Rhys Patchell could have been forgiven for returning from Wales’s tour of the Americas last summer believing the season ahead would be one when his name might just end up in neon-lighting.
Instead, we’ve reached the point where his aforementioned moniker doesn’t even feature in the Scarlets’ matchday squad for a Guinness PRO14 game they have to win.
How has it come to this?
And how will Patchell’s ongoing challenges affect his bid to feature in Wales’ World Cup squad this autumn?
Ahead of the Scarlets’ match with Edinburgh in Llanelli on Saturday evening, MARK ORDERS investigates what’s been happening to the flame-haired fly-half...
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SUMMER SUCCESS
Some players caught the eye on Wales’ tour of the Americas last year.
Others fell back.
Patchell smashed it.
He smashed the tour to such effect that some felt he had overtaken Gareth Anscombe as Wales' first-choice fly-half.
With Dan Biggar settling at Northampton, the campaign ahead looked bright indeed for the Scarlet.
But the most dangerous time for a player can often be when everything is going well. That’s when fate can suddenly decide to turn nasty.
The No. 10's equilibrium was about to be disturbed.
INJURIES
No take on Patchell’s season can be complete without chronicling the injuries that have blighted it.
There were two worrying head knocks within the space of barely a month back in the autumn.
The first came against Ulster on the opening weekend of the season, leading to a two-game layoff.
The 25-year-old was into the third match of his comeback when he encountered more trouble, this time while attempting a tackle against the Ospreys in Llanelli.
Patchell returned to the field after passing a head injury assessment but suffered delayed concussion symptoms after the match.
A trip to Birmingham to see a specialist duly followed for a player who had been left seeing stars earlier in his career when clouted by a forearm from Nick Williams, who was then playing for Ulster against Cardiff Blues.
So heavy was that blow to the head that Patchell was hospitalised, lost 48 hours of memory and couldn’t even remember his team’s trip to Belfast.
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Understandably, then, there were anxieties after the two early-season bumps, with Warren Gatland even raising the possibility of an extended break from the game for the fly-half should he sustain a further such injury.
It didn’t come to that.
But Lady Luck jabbed a stiletto Patchell’s way once again over Christmas when he picked up a hamstring problem against the Ospreys.
FORM
It’s been patchier than a geography teacher’s jumper.
When Patchell has been good, he’s been very good, notably for Wales against Tonga when he came off the bench to inspire a 33-point surge in 18 minutes. His try that day was a collector’s item, seeing him throw a dummy from 60 metres out, beat the first line of defence then swerve past the remaining cover.
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He also quite looked the part operating at full-back against the Ospreys in Swansea in December, with his pace from deep and siege-gun boot causing the hosts no end of problems.
But the fact that he had been switched from No. 10 told a story.
Wayne Pivac had made the call to move Hadleigh Parkes from midfield to shore up an area that rival teams had been exploiting.
Explaining the decision, the New Zealander subsequently said: "He will be the first to admit it (defence) is a work-on in his game.
"Since he has had the last head injury it has been exposed a bit more.
"Rhys is out of the game for a bit now after picking up a hamstring injury which we have had scanned.
"So he will have time to get himself mentally and physically in the best shape possible.
"He will take a break from the game and hopefully come back in much better shape."
Hindsight suggests the stop-start nature of Patchell’s season hasn’t helped.
And he looked completely out of sorts against Cardiff Blues last time out, kicking the ball into his own scrum-half, having a clearance kick chased down and being brushed aside by Willis Halaholo in the build-up to Aled Summerhill's second try.
A LONG WAY FROM HIS BEST
It’s pretty much a long-haul flight from where Patchell was barely a year-and-a-half ago.
Then, not long after guiding the Scarlets to the PRO14 title with a series out outstanding displays, Patchell looked to have everything going for him.
His regional coach even likened him to the premier No. 10 in the world.
“He has a lot of Beauden Barrett in him for a start," said Pivac at the start of last season.
"But he's a better goal-kicker than Beauden Barrett.
“Rhys is pretty quick.
"For the modern-day 10, it depends what coaches want.
"While I'm at the Scarlets it's a running five-eighth (fly-half), who can cover the ground quickly, who can challenge defences, take the ball to the line, create space for the players outside him and doesn't cramp the outside backs.
"He has a nice passing game, a big boot and he's a big guy, so there's no reason why he can't knock guys over."
But, fair play to the Scarlets' head coach, he did recognise there was scope to for Patchell to improve his defence so it “gets up to the standard of international rugby and he knows that's a work-on".
WHAT NEXT
Patchell needs to regain confidence, especially when it comes to tackling.
Defence is a state of mind, backed up by good technique, and if the Scarlets can restore the Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf product’s belief in his ability to repel opposition ball carriers they will be on their way to having back the fly-half who displayed such excellence when they won the Guinness PRO14 title two years ago.
Before the Blues game there had been improvements.
He'd missed 15 tackles in his first five league matches of the season, including seven in one game against Connacht, but he returned clean defensive sheets in four Guinness PRO14 matches before slipping back in Cardiff.
But he needs to pick up quickly because there is a World Cup on the horizon and the Blues’ Jarrod Evans is staking a strong claim for the third fly-half spot behind Gareth Anscombe and Dan Biggar.
Patchell’s versatility and quality make him a potential asset to any coach.
But for a global tournament everything needs to be right.
How he responds in training and on the pitch over the remaining weeks of the season will tell us much.
