By Sportin Wales Co-Founder and Wales International Alex Cuthbert

The rugby season is back this month and so is the United Rugby Championship.

A lot of people are pretty down on the URC, but I look at the teams in the competition and there are no easy games throughout the league.

Whether you are having to travel to South Africa, or Dublin and Munster, the format of the league makes it the toughest league behind the Top 14 in France.

Ahead of this season, I think my feeling is that we’ve got to be optimistic but also realistic about the Welsh regions.

My old team, Ospreys, had a good season last year making the playoffs and a Challenge Cup quarter final is a good place to build from.

They relied heavily on forward power and therefore I think losing Nicky Smith is a big one for them. They’ve got young boys coming through such as Garryn Phillips who I think will have a bigger role this season.

It’s easy to forget that they had a lot of injuries at the back end of last season. Players like James Fender, Adam Beard, and Rhys Davies in the second row in particular will be massive to have back.

I don’t expect Toby Booth to change much in terms of how they play their rugby. I like the signings of Kieran Hardy and Phil Cokanasiga, they add depth in important positions.

They’re quite light in the back three so Daniel Kasende coming in is big.

Playing at Brewery Field a bit more adds that extra element and a first home game there against Stormers will be a great occasion.

With Cardiff, I think they will improve because of the experience a lot of their young lads had last season.

If you look at the table last season, they picked up 10 losing bonus points. A lot of those were down to squad depth and the inexperience from last season.

Injuries hit them hard too. They missed Tomos Williams, who is now gone, but also Taulupe Faletau and Josh Adams too which is a lot of international know-how.

Matt Sherratt or ‘Jockey’ has got them playing a great brand of rugby and the Arms Park is sold out most games so I hope that factor can bring them more wins this season.

I like the signings of Josh McNally from Bath and Aled Davies from Saracens. McNally will bring the physical presence they need, and Davies is a great get to cover for Williams at scrumhalf.

The problem I think they have is Warren Gatland will want Ben Thomas to play at 10 when they have Tinus de Beer and new signing Callum Sheedy.

For Cardiff though, a 10-12-13 of de Beer, Thomas, and Mason Grady looks to be exactly what Jockey wants in terms of his style.

With all four Welsh sides in the Challenge Cup this season, I expect Ospreys and Cardiff to target that competition.

Ospreys showed what good having some European wins can do to adding momentum to the URC campaign. While I was at Cardiff, the Challenge Cup was always one we targeted, especially against the weaker French teams to want to play a bit more.

As for Scarlets, I am worried that they are going to really struggle.

I love their brand of rugby and the way Dwayne Peel has got them playing at times, but they were so open defensively last season.

You add the fact that they’ve lost so much experience, with Jonathan Davies, Scott Williams, Wyn Jones, Kieran Hardy leaving or retiring over the summer.

They struggled badly in the scrum last year so signing Henry Thomas and Alec Hepburn, who I know well from Exeter Chiefs, should see an improvement in that area.

They need a good start and build some momentum quickly.

Talking of good starts, Dragons with Ospreys at Rodney Parade first game, hopefully they can start well and win that.

I am looking forward to seeing something positive from Dragons this season as we always try to build them up and then they lose too many games. I am going to be patient before saying ‘Dragons will be better this year’ because they often are not.

That said, Dai Flanagan has had a full pre-season with his squad and Ospreys at home first – a game they won last year – should provide them with a chance to get off to a good start.

I hope that Welsh rugby as a whole can have a more positive season than last. We’ve had all that negativity over the last 18 months, and I think everyone’s had enough.

That said, Welsh rugby fans are realistic about where the regions are in terms of competing with other, richer teams and planning for the longer term with some short-term pain will benefit everyone.

Getting behind the regions, good crowds for home games, playing some good rugby, all that will help Welsh rugby raise itself a little bit.

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