Danny Wilson is leaving Cardiff Blues at the end of the season and Robin Davey is less than surprised at a “yo-yo” region where coaches are either on the up  . . . or the way down. The downbeat feel extends to the Ospreys and the Dragons, too, but at least he sees the Scarlets continuing to set the standards.

 

The new rugby season is only a month old but already it’s a tale of woe for three of the Welsh regions with little prospect of things getting any better soon.

Cardiff Blues, the Ospreys and the Dragons are all having their problems, though the Scarlets are an honourable exception having got their campaign off to a pretty effective start.

For once the Dragons are not hogging the gloom and doo

m spotlight, though they are having a pretty good go of it with just one win from four and dogged by a huge injury list even by today’s standards.

Cardiff Blues endured a summer of torment brought about by financial cutbacks, highlighted by the phantom signing of Springbok lock Franco van der Merwe, who was actually released without playing a game and headed for London Irish instead amid considerable embarrassment.

The start of the new Guinness Pro 14 sees them languishing at the foot of the Conference A table – along with the equally hapless Ospreys – and appearing to be heading nowhere fast.

And now they have been hit by the decision of head coach Danny Wilson to leave at the end of the season, refusing to take up a contract extension.

He is said to have told the board and players he’s leaving after meetings over budgetary and structural discussions, clearly dissatisfied with the lack of any forward thinking and the imposition of tight financial restrictions.

Where the Blues go from here is anyone’s guess. Wilson has to try to motivate the players who know their main man is quitting while he would only be human if he now had his mind – at least, partially – elsewhere. Will he even see the season out?

The region has been like the proverbial yo-yo with its coaches since the departure of Dai Young, going from New Zealander Mark Hammett, to Justin Burnell and Gareth Baber, to Phil Davies, to Dale McIntosh and Paul John, back to Hammett, back to McIntosh and John and finally to Wilson.

Now they have to start all over again and find a replacement for a job which ought to be one of the most sought after in the game. The reality, though, is likely to be a short queue of interested and capable contenders.

The Ospreys have suffered a decline which has got many of their fans reacting furiously on social media, with plenty calling for the head of coach Steve Tandy.

That’s after a very disappointing start to the league season which has seen them beaten by Glasgow, Munster and Benetton Treviso (not for the first time) while their only success came via an unimpressive win against lowly Zebre when they failed to secure a bonus point.

On top of that one of their leading players, Dan Biggar, is upping sticks and heading for Northampton next season – also a possible destination for Danny Wilson as their forwards coach.

The Ospreys are usually at or near the top of the league table, but they’re now propping up the foot of their conference along with the Blues in a rapid reversal of fortunes, even if the signs were there at the back end of last season when they fell away badly.

The return of talisman Alun Wyn Jones could well have a galvanising effect, but this time it feels as though it will take more than that to put them on the road to a real recovery.

The Dragons are hardly newcomers to adversity, having propped up the old Pro 12 table virtually every year since its inception, last season even finishing below Zebre.

They have carried on in the same vein this season, losing three of their four league matches while conceding a massive 134 points in the process after falling to some hefty pre-season defeats as well.

Thanks to the discomfort of the Blues and the Ospreys they aren’t having it all their own way this season though. And there are extenuating circumstances with new coaches in situ, especially head honcho Bernard Jackman who is aiming to find a new way with new systems both in attack and defence.

It will be a slow process as Jackman tries to bed in a new style, assess the strength, or lack of it, of his squad before activating some valuable recruitment next year.

In addition, the Dragons have suffered an alarming run of injuries with Zane Kirchner, Sam Beard and Harri Keddie all out for months after undergoing operations, Nic Cudd missing for most, if not all, of last season, ex-captain Lewis Evans still absent with an Achilles injury and a number of lesser injuries as well. Right now they are down to three fit senior back rowers in Ollie Griffiths, James Benjamin and James Thomas.

They haven’t been helped by harmful comments from Martyn Williams, suggesting Griffiths might be better off leaving if he wants to advance his Wales claims, while ex-Ireland flanker Andy Ward claimed they were less than a professional outfit after their hammering by Ulster last week.

Jackman decided to rest senior players for that one, probably concentrating his efforts on trying to follow up their win against Connacht with another at Rodney Parade against Southern Kings on Saturday night.

He was, in part, forced to throw in a load of youngsters in view of the injury list and the lack of squad depth.

But at least the signs are encouraging for the Dragons, unlike at the Blues and Ospreys. The WRU have chosen to back them, investing £5.5m in buying the ground, providing a new pitch and surrounds, plus major ground improvements.

There’s no doubt Jackman will recruit pretty heavily in the new year, supported by wealthy newly-installed chairman David Buttress, a man of Gwent, and a new board as well which will be appointed in the near future.

As for the Scarlets, they do provide one ray of light at least. Having won the Pro 12 last season, providing a dazzling exhibition of rugby late on in particular, they have carried on where they left off, winning three of their four league games, their only defeat a narrow one at the hands of table topping Ulster at the Kingspan Stadium.

They have continued to play some free flowing rugby under the stewardship of Wayne Pivac and Stephen Jones, while the efforts of defence coach Byron Hayward shouldn’t be ignored, either.

They lie second in the Conference B table with every prospect of challenging for the new Pro 14 title, though one blot on the horizon is the likely loss of Tadgh Byrne, heading back across the Irish Sea in an effort to win international honours.

But, on the whole, there is little for Welsh fans to cheer. With Europe looming the regions, or three of them, need to get their act together very quickly.