Gareth Jenkins once looked ahead to a Llanelli v Swansea derby and came to the conclusion that the yardstick for top-flight Welsh rugby could be found in the west and south-west of Wales.
But the Scarlets are enduring a tough time this season and the Ospreys are not finding the going much easier.
Both lost at the weekend, while in the east Cardiff and the Dragons scored heartening victories.
We assess the winners and losers.
Read more: Scarlets' players told to step up and help 'lost' Dwayne Peel as things set to get worse
WINNERS
Rhys Priestland
It is more than 15 years since Rhys Priestland made his debut for the Scarlets in a pre-season friendly against Exeter Chiefs.
The English club were operating in England’s National League Division One at the time.
Much has happened since.
Never mind the Chiefs, who are now a force in English and European rugby, Priestland has also been through the whole gamut of rugby emotions and experiences.
But, at the age of 35, he is playing some of his best rugby.
For Cardiff on Saturday evening this most unassuming of players operated on a different level, guiding his team around the field with masterly game-control. At times, he resembled a playmaker in football, head up and thinking a split-second before others before unleashing a play to rip open the opposition defence. His kicks to set up tries for Theo Cabanago and Jason Harries were moments of skill even a casual rugby fan would happily have gone into the red to have witnessed. And Priestland repeatedly hit the target with his goal-kicking.
Stormers head coach John Dobson was mightily impressed, saying: “I thought he was absolutely sublime, just superb. That was right up there in terms of a tactical kicking display from a 10, no question. He was magnificent.”
Other players are flashier than the man from Carmarthen.
But not many No. 10s have sharper rugby intelligence or can match his ability to nurse a team through a game.
If Wales need him against New Zealand a week on Saturday, it’s hard to imagine him letting them down.
Overlooked players
Let’s start with Ross Moriarty.
He had been stacking up big tackle counts in adversity for the Dragons before the news came in that he wasn’t needed for Wales’ autumn series.
There was a perfect opportunity to prove a point against the Ospreys at Rodney Parade and Moriarty took it with both hands, clattering no end of visiting players and showing once again that not many do abrasiveness and whole-hearted commitment better in Welsh rugby than Paul Moriarty’s son.
His back-row colleagues Aaron Wainwright and Harrison Keddie joined him in repulsing the Ospreys’ effort. Every time a white-shirted player threatened to break through, one of them — or maybe two of them — seemed to pop up to haul him down.
Bradley Roberts, maybe the unluckiest player of all to miss out on a place in Pivac’s selection last week, also sent Wales’ head coach a message with the sort of ubiquitous display that’s becoming his hallmark. The hooker was into everything and then a bit more against the Ospreys.
Over at Cardiff, Rhys Carre and Thomas Young led those who seemed intent on showing Pivac he hadn’t got his selection completely right.
All of them did well to have responded so positively.
Injuries happen during campaigns and Pivac has shown in the past he is prepared to change his mind after leaving players out.
Cardiff’s spirit
Cardiff’s defensive operation took a panning after the team leaked 83 points over two games earlier in the season.
And there are still areas to work on, judging by the difficulties they had in stopping the Stormers’ driving lineout on Saturday evening.
But in other respects their defensive effort was superb, with the indefatigable Josh Turnbull once again to the fore and Thomas Young and James Botham also standing out.
A nod in the direction of the club’s defence chief Richard Hodges, then, after the aforementioned problems at the start of the campaign. Things have improved, and Cardiff are showing huge spirit in their general defensive game.
Also, Wayne Pivac will have been cheered by a notable contribution from Dillon Lewis, who worked tirelessly in all aspects, showing up well on both sides of the ball.
Rio Dyer
The Dragons’ speed machine looked dangerous every time he touched the ball against the Ospreys.
Amid all the injuries Wales have in the back three right now, we’ll call his two-try display more than a bit timely.
Dan Thomas
Yes, he gave away the odd penalty too many.
And, yes, his yellow card was costly.
But the Scarlets’ loan-signing from Bristol otherwise had a fine game against Connacht, winning turnovers and making important tackles.
For someone who’d only linked up with the squad days earlier, his was an excellent effort.
LOSERS
Wayne Pivac
How much sporting bad news can a man reasonably be expected to take?
His Wales squad already hammered by injuries, Wales head coach Wayne Pivac saw Ospreys hooker Dewi Lake sustain a shoulder injury that looked worrying against the Dragons, while George North, who had been bang in form, hurt a knee and Leigh Halfpenny pulled out of the Scarlets’ game with Connacht because of a tight hamstring.
When Wales’ players assembled on Monday they might have looked around their team hotel and noted who wasn’t there, like figures in an Agatha Christie murder mystery — who have we lost now?
If it’s any consolation to Pivac, Wales don’t seem the only ones who are being hit hard on that front right now, with England, South Africa and New Zealand all having issues with injured players.
But Wales do seem to have copped it badly.
A testing autumn has just been made more challenging.
Scarlets
Rewind to the early days of the 2016-17 season and the Scarlets had lost three games in a row and questions were being asked of Wayne Pivac.
By the end of the campaign, the west Wales region had won the Pro12 title playing a breathtaking brand of rugby.
No one should bank on a similar upturn this time as Scarlets try to battle through a difficult sequence of results and fixtures, but the quick reflection on history above underlines that challenging spells can be turned around.
Injuries and suspensions are crushing the Llanelli-based region, and, Ken Owens aside, they took the field against Connacht last Friday light on top-level experience in the front five. They also had a loan signing, Dan Thomas, playing in the back row and a wing, Steff Evans, operating in the centre.
Panicky moves at this stage wouldn’t guarantee a quick upturn.
Better, perhaps, to reassess the squad in the summer and look to support Dwayne Peel by bolstering areas that so obviously need strengthening.
The ex-scrum half was seen as a talented coach when he returned to the Scarlets from Ulster.
But through problems not all of his own making, he has endured a tough time since.
Even now, his team are just three points behind the Ospreys, who are 10th in the table.
Cool heads, then, are called for out west.
Teams endure difficult seasons. But coaches also deserve time to improve things.
Ospreys
Like their neighbours, they have started the season patchily, failing to make the most of opportunities and unable to win matches in which they had opportunities to prevail.
They played a lot of one-up rugby against the Dragons, leaving the ball-carrier easy prey for a determined home defence, and there were too few in their forward ranks who could consistently scatter would-be tacklers with powerful charges. They could also do worse than add a dot of creativity to their back play outside fly-half Jack Walsh.
A home game with Connacht minus their Wales players won’t be easy this weekend while away matches to follow against the Bulls and the Sharks will further test the depth of their squad.
All at the Llandarcy-based region are going to need to dig deep.
But the road ahead may not be smooth in the short term.
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