Few rugby grounds in Wales have a history to rival St Helen’s.
Wales played their first home international there against England in 1882.
Swansea defeated South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, while it was the venue for Sir Garfield Sobers as he famously struck six sixes in an over during a cricket match between Glamorgan and Nottinghamshire in 1968.
The Ospreys moved to the newly built Swansea football stadium in 2005, leaving St Helen’s largely to Swansea RFC and cricket.
During Thursday’s game there was a reminder of that history, as Swansea’s players emerged beneath the old Swansea Cricket and Football Club sign.
A small piece of the old ground surviving amid the construction work.
But the Ospreys’ return comes against a very different backdrop.
The Welsh Rugby Union plans to reduce the number of men’s professional teams from four to three, with only one licence earmarked for west Wales.
It leaves the Ospreys and Scarlets facing an uncertain future.
The Ospreys are investing in a permanent new home at precisely the moment their long-term existence is in question.
Lancaster believes the significance extends beyond the professional team.
“It is great to have a home for Ospreys which we have never really had but more than that, it’s a community facility, a beacon of rugby for the region,” said the Ospreys recently appointed managing director.
The transformation is not complete, and nobody arriving at St Helen’s should expect the polished surroundings of a newly built stadium.
But perhaps that misses the point.
The Ospreys spent two decades playing in a stadium built primarily for someone else.
Now, in the middle of a fight for their future, they have returned to a ground steeped in their region’s rugby history.
The stands are up, the pitch is ready and the finishing touches are being made.
What St Helen’s still needs is a crowd to bring it to life.
