The Scarlets will begin their Heineken Champions Cup campaign against last year’s beaten finalists Racing 92 at Parc y Scarlets. Wayne Pivac has one last opportunity to add European silverware to the Guinness PRO12 title he won in 2017 before he takes over as Wales head coach after the World Cup. Their Pool 4 campaign begins on Saturday 13 October before a six day turnaround to face two-time champions Leicester Tigers.

Gethin Jenkins will dip his toe into the coaching pool next month when the Ospreys face the Scarlets in the Celtic Cup – the new shadow tournament for the Guinness Pro 14 designed primarily for under 23 players. The Cardiff Blues prop – Wales’ most capped player – will be the defence coach for the Blues’ youngsters. It’s a first venture into coaching for the Lions forward, who will be 38 in November, but still remains committed to at least one more season as a Blues player.

The Guinness Pro14 fixtures are out and with an August start date Robin Davey is already considering how the first weekend might shape up for the four regions after a long, hot summer. It’s been a blisteringly hot summer and the nation’s top rugby players have needed hosing down as they step up training for the new season which actually starts this month. The pre-season friendlies are about to get under way and pretty soon the heat will be turned on the regions and their leading players in what is the last season before the World Cup.

Most of Welsh rugby’s 2018-19 fixture list is out and dates in the diary have been ringed. What hasn’t happened, argues Geraint Powell, is any real attempt to fit the various tiers together so that it all makes sense. Nothing illustrates the disjointed nature of the regional tier of Welsh professional rugby more than the annual release of the Pro14 fixtures. Regional rugby is a complete package, always has been and always will be if you want to obtain most of the resource concentration synergies in relation to increased earning and more efficient expenditure. Tying everything together at the end is where the biggest benefits accrue.

The organisers of the brand new Superprix of Wales, which will take place at Parc y Scarlets next summer, are aiming to attract some of the biggest names in motorsport as they bring Formula 1, Le Mans, British Touring, Rallycross and World Rally cars to Llanelli in 2019. The motorsports extravaganza will run for three days, between 7-9 June, on a specially designed course that will see cars power around the perimeter and then through the middle of the stadium. It promises to be an action packaged, high-octane show, with demonstrations, exhibitions, displays, a motor show, trade stands and a food village – and an opportunity to view some of motorsport’s most iconic cars close up, and meet the star drivers.

There will be an explosive start to the Guinness PRO14 season when the reigning European Rugby Challenge Cup champions Cardiff Blues host the Champions Cup and PRO14 winners Leinster. The Friday night shoot-out at the Arms Park on 31 August will give new Blues coach John Mulvihill the toughest of starts, but with Leinster unlikely to have their leading Irish internationals available so early in the season it might be a slightly easier task than later in the campaign.

Wayne Pivac will be the new Warren Gatland, but who will step into Rob Howley’s shoes? Robin Davey says it should be Stephen Jones and believes the Wales coaching succession plan could have gone further. Even though the Welsh Rugby Union have rightly won universal praise for their forward planning in appointing Wayne Pivac as the next Wales coach, they have missed a trick. Why not go further and appoint Scarlets legend and Pivac’s lieutenant Stephen Jones as backs/attack coach at the same time?

Wales have decided on their new coach – the chameleon-like Wayne Pivac will take charge after the next World Cup. Graham Thomas looks at the man who adapts so well, he only gives his origins away through his accent. Wayne Pivac is the outsider who blends in so well it’s hard to recall a time when he wasn’t a local. Pivac will become the fourth New Zealander to coach Wales when he takes over from Warren Gatland in 15 months’ time.

Wayne Pivac will move to bring in Stephen Jones as his right-hand man for his four-year stint as Wales coach. The Scarlets chief was confirmed on Monday afternoon as the man to take over from Warren Gatland after next year’s World Cup. It’s a lengthy lead-in time for the 55-year-old New Zealander, but it will provide plenty of time for him to help negotiate a deal that will enable Jones to join him when he steps into Gatland’s shoes.

Wayne Pivac is poised to be confirmed as Warren Gatland’s successor as Wales coach. Pivac has been a long-standing favourite to take over from his fellow New Zealander after next year’s World Cup, having moved ahead of another Kiwi, Dave Rennie. But the Welsh Rugby Union have called a press conference for Monday afternoon, where it is anticipated Pivac will be unveiled as the man to replace Gatland in just over a year.

While the WRU are urging players to come home to Wales to maintain their international careers, the same policy is not being followed when it comes to coaches. Robin Davey, in his latest column for Dai Sport, questions why home-grown coaching talent is being frozen out. The Welsh Rugby Union and the Wales management are doing everything they can to encourage exiled players like George North to return to Wales, yet they appear to be scouring the earth for the next national coach.

Former Wales U20 captain Steff Hughes is backing the current team to defy the odds at the World Rugby Under 20 Championship. Wales start their campaign against Australia on Wednesday – with live coverage from France on S4C at 7.45pm – but they are also in the same group as New Zealand. Japan make up the quartet. Scarlets centre Hughes, who led the youngsters in 2013, believes it will be a tough assignment, but believes Geraint Lewis’s side can spring an upset.