LONG READ Josh Macleod: Scarlets captain 'cracking on' as D-day looms for his region

It is Welsh derby time with three rounds of the inter-regional squabbles over the festive period.

Superficially, they come at a good moment with the regions enjoying three wins out of four in Europe last weekend. Maybe not all is broken in Welsh rugby after all? Except that would be to paper over the grim reality one of the four will shortly cease to exist.

The WRU’s announcement last month they will only fund three regions – one in the east, one central and one in the west – from June 2027 has left Ospreys and Scarlets fans alike wondering what their future holds.

Will they merge? Will one just go bang? The regions are supposed to come up with a way forward within the next fortnight or have one imposed on them from above. It is a highly unstable backdrop heading into Christmas. The uncertainty leaves their squads living the shakiest of existences.

“Shaky is a nice descriptive word,” said Scarlets captain Josh Macleod, drily.

“As players a lot of these decisions are out of our hands. For the time being, we’re all just cracking on. Obviously it’s not ideal but we just do our best. Keep turning up to train and play as well as we can and whatever the future holds, it holds.

“It’s not easy but as you get older it gets easier. You have a little bit more life experience under your belt you are able to adapt and deal with whatever life throws at you, I guess.

“For some of the less experienced guys it might be a little bit harder but it’s up to us to take a lot of the burden on and make sure the younger guys and the squad are alright.”

For Macleod, 29, the abnormal has almost become normal over his career with speculation over the road ahead for Welsh rugby the ever-present background noise. Now it is coming to a head, he is putting a brave face on but it isn’t easy.

He has an exotic backstory. Born to an English mum Emma in Monte Carlo where his father Donny, an Outer Hebrides fisherman, had moved to skipper yachts, he pitched up in Pembrokeshire as a five-year-old. But having come through the Scarlets academy, he is part of the furniture and it is a team and a region that means everything to him.

Money makes the world go around, unfortunately. It makes professional sport tick as well. You see it in football, you see it in rugby.

Leading the Scarlets in their Champions Cup campaign over the past fortnight with the Welsh returning to the competition after no regions qualified in 2024/25 has been a source of pride. They were desperately close to taking a Prem scalp in going down by a point to Bristol on the opening weekend before, predictably, being swept away by holders Bordeaux-Begles in France last weekend. Pau and Northampton follow next month.

“I’m a realist,” said Macleod. “We haven’t got the squad depth other teams have but we’ve got a lot of heart and we’ve got a lot of fight. If our first team is available and fully fit and vibrant we can compete with the best of them on our good days.

“The group isn’t exactly the easiest but as professional rugby players we want to go toe to toe with the best – and we’re not far off that with two of the finalists from last year in our group so it’s an exciting challenge.

“Our aim is to compete in the Champions Cup. If a team comes off the field knowing that they’ve been in a game, regardless of the result, then that is a result for us.”

The likes of Bordeaux, however, are operating in another league.

“Money makes the world go around, unfortunately. It makes professional sport tick as well. You see it in football, you see it in rugby as well,” said Macleod.

“You know more often than not the teams that are at the tail end of these competitions competing have the highest, or one of the highest, budgets and that’s just the reality.”

Financing each region properly is part of the reasoning behind the streamlining in Wales. The new WRU plan has each of the survivors receiving £6.4m from central funding per season to start with, rising to £7.8m.

For the time being though they have to get by on pauper’s rations compared to their English neighbours and the Top 14 clubs. No wonder, what with the financial imbalance and uncertainty, Ospreys stars Jac Morgan and Dewi Lake have agreed to join Gloucester next season.

For the new Wales head coach Steve Tandy, the daily churn must be destabilising. His first autumn in charge did feature a win – against Japan – and a promising performance in defeat against New Zealand but the humiliating 73-0 savaging by South Africa without his non-Wales-based players threw a bucket of cold water over the campaign.

Macleod, who played in both Tests on the summer tour to Japan, missed the autumn with a torn pectoral muscle. His observations watching on – and hearing from teammates who were involved – were that Tandy has at least managed to lift the gloom enveloping the national squad. Or had anyway until that Springboks game.

“Everything I heard from camp was that the boys are really starting to love being there again which is part of the battle. You’ve got to enjoy the environment you’re in and everything I heard was positive on that note.

“I’ve seen a few green shoots appear over the autumn – after 50-60 minutes in the New Zealand game, no-one had Wales at 24-21 did they? If that’s not something to build off I’m not entirely sure what is.

“Obviously it’s ups and downs but I’ve got a lot of faith that this will be a young, aspiring team with big aspirations moving forward. Hopefully Six Nations time will start the show.”

The upcoming URC derbies will help shape Tandy’s selection for the championship. It may not be the same next season but for the moment the bulk of the Wales squad is based in Wales.

Macleod’s Scarlets are at Cardiff on Friday and the Dragons on New Year’s Day. In between they entertain Ospreys on Boxing Day. That is the festive fixture which draws the eye. Sadly, it is one which could soon be consigned to history, a rugby match destined – in the name of progress – to become a Christmas ghost story.