It appeared to have been a quiet few days, then came the announcement on Monday that Wales had a new rugby coach.
Well, a new-ish rugby coach.
Warren Gatland has done the job before, of course, but he’s back for a second stint with Wayne Pivac relieved of the role.
All change at the top for Wales then.
Read more: Warren Gatland completes stunning return to Welsh rugby
But the weekend saw defeats for Wales’ regions.
We take a look at the winners and losers.
WINNERS
Warren Gatland
Never go back? Gatland won’t be bothered by the old saying.
Being the single-minded individual that he is, he will just be looking forward as he starts his second stint as Wales head coach.
That said, he'll know as well as anyone how great the challenges will be.
For a start, he won't have Shaun Edwards by his side this time.
Also, a generation of top-quality Wales players are older with a number of them unlikely to go on much further than the next World Cup. Some have raised question marks over one or two of them even getting that far. Gatland will have to make calls on whether to stick with them through to the global tournament and whether to try to hurry through a new generation of players.
Despite the woeful state of Welsh rugby, there will still be expectations — there always are.
Realists will understand the scale of the job Gatland has taken on.
Welsh rugby's problems are wide ranging and deep and until they are properly sorted it will be hard for the national team to prosper.
But Gatland has a skill for getting the best out of players. He makes them believe in themselves and in his ability to take them forward. That matters. Hugely.
Time is short, however.
Welsh Rugby Players’ Association
There had been a mild expectation that a strongly worded statement, perhaps expressing no small degree of outrage and possibly involving both barrels being emptied, would have been released earlier amid the chaos at the top of Welsh rugby.
Players have been anxious for months, after all, about the impasse that has stopped the four professional sides from negotiating new contracts. The situation has led to damaging uncertainty, with plenty of those who take the field seriously concerned about not knowing whether they’ll have jobs for next season and beyond. “The boys are worried about injuries,” one told WalesOnline earlier in the season. “What happens if you’re out of contract in the summer and pick up a serious bump while all this is going on? There’s a risk you won’t get a new deal. How would those who are stopping fresh contracts being signed like to be in the situation we’re in?”
Scores of players in Wales are thought to be out of contract at the end of the season. Cardiff, alone, will see 40 percent of the squad heading for free-agents status.
Anyway, the Welsh Rugby Players Association have now spoken out. "As an association, our role is to represent and support our members, with player welfare of utmost priority,” ran a statement released on Sunday. “Daily discussions on this matter are taking place in all four regions and as time goes on, we are becoming increasingly concerned for the welfare and mental wellbeing of our members.
"For the sanity and health of our members, the delay cannot go on any longer. An agreement needs to be concluded by the Union and four regions imminently. We have participated diligently in the process but the calls for patience must be replaced with action. The WRPA is a voice representing the main asset in the game, the player, and to ensure a united, long-term future, this voice must be listened to."
How could anyone think otherwise?
Expecting players to put their bodies on the line in the absence of proper security for them and their families was always an outrage.
Those around the negotiating table have a duty to come up with a settlement that will resolve these matters sooner rather than later. The failure to do so over the past months has been, and continues to be, little short of appalling.
Jonah Holmes
The back-three man who left Welsh rugby in the summer is making a big impression in the English Championship, as many expected him to.
Earlier this term, he scored a hat-trick of tries inside the opening 20 minutes for Ealing Trailfinders against Nottingham and he was nominated for the division’s player of the month award for November.
He has been on top of his game for Ealing from the word go, with Trailfinders back rower Simon Uzoke so impressed by his new team-mate he wasted no time naming him in his dream team of players he’s played with or against. “We’re two games into a season and I reckon he’s beaten at least 15 defenders," he said amid the season's early knockings. "Unbelievable athlete and a lot of what he does seems effortless.”
Last weekend, again saw Holmes rated as man of the match when his table-topping club beat Cornish Pirates on the road.
When WalesOnline spoke with him in the autumn, he explained that the main driver for his move from the Dragons to Ealing had not been his dropping out of Welsh rugby’s elite 38-man squad but a desire to return to where he was raised and play for his local club.
It sounded almost too good to be true for Ealing.
But Holmes is delivering big-time for them, appearing a cut above in most games.
They are fortunate to have him.
Cardiff’s back row
Cardiff may have finished well beaten by the Bulls, but their back row of Josh Turnbull, Thomas Young and James Botham could be proud of their efforts.
There is a case for seeing Turnbull as one of Welsh rugby’s top value-for-money players over the past 20 years, one who hasn’t been called on much by Wales since he pitched up at the Arms Park from the Scarlets in 2014 but has performed with remarkable consistency for his club.
It’s hard to recall a game when he has gone missing in action and he always leads by example.
Young is having a superb season as well, while Botham excelled against the Bulls, pulling a couple of textbook turnovers out of the bag and piling up the tackles, with several of them dominant affairs.
Ultimately, power told and the Bulls finished worthy winners.
But the reputation of Cardiff’s breakaway trio wasn’t dented.
Neath and Pontypool
The pair are having some battle at the top of the Admiral Welsh Championship.
Neath are top by two points as they chase one of the two promotion spots available to the Indigo Welsh Premiership. They have played one more game than Pontypool, though, with Cross Keys nine points behind their Gwent rivals in third.
The Welsh All Blacks had to roll up their sleeves to get the job done at Ystrad Rhondda over the weekend. Two tries from hooker Sion Crocker and one apiece from wing Jonny Bayliss and No. 8 David Grigg helped see them home, but it was never easy against determined opponents who managed touchdowns from wings Alex Webber and Kurtis Williams and No. 8 Mason Roderick.
Pontypool’s pursuit of the front runners shows now sign of faltering, however.
They won 47-10 at mid-table Bedwas, with Ewan Rosser scoring a hat-trick of tries, to maintain their perfect start to the season: eight matches played, eight bonus-point wins recorded. They are averaging 49 points per game.
Their away match with Neath on February 18 will be worth watching.
LOSERS
Wayne Pivac
Amid rumours that he may be ousted as Labour leader back in the day, with plots unfolding left, right and centre, Harold Wilson famously addressed a May Day rally, before declaring: “I know what’s going on. I’m going on.”
If only it could have been that simple for Wayne Pivac as Wales rugby coach.
But time has run out for him. He’s not going on. Never was likely to be after defeat by Georgia.
At least the uncertainty is over.
His exit will doubtless be cushioned by a payoff for the remainder of his contract, but his ego will be bruised and he’ll have found the whole experience sobering.
A decent man, he conducted himself with dignity throughout his tenure but coaches are judged on results and three Wales wins in 12 games in 2022 meant he was always struggling to hold onto his job.
The hot seat is not known as such for nothing.
No yellow for swinging arm to face?
Some will criticise Jonathan Davies for confronting referee Ben Blain over the fairness of certain calls in the Scarlets’ defeat on the road against the Lions, and, yes, there is a case for feeling it might have been better had their conversation taken place behind closed doors.
But Davies is human and he had seen Sam Costelow yellow-carded for a relatively innocuous-looking seatbelt tackle while home flanker Darrien Landsberg stayed on the field despite catching Vaea Fifita with a swinging arm to the face, the hit forcing the Tonga international off with blood streaming from his nose.
A clearly vexed Davies said: “A guy gets his nose across his face.
“My players are not safe when there are shots like that.
“Our 10 got sin-binned — right, a little hit on the side of the neck like that.
“Our guy’s nose across his face. The safety of my players is at risk.
“It's not fair. It's not fair.”
Blain had earlier told Davies: “There can be contact to the head and not be foul play. “Not all contact to the head is foul play.”
Blain could also point to Fifita lowering his body position in contact but it still looked a questionable call.
Davies’ frustration was understandable.
Regions
Pretty much every Welsh side played with spirit in South Africa over the weekend.
The Ospreys were not much depleted as ravaged by illness, injuries and unavailabilities, yet they made a fight of it against the Sharks. It was a gutsy effort in the face of huge adversity.
The Dragons also stayed in the game against the Stormers, while Cardiff gave a strong account of themselves in the opening half against the Bulls, with the Scarlets having their moments against the Lions — had they been more clinical they would have got closer.
But, ultimately, there were four defeats for the tourists.
In a perfect world they would have been able to head out to South Africa with full-strength squads, but the structure of the season is a mess and many supporters have long given up hope over it ever being fixed.
The losses will give further ammunition to those who have no time for the regions.
But, really, it was hard to expect anything else given the odds that were stacked against them.
READ MORE:
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- Shane Williams says Wales' 60-cap rule past its sell-by date amid mounting calls for change so best players can be picked
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