Warren Gatland has named his Six Nations squad and will have fingers crossed this weekend as his players go into battle in Europe. Geraint Powell believes the squad reflects the impact of four key issues. The selection of any Welsh Test squad is always instructive of many of the key issues in Welsh rugby and the announcement this week of the 2018 Six Nations squad was no different. It was an extended squad of 39 players, given the current list of short-term injuries. There are four themes of particular note.

Tadhg Beirne admits he will find it hard to say goodbye to the Scarlets at the end of the season – but he has no regrets over his decision. The Irish second row forward will join Munster this summer in a bid to realise his international ambitions – leaving a team who are setting Europe ablaze at present and in which he has become one of their key ignition points. In less than two seasons at Pace Y Scarlets, the 26-year-old has become something of a folk hero, vowing fans with his work rate and handling skills, not to mention the outrageous side-step that bewildered England and Lions wing Anthony Watson at Bath last week.

Wales included two new faces in the Six Nations squad announced this week by Warren Gatland. But it’s a new approach, bolder and more adventurous, and Scarlets-based, that Robin Davey is looking for this year. The Scarlets way or the highway. That has to be the Wales mantra as they close in on the Six Nations tournament for which they are rank outsiders. They are rated at 15-1 to be title winners by the bookies, which seems fair after a less than inspiring autumn series compounded by a number of injuries which forced coach Warren Gatland to name an enlarged 39-man squad in order to cover all eventualities.

Gareth Davies has admitted players have to be “squeaky clean” as his Scarlets side prepare to face a Toulon team likely to be without France star Mathieu Bastareaud. Powerhouse centre Bastareaud faces a lengthy ban when he appears before an ERC disciplinary panel on Wednesday after making a homophobic remark to an opponent during his club’s win over Benetton Treviso last Sunday. If found guilty then the Toulon player is set to miss his club’s European Champions Cup showdown against the Scarlets on Saturday and could be absent for a chunk of the Six Nations.

Coach Rowland Phillips has picked 10 uncapped players in his Wales Women Six Nations squad. Phillips has named the new faces as part of a squad of 36 with potential debutantes among forwards and backs. The new players are Ospreys trio Natalia John, Amy Thomas and Cara Hope, Scarlets’ Beth Lewis and Cardiff Blues’ Awen Prysorin the forwards; Ospreys’ Alecs Donovan, Cardiff Blues’ Hannah Bluck, and Scarlets trio Jade Knight, Lisa Neumann and Angharad De Smet among the backs.  

Scarlets coach Wayne Pivac expects his region to dominate the Wales squad for the Six Nations when it is announced on Tuesday morning at 11am. Warren Gatland is expected to name 37 players for the tournament and Pivac believes almost half of them could come from Parc Y Scarlets. That representation in the national squad could be swelled further next season if George North opts to return to Llanelli from Northampton, with Pivac having confirmed he has held talks with the Lions wing over his national dual contract location.

Scarlet fever is set to sweep Wales this week and threaten to dump three time champions RC Toulon out of the Champions Cup on Saturday. With more than half of the 14,500 capacity at Parc Y Scarlets already sold, the Guinness PRO12 champions are confident they can break their European record gate of 13,183 against Munster in 2011 as they seek to reach the knock-out stages for the first time in 11 years. The maths are simple for head coach Wayne Pivac – reverse the 21-20 defeat at Stade Felix Mayol in round one and they are through the quarter-finals. Having pasted Bath 35-17 with four thrilling tries on Friday night, they will go into the game full of confidence.

Wayne Pivac paid tribute to his scintillating Scarlets after they tore Bath apart to put themselves close to the knockout stages of the European Champions Cup. Pivac watched his team win 35-17 at The Rec on Friday night with a display as impressive as anything a Welsh region has produced for over a decade in Europe. The Scarlets scored four tries in a rampaging exhibition of flowing rugby to deliver a bonus point and put them top of Pool Five.

Stephen Jones has been firing the Scarlets’ imaginations this week as they bid to follow the trail he blazed 16 years ago. Back in 2002, Llanelli knocked Bath out the Heineken Cup at the English club’s own home thanks to a commanding display and a deadly points surge inspired by their former No.10. A few things have changed since then. Llanelli are now the Scarlets, the Heineken Cup has lost sponsorship and is merely the European Champions Cup, and Jones is these days assistant coach at the region rather than the fulcrum who kicked eight penalties and a drop goal in a 27-10 victory on a rain-swept day at the Rec.

Bernard Jackman has vowed his Dragons will never again be as desperately poor as they were in defeat to the Scarlets on Friday night. Jackman saw his low quality side thumped 47-13 by the Guinness Pro14 champions in a match that only illustrated the gulf in standards between Wales’s leading region and their worst. The Scarlets scored seven tries, could easily have reached double figures, and left the field mildly irritated with themselves for conceding one late score to a team that barely deserved even that meagre reward.

Wales prop Samson Lee returns to action for the Scarlets on Friday in the Welsh Guinness Pro14 derby clash against the Dragons at Parc y Scarlets. Lee’s last appearance came in the European Rugby Champions Cup clash against Bath Rugby in October and he been sidelined since with an Achilles tendon injury. He is one of 11 changes to the Scarlets side that secured victory over Cardiff Blues at the Arms Park on New Year’s Eve. Coach Wayne Pivac has named a fresh front row for the derby clash with Rob Evans and Ken Owens also making a return to the starting XV.

Dragons coach Bernard Jackman has likened 18-year-old Taine Basham to Justin Tipuric as the teenager prepares to make his debut against the Scarlets in Friday night. Basham will be handed a testing first appearance against the Guinness Pro14 champions in Llanelli as the visitors continue to deal with a lengthy injury list. But the Wales U18s forward – who has been playing for Cross Keys in the Principality Premiership for most of the season – has been backed by Jackman to handle his step up.