Having a Wales of a time

CARDIFF RUGBY

Founded: 1876

Stadium: Cardiff Arms Park (Capacity: 12 125)

Coach: Dai Young (Wal)

Captain: Ellis Jenkins (Wal)

Team Talk: Like all Welsh franchises, Cardiff are a regional rugby team that encompasses a large part of the border region and has 75 associate clubs attached to it.

They have never won the PRO Rugby title, but have managed to snaffle up the second tier European Rugby Challenge Cup title twice, the most recent in 2018.

SA Connection: Former - Pieter Muller, Andries Pretorius

Player to watch: Josh Adams

DRAGONS

Founded: 2003

Stadium: Rodney Parade, Newport (Capacity: 8 700)

Coach: Dean Ryan (Eng)

Captain: Rhodri Williams (Wal)

Team Talk: Located in the south-east corner of Wales, Dragons are arguably the least most successful Welsh outfit. They have never played in a PRO Rugby final, nor have they had any major success in continental competitions. Their best-placed finish in PRO Rugby was third in 2004, when the tournament was still decided by a league outcome.

SA Connection: Former - Rynard Landman, Brok Harris, Haldane Luscombe, Andy Marinos, Percy Montgomery.

Player to watch: Ross Moriarty

OSPREYS

Founded: 2003

Stadium: Liberty Stadium, Swansea (20827)

Coach: Toby Booth (Eng)

Captain: Justin Tipuric (Wal)

Team Talk: The most successful

Welsh franchise, Ospreys have won PRO Rugby titles four times; in 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2012. However, in recent years, they have failed to reach any such heights, and have been more often than not relegated to the mid-table.

SA Connection: Current - Tom Botha; Former - Stefan Terblanche, Brian Mujati, Ricky Januarie, JJ Engelbrecht, Marvin Orie

Player to watch: George North

SCARLETS

Founded: 2003

Stadium: Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli (Capacity: 14 870)

Coach: Dwayne Peel (Wal)

Captain: Ken Owens (Wal)

Team Talk: The biggest franchise by territory, Scarlets are also the most recent champions of PRO Rugby to come out of Wales.

They have won the title twice – in 2004 and 2017 – the latter year also being the season that they enjoyed their biggest success in European rugby, when they made the semi-finals of the European Rugby Champions Cup.

SA Connection: Former - Uzair Cassiem, DTH van der Merwe

Player to watch: Liam Williams