WE are now halfway into the second season of what was hailed as the solution for Welsh rugby - regional teams.

Obviously, like everything else it needs time to bed in, but, hand on heart, can anyone honestly say it has been the remotest success?

We have plummeted from a stage where we had one team in the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup every season - mainly Llanelli - to a situation where now there is not even that.

And only one side - that team known as the Dragons as officialdom would have us call it - even had a chance of making it going into the final weekend of the group stage. But they blew it, so then there were none.

Let's take the side playing out of Rodney Parade as an example.

All last week when controversy was raging between the rival camps, Newcastle director of rugby Rob Andrew referred to the team every time as Newport.

No less a figure than Colin Charvis, former Wales captain who has played most of his rugby in Wales, addressed the team as Newport.

And yesterday's Daily Telegraph called the team Newport, adding 'The lumping together of sides into amorphous, artificial regions shows precious few signs of a decent yield.'

What has been the reaction of the fans two years into this grand plan? How many supporters shout 'Dragons'? How many, for that matter, chant 'Blues' down the road in Cardiff? Precious few.

The argument goes that the sides should have been named simply Dragons, Blues, Ospreys and Scarlets from day one. But that went out of the window the moment Cardiff and Llanelli were allowed to keep their names in the title and were given stand alone status by the Welsh Rugby Union.

At a stroke that condemned the new deal, for clearly strongminded supporters - and there are many of them at Rodney Parade - were not going to put up with two major rivals having their name in the title while they couldn't do likewise.

Consequently, the only chant you'll hear at Rodney Parade when the team is going well is 'Newport, Newport' with the odd forlorn 'Dragons' just about audible.

It also meant the original name of Gwent Dragons was doomed, which is why Newport Gwent Dragons officially took over this season to give the side an identity and some recognition to where the base and headquarters are and have to be for all sorts of commercial and logistical reasons.

So when it came to the build-up to the Newcastle game what were people like Andrew going to call the opposition? Was it to be Dragons, Newport Gwent Dragons, Gwent Dragons or just Newport.

Clearly Andrew and many others took the view that Newport was the easiest and the most instantly recognisable name, especially when they have a match to market.

If those mistaken liberals who want to change everything from the name of traditional titles to the education system had got their way we would now be swamped with the delightful titles of Dragons, Blues, Ospreys and Scarlets.

The problem with that is no-one outside Wales would know who the hell they were playing when it came to the Celtic League or Heineken Cup. So presumably there would hardly be a crowd, takings would be down at opposition grounds, interest would decline and the game in Wales really would go through the floor.

Oddly enough, there is one region making some sort of a go of it which is Neath Swansea Ospreys or the Ospreys as they are, in fact, known locally.

But they are the exception rather than the rule and they will be playing at a new stadium from next season with the name Swansea emblazoned across it.

And there is no sign at all, not even a whiff, of the others following suit. In fact, the reverse is true.

At the outset of all this, I was dead set against changing the names to some meaningless conglomeration, but after months of campaigning it became churlish to constantly carp and to denigrate the efforts of all those who were battling so hard to make the new entity a success.

It's not so much the concept that is the problem here, it's the names and the identification. The future of Welsh rugby is even wrapped up in it.

Everyone agreed the number of sides at top level had to come down, though results haven't yet reaped the rewards.

But don't make teams labour under some meaningless, idiotic title as well.

For as plain as the nose on your face it is just not wanted.