And still the scrums make the headlines. Richard Cockerill is not an easy man to quieten. Last week he emerged from the English pre-season to attack the IRB for their failure to consult with the Premiership Directors of Rugby before unveiling the new scrum laws and protocol.
Contenders
In England expect Leicester, Northampton and Saracens to stroll into the top four with Harlequins the fourth member of the elite under pressure, primarily from the West Country where Gloucester, Bath and Exeter all have reasons to believe.
In the Rabo12 the biggest question surrounds the capacity of Leinster to retain their standards with Joe Schmidt gone to Ireland and Jonny Sexton to Paris. Winning becomes habit forming and for that reason it would be a shock were they not to make the play offs. But who will join them? Ulster will be the more fancied of the other Irish sides but Munster made major progress in Europe last season and can continue to flourish this term. They are my dark horses. The Blues should also fit that particular bill in Wales.
A synthetic pitch and a highly promising fly-half in Rhys Patchell, the return of Gethin Jenkins and the signing of Matthew Rees....it looks promising for a team who have failed to fire for some time. Jamie Roberts is a loss on paper but his contributions to the Blues, for a few reasons, have been limited in recent years.
The other Welsh side expected to go well are the Ospreys. The core of the Lions front five, with Dan Biggar to steer them; ok they have lost the exceptional Kahn Fotuali'i to the Saints but surely they will be bang in contention. The Dragons will not be but it is good to see them secure the services of Toby Faletau for two years. It could be the beginning of a revival for the Dragons with Lyn Jones and Gareth Davies two contrasting styled adversaries of mine (to put it mildly) teaming up as D.O.R and Chief Executive.
Can Glasgow keep it up, can Treviso can another step forward with Matt Berquist once of the Crusaders an interesting signing, can we get through a week without arguing about the scrum.....welcome back to the British, Irish and Italian rugby season!
