Welsh rugby resets and restarts after coronavirus
- Published
Dragons lost 37-25 against Benetton on 6 March, the last Pro14 match to be played in Wales before lockdown
After watching rugby return across the globe, the Pro14 is finally getting its turn to start the journey back to some sort of normality and complete the longest season on record.
Scarlets host Cardiff Blues on Saturday, Dragons travel to face Ospreys the following day.
It will be Welsh regional rugby but not quite as we know it. Games will be played behind closed doors with the sound of bone-on-bone collisions reverberating around empty stadiums.
Players will have their own water bottles and breaks are planned. Strange, certainly, but it is just nice to be back.
More than five months, or 169 days, will have passed since the last league game in Wales, when Dragons hosted Benetton on 6 March.
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With six rounds of the season since written off, two weeks of derbies on the last two weekends in August will take place in Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Italy, with South African duo Cheetahs and Southern Kings not in action.
The regional matches will be played at home grounds, although Cardiff Blues have switched their match against Ospreys on 30 August to Rodney Parade from the Arms Park, which is part of the Principality Stadium field hospital complex.
Finishing the season
The 2019-20 season will be completed over four weeks, with the final scheduled for 12 September. The semi-finals will be at Dublin's Aviva Stadium or Murrayfield in Edinburgh on 4/5/6 September.
Those finishing in the top two places in Conference A and B will contest the semi-finals.
The top three teams in Conference A are Leinster, Ulster and Glasgow Warriors and the top three in the other section are Edinburgh, Munster and Scarlets.
Defending champions Leinster are already guaranteed to finish top of Conference A as they hold an unassailable 18-point lead.
In Conference B, Edinburgh have a two-point advantage over Munster, who are also well-placed for a spot in the last four with an eight-point lead over Scarlets in third.
What are the Welsh teams playing for?
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In short, not much. Only Scarlets have a chance of making the semi-finals by overhauling Munster, but this will only occur with an unlikely set of results.
Scarlets and Dragons will have a couple of games to prepare for their European Challenge Cup quarter-finals against Toulon and Bristol respectively in mid-September.
In contrast, Ospreys and Cardiff Blues will have a five-week break between the upcoming derbies and the planned start of the 2020-21 season, on the first weekend of October.
Covid-19 challenges
There has been a lack of revenue coming in and the Welsh Rugby Union is still to attract the £20m loan it is seeking to help the regions survive.
The regions have endured financial challenges in the last few months, with training centres and grounds turned into institutions to help fight the pandemic.
Ospreys have been taken over by a sports marketing group, which has bought a 75.1% stake in the region.
Asian-based Y11 Sports & Media company has become Ospreys' major shareholder in a "multi-million pound deal", with chief executive James Davies-Yandle and his business partner and financier Donald Tang join as new directors.
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Ospreys have switched training to St Helen's in Swansea after their traditional Llandarcy home was turned into a field hospital.
Scarlets also had part of their complex turned into a field hospital, while there was a testing centre at Rodney Parade in Newport.
Cardiff Blues have been presented with the most upheaval, having been forced to move their training base to a local leisure centre with the Arms Park out of commission.
Once training resumed it was initially limited to groups of six, before recently progressing to full contact.
Players have had temperatures taken daily and been tested weekly, with new Dragons signing Jamie Roberts the only positive result, albeit with no symptoms showing.
Wales prop Dillon Lewis has his temperature taken ahead of Cardiff Blues training
Politics and payrolls
It would not be Welsh rugby without some political rows and the global pandemic has not changed that.
Players were placed on furlough while in April, the Professional Rugby Board (PRB) reached an agreement with the Welsh Rugby Players' Association (WRPA) over a three-month 25% salary cut.
The PRB runs the professional game in Wales and has members of the four regions and WRU on its board.
No long-term collective deal was reached so Dragons, Cardiff Blues, Ospreys and Scarlets were left to negotiate with their own squads over further reductions.
Dragons and Scarlets have agreed a 25% reduction in player salaries with their squads for the next 12 months.
There were a few eyebrows raised when WRU-owned Dragons announced the high-profile signing of Roberts when the other regions thought there was a recruitment freeze on.
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New beginnings
Two sides go into the restart with new head coaches, as Glenn Delaney and Toby Booth take the reins at Scarlets and Ospreys respectively.
Delaney has been promoted after fellow New Zealander Brad Mooar returned home to help coach the All Blacks, while two-time World Cup winning prop Ben Franks links up with the Scarlets coaching staff.
Booth starts his new job as Ospreys prepare to complete a miserable season in which the region have won only two of 18 games played.
A new attack coach, Brock James, has been appointed, while veteran former England fly-half Stephen Myler should offer some stability as cover for long-term injury casualty Gareth Anscombe.
Scarlets welcome new centres Johnny Williams and Tyler Morgan to help replace Japan-bound Hadleigh Parkes, while Cardiff Blues have signed Wales forwards Cory Hill and Rhys Carre.
Wales centres Jamie Roberts and Nick Tompkins in Dragons training
Dragons' recruitment is the most intriguing, with Roberts joined by Wales centre Nick Tompkins, who has signed on loan from Saracens.
Wales wing Jonah Holmes has also arrived and the region are chasing Greg Bateman and Will Rowlands for the start of the 2020-21 season.
Familiar faces return
There will also be the anticipated return of some star names after long-term injuries.
They do not come much bigger than British and Irish Lions centre Jonathan Davies, whose last game was for Wales against New Zealand in the World Cup in November 2019.
His younger brother James and fly-half Rhys Patchell are also due to return from injury while Liam Williams is yet to play after returning from Saracens.
Anscombe and Cardiff Blues flanker Ellis Jenkins remain on the sidelines, but Wales scrum-half Rhys Webb is back at Ospreys and will be determined to impress.
Rhys Webb has returned to Ospreys from Toulon via a short stint with Bath
Pro14 2019-20 fixtures
Friday, 21 August
Benetton v Zebre, Stadio Monigo, 19:00 BST
Saturday, 22 August
Scarlets v Cardiff Blues, Parc y Scarlets, 15:00 BST
Edinburgh v Glasgow, Murrayfield, 17:15 BST
Leinster v Munster, Aviva Stadium, 19:35 BST
Sunday, 23 August
Ospreys v Dragons, Liberty Stadium, 14:15 BST
Connacht v Ulster, Aviva Stadium, 16:30 BST
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Friday, 28 August
Glasgow v Edinburgh, Murrayfield, 19:35 BST
Saturday, 29 August
Dragons v Scarlets, Rodney Parade, 17:15 BST
Ulster v Leinster, Aviva Stadium, 19:35 BST
Sunday, 30 August
Munster v Connacht, Aviva Stadium, 15:00 BST
Cardiff Blues v Ospreys, Rodney Parade, 17:00 BST
Zebre v Benetton, Stadio Lanfranchi, 19:00 BST.