Newcastle started the ball rolling ahead of their visit to Newport tonight, announcing that they were resting 12 of the side that started against Gloucester on Tuesday. The Dragons replied by naming a team with only three regulars and their defence coach, Colin Charvis, on the bench, looking for his first action of the season. The Ospreys went the other way, picking a squad to face Harlequins on Sunday that is packed with Test players like Shane Williams, Gavin Henson and Ryan Jones.

Welcome to the EDF Energy Cup. Nevertheless, this is the start of a fascinating and important eight weeks for rugby fans that will bring many things - from the ambitions of the clubs to the state of the game internationally - into sharp focus.

After five weeks of Guinness Premiership action the EDF kicks off at Rodney Parade, marking the first in a series of rapid changes in the season's direction. Next week sees the first of two weekends of Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup rugby before the Anglo-Welsh competition returns for a fortnight ahead of the autumn internationals, which are played alongside three Premiership rounds. All in all it's going to be a testing time, and some difficult decisions will have to be taken. For a start, just how seriously should we take the EDF?

The Welsh, with exceptions, tend to be more enthusiastic - that is, until English clubs who make it through the group get a scent of the trophy and the place in next season's Heineken Cup it brings with it. There are also different agendas, depending on the draw. Having two away games out of three in the group has been known discourage sides from mounting a serious challenge.

And then clubs have to ask themselves whether they have the squad depth to fight on so many fronts, especially as they are about to lose their international players. The EDF is a money-spinner - in fact it's the most lucrative competition we have - but is the potential reward enough to sway a side facing a relegation dogfight for the next eight months?

A side like Bristol, for instance, may be thinking that survival in the Premiership is enough of a challenge and that the EDF is simply a bridge too far. Then again, if you've got the ambition there is the money and that guaranteed place in the Heineken Cup to be won in only five matches - the three pool games, a semi-final and the final.

What will Wasps do? We're going for it. Having won the cup in 2006, we regard it as one of the three main trophies that we are proud to have had on display at our headquarters in Acton. The squad will be rotated just as it has been through the Guinness Premiership so far, but we will aim to put out the strongest sides possible, starting at Kingsholm tomorrow.

All of which means that Danny Cipriani will probably be on the bench, assuming there is no reaction - there hasn't been anything so far - to his remarkably fast and accomplished return to action on Wednesday night. Sure, he was a bit rusty, but there was a time after he suffered his serious ankle injury when it seemed he might not be back until the new year.

Which brings me to my next point. Not only was Danny back after only four months, but he returns to a game that seems to be gradually getting to grips with the new laws. At Adams Park on Wednesday Bath, with their fast offloading style, helped create a genuinely exciting game. Players are making more effort to stay on their feet and referees are responding by showing more sympathy.

Standards are still lower than at the end of last season and I'm still unrepentant in questioning whether the changes were necessary in the first place, but the view that the bedding-in process would take between five and seven games seems about right. Now, though, comes another test.

Over the next eight weeks, in the EDF, in the Heineken Cup and in the autumn internationals, where World Cup rankings are at stake and New Zealand, Australia and South Africa are among the opposition, a whole new raft of referees from Wales, France, Ireland, Scotland and the southern hemisphere will take charge of either England or English clubs.

How they perform and how we perform under their instruction and interpretation of the laws at club and Test level will give us a whole new idea of where our game stands.