MAKE no mistake about it — this will be no ordinary Welsh rugby derby, it won’t be the normal east-west clash.

It will be far more than that when Newport Gwent Dragons head west on Friday night to take on the Scarlets in the Magners League.

For it will be all about bragging rights with a real bearing on which team qualifies for the Heineken Cup next season.

Everything has changed this season because of the abolition of the play-off ruling whereby the last placed Welsh team had the parachute of a play-off against the third placed Italian team to determine who went into the major European competition.

Even then the Dragons failed to make it on one infamous occasion when they were beaten at home by Italians Overmach Parma.

But for the past four years it’s always been the Dragons who have been in this position, underfunded and without any kind of form, giving their three Welsh rivals a free ride into Europe’s main competition.

But it’s all changing now. That was the old Dragons, struggling and pretty much rudderless. Now it’s the new Dragons – playing good rugby, scoring excellent tries, winning games, especially at home, creating an impression on a wider front, no longer the chopping blocks and looking increasingly dangerous.

As such they are a real threat to their Welsh rivals when it comes to deciding the pecking order for Europe. As things stand at the moment the Dragons are fifth in the table, just two points behind the Ospreys but a whopping seven ahead of the Scarlets and Cardiff Blues.

Before the season started the team perceived to be the most vulnerable to any Dragons challenge would probably have been the Scarlets, themselves struggling both financially and results wise.

The Blues are now right in that mix, though you would have thought that once players like Gethin Jenkins, Martyn Williams, Jamie Roberts, Xavier Rush and others work up a full head of steam they would get out of it.

So it could still come down to the Dragons and the Scarlets. Hence the importance of Friday night’s game.

The Scarlets have shown far better form recently and after comfortably disposing of Brive at home in the Heineken Cup they produced the shock of the weekend when they beat London Irish at the Madejski Stadium in the second round of matches.

Nobody, but nobody saw that one coming, me included, and no wonder coach Nigel Davies, inspirational No 8 David Lyons et al were jubilant after the game because London Irish had been the form team in England this season.

The Scarlets have got momentum and such a result could give them the confidence to really go out and express themselves against the Dragons, or it could lead to complacency with the risk of underestimating their rivals.

Somehow I doubt that will happen for even before the astonishing London Irish result the Scarlets were well up for the challenge.

For the first person I bumped into at the One Year To Go gala Ryder Cup dinner at the Celtic Manor last week was none other than Gareth Jenkins, the former Wales, Llanelli and Scarlets coach now in charge of development there (and playing off a disgusting four at golf!).

Once the formalities were out of the way he turned to me and said, “Big game next week,” and you could see he really meant it. They know full well the Dragons are challenging them for that third Welsh team place, or better.

So it could be some derby, but don’t rule the Dragons out, for though their away form can’t match their Rodney Parade results they are a vastly improved team and the way they are playing is drawing the fans in and earning them plaudits from all kinds of pundits.

They are also scoring some cracking tries, none better than when they opened up from their own line against Glasgow last Friday and Martyn Thomas showed incredible pace to snatch the touchdown after lovely handling and a chip from in-form Wayne Evans opened the Scots up.

But lest I run into trouble at Parc y Scarlets on Friday I must issue one apology. It appears my suggestion in a recent column that the West Is Best imprint in one of the stands should be rubbed out was taken by some down there as an insult to Ray Gravell and the phrase which was his byword.

I would, of course, never denigrate anything Grav stood for, the intent was purely jocular and rubbishing what the great Welsh patriot and Llanelli fanatic represented was the farthest thing from my mind.