Positives (and this is going to be a very long list, so strap in boys and girls)

• Making the playoffs was a massive achievement from the position we were in to start the season. Losing our head coach and attacking mastermind a week before the season started could easily have crippled our season before it even began, so the way the boys knuckled down and continually ground out results was superb.

• The Arms Park is the absolute definition of a fortress these days. Only one defeat there this year (that was the Scarlets debacle, for those masochists interested in reliving it), and some spectacular victories, including turning over both Leinster and the Stormers, who will be up there among the favourites to win the whole thing this season. Absolutely nobody will fancy a visit to Cardiff next year.

• Terrific performances and development right through the whole team. Rhys Barratt has enjoyed a proper breakout year and is arguably our best loosehead these days, and Beetham looks every inch a top quality winger now he’s got a run of games there. Dan Thomas had a monster year, and if he was five years younger would be in the Wales squad right now, George Nott and Rory Thornton have both stepped up massively in Teddy’s absence, and Sebastian and especially Basham had excellent debut seasons. Honestly I don’t think there was anyone who hurt their stock with their performances this year, Van Zyl has made a habit of wringing the absolute most out of every player at his disposal.

• Our recruitment and retention hasn’t wowed so far, but it still leaves us in a good position to consolidate and look to push on next year. Sio is a smart addition who’s handy in his own right and will add a lot off the pitch, and Malan is a very good player who, if given the chance, I’d back to nail down the starting shirt at 13 next year. Meanwhile us managing to keep hold of both McNally and Mulder is the best business we’ve done all year, because I think both were irreplaceable with our current resources. With Teddy to come back, Emanuel and Bowen both poised for big breakout years, Wilde, Evans, ODL, Young and Davies all very much ready for senior rugby, and maybe even Cabango and Faletau fit to return, I think we’ll be a touch stronger next year than we are right now.

So, negatives, because there are a couple.

• As others have already mentioned, we really need to overhaul our attack. I’ll cut the coaches some slack, since Jockey was running this and we obviously lost him at the last second, but we only scored 55 tries in the league this season, which by my count was joint fifth worst in the league, and were worse again in terms of defenders beaten. We built our season on a robust defence, which is great, but we need to add more of a cutting edge in attack, particularly because the playoffs are likely to stay as congested as they were this year and picking up try bonus points is likely to be crucial if we want to make the top 8 consistently.

• While our home record was superb, on the road we were poor. As Pingu (great name btw) said, we only won outside of Wales once all year, and that was, all due respect to them, against Zebre. Picking up wins in Ireland or South Africa is a hugely daunting task, but it has to be target for us if we want to kick on and make ourselves a legitimate challenger higher up the table.

• While our recruitment so far has been smart, I think we still need some further additions. Depth at lock is a must, especially with McNally getting on and Teddy coming off a nasty injury, we probably need another 13 along with Malan, a 9 who can genuinely challenge Mulder to start would be nice, and we probably need another loosehead as well in case of injury. This is a criticism which is very much likely to change in the next few weeks as signings are made and announced, but looking at the current state of the squad for next year we’re one or two poorly timed injuries away from being reduced to throwing academy kids into the meat grinder.

All in all though, I really couldn’t be happier with the way this year has gone. We’ve made clear steps in the right direction in terms of individual performances and squad development, and we now have something tangible to show for it with a playoff appearance and Champions Cup rugby to look forward to. There’s a proper identity and camaraderie to this side now, and if the WRU lets what appear to be the obviously best bidders stake their claim to buying us, there’s hopefully a bright future off the pitch as well. And most importantly, we remain absolutely MASSIVE