MY reaction when scanning the list of Wales players at midday on Tuesday was that there had been a mistake in the autumn squad.

Just like in 2013 when tighthead prop Craig Mitchell had been named on the bench in the team announcement for Scotland rather than loosehead Ryan Bevington, prompting puzzled looks from Warren Gatland when asked about it in the subsequent media conference, perhaps there had been a human error.

After the looseheads, hookers, tightheads and locks came the back row forwards in alphabetical order… starting with Ellis Jenkins.

No Ollie Griffiths despite his excellent start to the season? Surely that couldn’t be right given the absence through injury of Taulupe Faletau, James Davies, Josh Navidi and Aaron Shingler?

Even more baffling, Gatland had named just five back rowers and two of them, Aaron Wainwright and Ross Moriarty, have been outperformed by Griffiths at Rodney Parade this season.

It is another international blow for the 23-year-old from Newbridge, who has been lauded by astute pundits such as Sam Warburton, Martyn Williams and Ed Jackson thanks to his all-action displays in the PRO14.

Griffiths deservedly got a Wales call-up in the summer of 2017 after a terrific campaign that meant he swept the board at the Dragons’ end of season awards.

Robin McBryde, holding the reins while Gatland was on Lions duty, rewarded him with a piffling two-minute cameo off the bench against Tonga in Auckland.

It was ridiculous from the acting head coach on a development tour.

Still, Griffiths had a taste for Test rugby and diplomatically said at the start of last season that the disappointment had just made him hungry for more caps.

Cruelly, a trio of operations – jaw, ankle, hip – derailed that bid.

Griffiths has seen a glut of back row forwards grasp their chances in his absence and the quintet that Gatland has called – Jenkins, Dan Lydiate, Moriarty, Justin Tipuric and Wainwright – are all marvellous players.

It would have taken something special for Griffiths to take that next step of getting into a matchday squad anyway.

Yet it seems odd to not just add another flanker and reward the Dragons openside’s fine start to the campaign, even if the squad is already a little large at 37.

Perhaps that is where Griffiths’ problem lies; the national selectors see him more as an out-and-out 7 (as they do another excellent flanker, Thomas Young).

He has worn 6 and 8 on his back at regional rugby, and carries dynamically whatever his role, but maybe Gatland & Co have doubts over his ability to do so at Test level.

They had those same worries Navidi for quite some time, so maybe Griffiths will just have to be patient and keep giving the coaches a headache.

It comes down to the composition of the back row and the Dragons’ trio of Wainwright at blindside, Griffiths at openside and Moriarty at number eight seems well balanced.

Presumably Gatland feels Griffiths combined with Tipuric/Jenkins just doesn’t work.

The challenge for the Dragon is to prove him wrong with big performances when his club coach Bernard Jackman throws him the 6 and 8 jerseys, that's what Ellis Jenkins and Navidi have done at Cardiff Blues.

The back row is crowded but Griffiths has been stunning in all six outings this season, so Tuesday would have felt like a kick in the guts.

Yet if he stays fit and keeps hitting those standards then there is still hope of featuring at Japan 2019, not just France 2023.

South Wales Argus:

WHO would’ve thought that they would be longing for the days of Dewi Morris’ punditry on a Thursday night?

Europe arrived with a bang last weekend… well, the Champions Cup did anyway.

The Challenge Cup has often been treated with disdain but at least it used to get a little bit of coverage when Sky Sports had rights to the tournament.

Round one of the 2018/19 competition threw up a humdinger of a tie between Northampton and Clermont Auvergne, yet even that wasn't covered. There wasn’t a peep on BT Sport, now the exclusive rights holders.

This weekend in France beIN Sports are showing Pau versus Stade Francais and FRTV are broadcasting Grenoble against Harlequins while Italian viewers get Zebre-Bristol.

But here? Nothing. Teams aren’t even allowed to show more than 90 seconds of highlights, and that is footage gathered from their own analysis cameras.

It’s understandable that BT Sport are showing every Champions Cup game - and the introduction of games on Channel Four is extremely welcome - but ignoring the Challenge Cup until the quarter-finals is ludicrous, even if the company's resources are stretched.

It may be the second tier but there are quality sides in it, ones that BT are happy to laud when they are in Premiership action.

English clubs are much of a muchness apart from the runaway top two of Saracens and Exeter while Clermont and La Rochelle were Champions Cup quarter-finalists earlier this year and Clermont lead the Top 14 with Stade Francais in second.

Of course the Challenge Cup has its problems and for some clubs it is a distraction because of the threat of a relegation dogfight.

Things undoubtedly go up a few notches when it reaches the knockout stages but there will be some intriguing tussles in the bid to make the last eight.

It's a shame that nobody in the UK will see them.