Meet Jack Walsh: The rugby wanderer who is loving life in Wales and the BKT URC. From New South Wales to South Wales, via days in Devon, it’s been some rugby journey for the American-born Jack Walsh.

Aaron Wainwright can put his feet up this weekend – a well deserved break for a player who has just played his 100th match for the Dragons. The Wales back row forward gets a rare weekend off as all four of the Welsh regions have a free pass following a busy festive period that culminated with the Welsh derby games on New Year’s Day.

Home is still very much where the heart is when it comes to the regional derbies in the BKT United Rugby Championship. After nine of the 12 games played already this season, only three have ended up in away victories. At the start of last month the Scarlets won 29-23 at the Arms Park, while last weekend saw the Dragons pip Scarlets by a point at Rodney Parade and the Ospreys came from behind to beat Cardiff Rugby.

Dai Flanagan has told his Dragons players their victory over the Scarlets must become the baseline standard and not a high-point one-off. The Rodney Parade coach – under pressure after his team’s embarrassing capitulation to Cardiff on Boxing Day – praised his team for their 13-12 home win over Dwayne Peel’s men.

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.

WELSH bookie James Lovell reckons everyone remembers their first time. For him, his maiden Welsh Grand National at Chepstow arrived early at around the age of five.

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.

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.

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 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.