The Irish Times' Gerry Thornley finds the Welsh clubs in bullish form ahead of the new Magners League season.
"Welcome to another season then, or as the Magners League perhaps ought to put it, ‘Benvenuto’. As the League enters its tenth year, expansion is the theme, the advent of two new Italian sides broadening the league’s Celtic remit. Cue more games (42 of them to be exact), more matches on free-to-air television, more travel, more expenses and more demands. More than ever before, it would seem, only the strongest will survive.
"There were signs last season that there has been a shifting of the sands anyway. The bookies, as they did a year ago, have established an elite quartet whom they place as firm favourites to reach the top four. Glasgow elbowed their way into that select group, but unlike a year ago, it is the two powerful Welsh regions, the Ospreys and the Cardiff Blues, rather than Leinster and Munster, who are hogging the silverware, courtesy of their respective Magners League and Amlin Challenge Cup successes.
"The Welsh, as is their wont, are not innately modest when it comes to their exploits on rugby fields, and the Cardiff coach Dai Young was quite chipper on their behalf earlier in the week. “I think the Welsh challenge will be a strong one. If you look around then all of us have improved our squads on last year. So I think we will be major challengers again.”
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