LET’S not beat about the bush, Welsh rugby is in crisis today and the picture at the start of World Cup year could hardly be bleaker.

The four Welsh regions have all tumbled out of the prestigious Heineken Cup competition at the pool stages, not one side reaching the quarter-finals for the first time for four years.

And the Wales team has reflected that paucity of talent at the highest level by crashing to defeat against England at the first hurdle in this season’s Six Nations tournament.

Their 26-19 setback at the hands of the old enemy at the Millennium Stadium on Friday night means they have now gone eight games without a win, their worst run of the modern era.

Failure to beat Scotland or Italy in their next two matches, both away, will put them level with the unsuccessful run Wales endured during Steve Hansen’s reign.

And after the way the Scots played against the French at the Stade de France on Saturday, scoring three tries though conceding four in the game of the weekend, Wales can’t be confident of ending their barren spell next Saturday at Murrayfield.

Even the poor relations of Italy made an admittedly under-strength Ireland team go all the way before they were beaten by a Ronan O’Gara dropped goal four minutes from the end at the Stadio Flaminio on Saturday.

So the omens are not good for Wales. Without first-choice props Gethin Jenkins and Adam Jones, though the Scots were weakest in the scrums, and with key players out of form it’s difficult to see where their next win is going to come from.

There is not a lot beleagured coach Warren Gatland can do to strengthen the team. Ryan Jones in place of the hapless Andy Powell, regardless of his shoulder injury, and maybe James Hook at outside- half, but not a lot else.

Even moving Hook back to 10 offers no guarantee because he hasn’t played there at this level for so long, while the backs look laboured anyway, Mike Phillips still slow and off-colour, but Dwayne Peel is a shadow of the player he was. And there is little flair in midfield, with Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies too similar in the centre, just as was feared, meaning Shane Williams is getting little of the ball.

Morgan Stoddart, now injured, was a rare success, but one of the worst spells in Welsh rugby history has got to come to an end – and soon it will be more misery in Edinburgh on Saturday night.

Not only that, but confidence could disappear rapidly, the last thing needed with the World Cup only seven months away.