URC

“It’s a sobering one, we knew Stormers were going to be a good side, and we needed to be at our very best to be able to compete. We weren’t that.

“That’s what happens when you’re up against the bigger teams, the best teams – if you’re not at maximum, it’s going to be a difficult night.”

Peel is concerned by an ever-growing injury list, with Tristan Davies and Max Douglas the latest casualties.

“The injury side of things is tough at the minute. We lost two locks again [against Stormers], the only two locks who were fit, so we’ll just have to see where we are when we travel to South Africa on Tuesday,” said Peel.

“I’m unclear at the minute as to the extent but Tristan has an HIA (head injury assessment) and Max Douglas looks like he’s hurt a rib. He’s in quite a bit of pain in the changing room.”

“It will be a tough couple of days for the medics I’m sure.”

Peel did not rule out more short-term signings, after bringing in lock Steve Cummins on loan from Dragons to cover the absences of Jake Ball, Sam Lousi, Jac Price and Will Evans.

Deaves picked up from where he left off last season, impressing in Ospreys’ opening round defeat to Bulls in the United Rugby Championship (URC).

And Jones believes that continued good form has put him in Wales contention.

“I’d be surprised if he [Deaves] is not in the international conversation right now,” said Jones.

“If you look at his post-contact metres, he’s the highest in our squad. He beats defenders and wins collisions in his own way, not just with brute force.

“He’s got a good skillset and is super aggressive. They’re all the traits you associate with an international player.”

Deaves, who still coaches at his hometown club of Pontyclun, said a Wales call would be reward for defying the odds during his early career.

“I was a late developer and playing in a tough position, always being called too small and stuff like that,” said 5ft 11in (1.80m) Deaves.

“The size of my heart had to take over sometimes and I’d like to say that still carries on now.

“It’s about making my village proud, I love representing my village and giving back to my family. [But] I just need to focus on where I am right now.”

After a poor run of form in the first half of last season, Everitt appeared to be under pressure before a late season upturn in performances and results took Edinburgh to the URC quarter-finals and the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup.

The South African’s contract expires at the end of the season and he confirmed he has yet to receive an offer of a new deal from Scottish Rugby.

Results in the next few months could determine Everitt’s future, but Brown believes Edinburgh’s problems run deeper than just the head coach.

“Edinburgh seem to be going between either a Richard Cockerill character, where they have to be shouted at and it’s very authoritarian all the time, or a Mike Blair or Sean Everitt character,” Brown, who started his career with Edinburgh before forging his reputation at Glasgow Warriors, said.

“It just seems like they can’t quite hit that sweet spot in the middle. At the same time, you can’t forget that’s a squad packed full of Scotland starters.

“Why is it that they can’t get results? They can get the one-off, the big results. We saw that in the run at the end of last season, getting into European play-offs, but they don’t seem to be able to get consistency throughout the week from game to game. I don’t think that’s just a coaching issue.

“We can’t just keep getting into that kind of cycle of new head coach, get rid of the head coach, new head coach, get rid of the head coach. There is something kind of systemic there.”

Dragons are the first Welsh team in action when they travel to face Ulster in Belfast on Friday night.

The club have been the most vocal of the regions in criticising the plans to drop to two sides, stating “Welsh rugby deserves better and the WRU must rethink”.

Chair David Wright says the initial proposals “don’t add up” and that there was no way the Dragons could agree to them as they were.

Co-captain and Wales lock Ben Carter says it is a concern but has praised his squad on focusing on the rugby which he says is “the number one priority”.

His head coach Filo Tiatia agrees.

“What happens with the WRU, we’ll leave it with our chairman and CEO and they’ll fight the battle,” said the former All Black.

“What we can focus on is how we move forward with the current conditions and what we know.

“There’s talk of two teams, we can’t control that. We might as well not focus on the things because we’re burning energy.”