When Dwayne Peel helped the Scarlets win the Celtic League title in 2004, Kieran Hardy was just a small face in the ground. Now, Peel is at the helm for their URC opener at Edinburgh on Saturday and scrum-half Hardy is hoping to absorb plenty of his coach’s know-how as he tells Graham Thomas. Kieran Hardy believes his boyhood hero Dwayne Peel can be the guiding light that enables him to hold onto the Wales No.9 shirt this season. Scarlets scrum-half Hardy was just eight-years-old when his father took him to Stradey Park to see Peel in his pomp clinch the old Celtic League title back in 2004.

Jonathan Davies may look one of the coolest rugby players on and off the field, but anyone not pulling their weight for the Scarlets may soon feel a fiery blast from the region’s new captain. The 33-year-old, who has won 91 caps for Wales, has replaced Ken Owens, who has led the region as Scarlets skipper for the past seven seasons. Davies often looks one of the calmest players around but insists: “I can be quite hot-headed when I need to be.

Cardiff Rugby and Scarlets look set to play their first away games against the new South African franchises in the new United Rugby Championship in Italy. With South Africa still appearing on the ‘red list’ of countries during the Covid pandemic, if the two regions went there to play they would be subject to 10 days in managed quarantine on their return. That would mean they would be unable to fulfil their first round fixtures in the Heineken Champions Cup, which take place on the weekend of 10/11/12 December.

Gemma Grainger has promised there is far more to come after Wales began their Women’s World Cup campaign with a thumping 6-0 victory over Kazakhstan The Wales manager – who celebrated her first victory in charge at the fourth attempt after succeeding Jayne Ludlow – is determined her team build on their flying start to the qualifying campaign. After watching Wales maintain their focus into the late stages of the match to pile on the goals at Parc Y Scarlets, Grainger insisted the level of performance must be continued when Wales visit Estonia in their next qualifier on Tuesday.

Sean Fitzpatrick is confident the Scarlets can turn their fortunes around under new head coach Dwayne Peel but has warned it won’t be a quick fix. The west Walians endured a difficult time last season with former coach Glenn Delaney parting ways with the club after failing to get results, despite having a strong squad at his disposal. The appointment of a new look coaching team headed up by Dwayne Peel, with Irish defence coach Hugh Hogan, and highly rated head of performance Nigel Ashley-Jones the other new additions excites All Blacks legend Fitzpatrick – now on the region’s board – but he urges Scarlets fans to be patient.

The Scarlets are set to bring Corey Baldwin back to Welsh rugby with the former Wales U20 star returning to Llanelli from Exeter Chiefs. Baldwin left the Scarlets for the Gallagher Premiership last season but the centre struggled for consistent game time at Sandy Park due to the strength of the Exeter squad. Before leaving the Scarlets the Llandeilo product was seen as one of the most promising prospects in the Welsh game, with Wales coach Wayne Pivac a big admirer.

Dwayne Peel has revealed how the opportunity to coach the Scarlets was too good to turn down and insists he is confident he can get the west Walians firing again. The former Wales scrum-half was recently appointed head coach of the Scarlets, having originally signed a contract to become backs coach at the Cardiff Blues. Peel’s decision to renege on his contract in the Welsh capital was met with outrage in some quarters, but he insists the opportunity to coach his home club was a chance he had to grab with both hands.

Jonathan Davies will lead Wales out against Argentina on Saturday in a game that should have been happening in South America, not Cardiff. But there are many who believe Davies is still in the wrong country and that he should be in South Africa, wearing the red of the Lions, not Wales. Harri Morgan says Davies has a chance to reinforce that view against the Pumas. Just shy of four years to the day since what was one of the iconic plays of the 2017 British and Irish Lions tour, Jonathan Davies set out to reel in an interceptor clad in a black jersey. Again.

Growing up as a football-mad River Plate supporter in the Argentinian city of Santiago del Estero, Tomas Lezana dreamed of a career with a round ball rather than an oval one. But now the Pumas flanker is a Test rugby star, and after helping his country to a famous win over the All Blacks last autumn Lezana is now set to embark on a new chapter of his career in west Wales with the Scarlets. “The rugby in the region I come from is not strong at all,” said the 27-year-old. 

Scarlets scrum-half Dane Blacker has been tipped to make his Wales debut this summer. The Pontypridd product is the Scarlets’ top try scorer this season and has made a major impression in Llanelli despite competing with current internationals Gareth Davies and Kieran Hardy for a place in the side. Interim Scarlets head coach Dai Flanagan believes Blacker a player Wayne Pivac should seriously consider for this summer’s Tests against Argentina (twice) and Canada at the Principality Stadium.

Hadleigh Parkes’ first season in Japan has seen him win the Six Nations bragging rights with team-mate George Kruis and move to within one game of a first Top League title. Now, only the ‘Golden One’ – his former Hurricanes colleague Beauden Barrett – stands between the ex-Wales centre and more silverware in the Far East. Parkes, now 33, won 29 caps for Wales but left the Scarlets and Welsh rugby last summer for a move to Japan with Panasonic Wild Knights where he plays alongside England’s Kruis.

It’s cup final week for two Welsh rugby players at different ends of their career spectrum and in two different hemispheres. On Friday night, the former Wales U18 and U20 captain Tommy Reffell hopes to help Leicester Tigers win the European Challenge Cup at Twickenham, while two days later the 2019 Grand Slam centre Hadleigh Parkes will aim to become the first Welsh player to win the Top League title in Japan. The 22-year-old Reffell has featured in three of the Tigers games in Europe this season and was a starter in the back row last weekend in the Premiership when they overcame Harlequins at Welford Road.