This has been anything but a vintage season for any of the four Welsh professional sides.
As we head towards the end of the season, all four sit in the bottom half of the United Rugby Championship. In fact, with the national team's chickens coming home to roost after papering over the cracks in Welsh rugby for too long, it's been something of a season horribilis for the game in this country.
So, it's little wonder that apathy grows and grows among supporters. All too often, fans are contemplating whether to put up with another season of misery.
That's the case at the Dragons, who, with just one win all season, are on track for their worst ever season. Things aren't much better elsewhere, with Cardiff one place above them in 14th while the Scarlets and Ospreys are ninth and 11th respectively.
Granted, there's games in hand at play thanks to Covid disruptions, but the odds aren't exactly in favour of any of the Welsh sides reaching the play-offs. Throw in the sheer number of times any Welsh side has conceded 40 points or more and it's pretty miserable.
Quick fixes aren't obvious anywhere, with Cardiff being no different. If any fanbase is getting frustrated with how things are playing out, it's at the Arms Park.
Back-to-back derby defeats against the Scarlets, both characterised by conceding a heavy number of points, has many pondering what the point of it all is. Steve Coombs wrote a strong piece for the Supporters' Trust calling recent displays "appalling" and "shameful". Another fan, Dan Pearce, called for "a root and branch review" on his blog, Cardiff Rugby Life.
They are simple echoing what most fans are thinking. Bar the odd high, it's been a chastening season for Cardiff and the worst part is that a clearly defined path out of the current mire simply isn't there.
Some of that is down to specific reasons at the Arms Park. Some of it is the issues that beset the whole of the professional game in Wales.
But the end result is simple. Per game this season, they've conceded an average of 30.8 points. In the league, only basement side Zebre have a worse lineout than them.
A leaking defence and a malfunctioning lineout don't tend to be the cornerstones of good sides. Is it any wonder then that Dai Young has been trying his damnedest to make the squad his own?
Since he took over from John Mulvihill at the start of 2021, much of the squad he inherited remains. The wheels of change have turned slowly at best and, more often than not, ground to an utter halt.
Now, there are mitigating factors, of course. The Welsh sides are rarely helped by the calamitous situation in this country, with the burden of repaying a loan taken out to compensate them for services provided to the Welsh Rugby Union hanging around their necks like an albatross for most of the pandemic.
Even now, the budgets for next season are unclear. It's April and that's still the case. To call it hardly conducive to effective recruitment is an understatement of epic proportions.
Funnily enough, as an aside, the Welsh Rugby Union's strategy - published five years - had a section called the 'virtuous circle'. It read as follows: 1) Secure the best players and coaches in a high performance environment; 2) Achieve success in the best competitions; 3) Attract more supporters, more often; 4) Secure higher value sponsorship and investment; 5) Re-invest in the game; 6) Attract, grow and retain potential talent as players, coaches and on committee.
If you're being honest, Welsh rugby in recent years has struggled to get beyond the first point of this cycle. You can only wonder whether the current hierarchy at the Welsh Rugby Union tries to follow this 'virtuous cycle'.
Ironically, around the time this was published, Cardiff had addressed the glaring issues in their side - the lack of a non-Welsh qualified second-row to provide consistent ballast to their pack. However, the move for Franco van der Merwe fell through amid talk the region needed to trim their wage budget.
Since then, that hole hasn't really been addressed by Cardiff. It's undoubtedly needed - just look at the impact players like Sam Lousi and Sione Kalamafoni have had for the Scarlets, particularly on the weekend - but it's unlikely to happen soon.
Because when you throw in the fact that many of the Cardiff squad are contracted beyond the end of this season in return for taking a pay cut during the pandemic, it means shaping the squad is even trickier. In fact, it's clearly tied Young's hands considerably.
He's spoken about some players needing more convincing than others when it comes to getting onboard with what they're trying to do. Last week, after the first derby defeat to the Scarlets, he fired a warning shot across the bows of many - saying they were playing for their futures.
However, neither the carrot or the stick has worked to date. Despite a lively start, they capitulated in conceding nearly a half-century of points without answer at home.
Not exactly the response you'd want to handing the players a final warning of sorts. The concerning thing is, bar a couple of Welsh internationals coming in next season, there's hardly going to be any changes at the Arms Park.
It'll likely be the same coaches and the same players doing the same thing. Can that really continue?
Of course, some of the blame must be put on Young's shoulders. The fact they've not won away from home all season is as much a coaching issue as a culture or attitude one.
Is his coaching ticket the best one for the job either? That's a fair question to be asked.
But right now, the situation is a concerning one. It's evident from the reaction of the fans and Young's own quotes that there's a lot of players in that squad who are not up to standard.
The reality is they're probably Welsh-qualified players who sit somewhere below the Test game and, based on the comments and accusations at least, are all too comfortable with that. However, Welsh rugby as it is isn't exactly a system that fairly rewards filling your squad with Welsh players who have come through the pathway.
But, all the factors above mean that balancing the squad with non-Welsh qualified players isn't a possibility until the 2023/24 season. Nor is moving on the players that clearly aren't in Young's plans.
As mentioned before, there have been highs this season. Home wins against Leinster and Glasgow felt like big victories for the squad, while the way the academy kids and club players stepped in for big European games when most of the senior players were isolating put a smile on the faces of all fans.
Capturing that spirit of Toulouse and Harlequins is what fans want again before they start voting with their feet. However, those were exceptional circumstances and you can't just replicate them in a bid to replicate the warm, fuzzy feelings they produced.
What is clear though is that changes need to be made, whether that's bringing through more academy products to inject some youth into the side or even exploring the possibility of paying people out of contracts. Otherwise, it's going to be the same story next season.
