Anyone here play rugby...?

Another October, another procession of Welsh crocks. Yet again, Wales will take on "the Best in the World" this autumn without the services of many of the best in Wales. Ryan Jones, Jamie Roberts and Lee Byrne represent the "spine" of the Welsh team in more than a metaphorical sense. With wing Leigh Halfpenny joining the sick list, any semblance of full-strength is gone. For strike runners, Wales will have to look to players such as Chris Czekaj, Will Harries and Aled Brew; fine prospects all, but a sparse handful of caps and a fair few seasons of international neglect between them. They will, quite rightly, see the autumn series as a marvellous opportunity. Unfortunately, Wales' opponents will have reason to feel the same.

Not that the usual suspects were in the finest of fettle before the gremlins came a-calling. Mixed results in the early Heineken Cup rounds were followed by disastrously flat performances in the Magners League by the Ospreys and the Cardiff Blues. Only the Scarlets in the Welsh squad have anything to be proud of... and it's not much.

There has been noticeably less talk from the coaches this year about "finding out where we are", and that's a small mercy. That mantra has rung increasingly hollow as we endure annual confirmation of our perpetual inferiority. We know where we are by now; the trick lies in doing something about it. Whether these "friendlies" really help squad development is a moot point, especially considering the effect on morale of regular home defeats. But they're not going to go away, so perhaps it is better, in the long term, to play them with inexperienced or fringe players? Either to enhance the depth of squad experience or - forgive the cynicism - to spread the pain a little more thinly?

12,437 Reasons to be Cheerful

At last, a decent-sized crowd at the Liberty Stadium on Friday night, to watch the Ospreys take on London Irish in the Heineken Cup. What they got for their efforts was not a classic, but it was worth the money nonetheless.

In truth, the féted Aviva Premiership leaders brought precious little to the party, beyond a laudable attacking mindset. The home defence has withstood far more robust challenges, and - the irritatingly familiar interception try excepted - never looked like being breached. In attack, though, the Ospreys were again lethargic and laboured, all the more frustrating when thrown into relief by moments of brilliance. Shane Williams' roof-raising solo score was actually only his second most impressive break of the night, while James Hook's release of an angled Tommy Bowe in the opening minutes carried the whiff of sorcery.

Brief moments of inspiration perhaps, but they were more than enough to see off an oddly out-of-sorts opposition. Irish fly-half Ryan Lamb missed a succession of routine kicks at goal which could have kept his side in the hunt, and despite their relief, home fans saw a chilling echo of the failure of Dan Biggar at Toulon the previous week. For his part, Biggar had gone a long way to repairing his damaged reputation in the first half, before being forced off early in the second. Some hearteningly broad shoulders in evidence, there.

(PLUG ALERT!!! All of this was documented by the Twitter feed @ospreyslive , active for all Ospreys home games this season.)

Due to the annoyance of the bonus point system (I'll spare you that rant) the Ospreys are already behind Munster in the group table. With a parsimonious defence but a profligate attack, it's difficult to see where subsequent bonus points are going to come from. But, with the English Top Guns ably spiked, confidence shouldn't be a problem now.