When the WRU delivered its damning verdict on the Ospreys and Scarlets, the judges ought to have been suitably dressed for the occasion and worn black caps all round.

The notice of condemnation served on the neighbouring regions came with no stay of execution beyond the end of the season after next. One will cease to be by 2027, the other will survive.
To the outsider, one solution appears more blindingly obvious than any other: merger.
To those steeped in the history of ferocious rivalry between Swansea and Llanelli, amalgamation is about as likely as Arsenal joining Spurs at the hip.
Death ...