during the fractured year of 2020. The corresponding Six Nations match back in February saw Wales head coach Wayne Pivac begin his reign as Warren Gatland’s successor on a winning note.