Heineken Cup: Quinnell on crest of the Welsh wave

The temperature has been rising in Welsh rugby ever since Shane Williams put on his dancing shoes Down Under and showed there is still a bit of life, and subtlety, in Wales.

The feelgood factor created by those two narrow squeaks against the All Blacks and eventual World Cup winners England has lasted until now, but the launch next week of the Heineken Cup will provide a completely new challenge.

There will still be five teams tackling the best in Europe, but this time they will be stronger after this year's overhaul of Wales' nine Premier clubs into five regions. On paper at least, there looks to be greater depth available to the coaches at the Cardiff Blues, Celtic Warriors, Gwent Dragons, Llanelli Scarlets and Neath-Swansea Ospreys.

Even so, some things have not changed. The Scarlets, aka Llanelli last season, are set to carry the Welsh flag, as they have for the past five seasons. With 11 players coming back from World Cup duty - nine Welsh, one Irishman and one American - they are all set for a revenge mission against Northampton in Friday night's mouth-watering opener at Stradey Park. More importantly, they have learned from last season's quarter-final slip-up against Perpignan.

"We just didn't perform on the night," said former Wales and Scarlets skipper Scott Quinnell. "Perpignan turned us over using a simple gameplan. It was unfortunate, but one of those games you have to learn from. There was a time when teams never lost at home in the knockout stages, but now the teams are getting so much closer, and the quality of the tournament so much higher, that there's not a huge advantage in playing at home. There's a big prize at stake, and everyone wants to grab it. We're no different and it would be great to become the first Welsh team to carry off the Cup. We've had two opportunities to make the final, and we lost both semi-finals to almost the last kick of the game. The margin between success and failure has been incredibly small for us, but very hurtful."

Quinnell has retired from international rugby, but is still getting his kicks out of the club scene, and the new challenge presented by the regional set-up has kept his interest high. He has been relishing the father-figure role at Stradey while the World Cup stars have been away, and looks well set for top billing once again on the European stage.

Llanelli have the pressure of Welsh expectation, but there are also high hopes for the Ospreys and the Warriors (Bridgend and Pontypridd). The Ospreys have Shane Williams, Gavin Henson and Springbok Stefan Terblanche to rack up the points and a powerful young pack to set the platform, and the Lyn Jones-coached side look good value at 50-1 for the title.