Welsh rugby fans can look forward to two Anglo-Welsh derbies this summer as both the Scarlets and Dragons face Bristol Bears.
The Dragons will first host Pat Lam's English Premiership side late in July in a Friday night fixture, before the Scarlets welcome the Bears seven days later.
With the 2022/23 Gallagher Premiership season set to begin on the weekend of September 9 and the new United Rugby Championship campaign likely to kick off later that month, the pre-season friendlies will give all concerned sides the opportunity to see where they're at before it really matters.
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None of the Welsh regions reached the URC play-offs this term, so each side will be bidding to hit the ground running after a summer break. There are also new signings to get a closer look at as new combinations are tested out before crunch time.
The Dragons have shifted in their recruitment strategy to opt for a smaller squad of perceived higher quality, and new signings include props Rob Evans, Rhodri Jones and Samoa's Aki Seiuli, hooker Bradley Roberts, back-five player Sean Lonsdale from Exeter, former Sale Sharks lock George Nott, ex-New Zealand U20s centre Sio Tomkinson, versatile back Angus O'Brien from the Scarlets, former Bath midfielder Max Clark and ex-Northampton and Clermont outside-half JJ Hanrahan.
As for the Scarlets, they will have new recruit Vaea Fifita in their ranks after his move from Wasps, while a plethora of Scarlets stars have committed to next season, including the likes of Jonathan Davies, Gareth Davies, Sam Costelow and Scott Williams.
Our sister title Bristol Live reports that Bristol boss Lam, who has Welsh talents Callum Sheedy, Ioan Lloyd and Dan Thomas in his ranks, has opted to revamp his pre-season plans for next term, after admitting mistakes were made in 2021/22, which saw Bristol go from top of the table in 2020/21 to 10th. They had gone into the current Premiership season undercooked, playing just one internal 15v15 game and a behind-closed-doors match with Hartpury before starting the league season with back-to-back defeats to Saracens and Wasps.
Next month, the Bears will head into back-to-back Anglo-Welsh derbies off the back of travelling to face Top 14 side Brive in France in the first of three public pre-season warm-ups.
Lam said: "I have started with myself looking at everything we have done. We always say we learn more from losing than winning, and it is true. Adversity reveals so much as well. Straight away our pre-season is locked and loaded. We have got a good break planned for everybody, we are back in on July 4.
"We have got three big pre-season games lined up already to get ready for the season. That was probably an issue from last season because we didn’t hit the ground running compared to previous seasons. That is just one example of a change we are making."
