United Rugby Championship

[Son of Mathonwy]

Okay, I know I saw the Scarlets lose that one but they can't have. No one could lose a game from that position, right? Jesus. Some great play though, despite the horrific end. Lloyd was excellent, real virtuoso stuff, ball in hand. Looking a bit too talented now, Gatland is traditionally a little suspicious of that. Steff was pretty great too, until . . . you know. Elias was great. Plumtree not perfect but on balance very effective.

Yeah that pretty footwork and running threat from Lloyd is going to wind Gatland up something proper.

I turned up at "Swansea.com" like a child for a dental appointment and had another couple of molars roughly extracted. Fuck me but we must be running out of ways to lose a game. Bossed a strong Glasgow side pretty much around the park, but then somehow forgot that driving mauls were a thing. FOUR of them. Warriors had literally nothing else, and it didn't matter.

Yeah that was another one the Welsh team really should have won. That'll teach us to give away stupid kickable penalties in the last few minutes when we have a 2 point lead. And not take 3-pointers early on. I guess you could argue it was lost in the first 30 minutes when we were all over them but only got 10 points from it (although I suppose a neutral might argue that was because of Glasgow's good defence ). And to not even get a losing bonus at the end - amateurish. Hey at least Keiran Williams was having a good game till the head injury.

Another Welsh whitewash weekend. The teams are starting pile up at the bottom of the table.

[Sandydragon]

What’s really disappointing is that some of those recent losses should have been wins. Yet we seem to have inherited some kind of mental frailty across our game where we just can make decisions or handle pressure. I’m hoping that’s just a sign of lots of experienced players leaving and relying on youngsters.

[Son of Mathonwy]

What’s really disappointing is that some of those recent losses should have been wins. Yet we seem to have inherited some kind of mental frailty across our game where we just can make decisions or handle pressure. I’m hoping that’s just a sign of lots of experienced players leaving and relying on youngsters.

It's not really a new thing but it's becoming a more common event. Experienced players leaving does not help and that can only get worse as another load* of 25-cap players reach the end of their contracts in Wales this season.

* I don't know how many or who but there must be a fair few.

[paddy no 11]

Some good carries out of Johnny Williams for a deserved try

Leinster 2nd try just have been disallowed for blocking

[Sourdust]

The only Welsh wins this year are going to come from derbies...

Being reduced to 14 men doesn't seem to have the same galvanizing effect on our teams as it does elsewhere. Absolutely no complaints about Protheroe's red though, in fact I think Morgan was pretty lucky to avoid another one. It was only ever damage limitation for the Os after that. If any team could have failed to make us pay, you'd back the Dragons, but fair play they got the job done. Os' decent start to the season completely pissed away. Marvelous.

[Son of Mathonwy]

The only Welsh wins this year are going to come from derbies...

Being reduced to 14 men doesn't seem to have the same galvanizing effect on our teams as it does elsewhere. Absolutely no complaints about Protheroe's red though, in fact I think Morgan was pretty lucky to avoid another one. It was only ever damage limitation for the Os after that. If any team could have failed to make us pay, you'd back the Dragons, but fair play they got the job done. Os' decent start to the season completely pissed away. Marvelous.

Dear god that was poor from the Ospreys. Particularly their idiot wingers - agreed, Luke Morgan was lucky Dyer landed himself safely otherwise that would have been red too. But a team that had a number of our best players (Lake, Beard, Tipuric, Jac Morgan, North) looked worryingly short of a clue after the first 10 minutes.

Cardiff were also poor against Zebre (although they have clearly improved), in fact lucky to get a draw from the match due to Zebre's dreadful goalkicking.

And Scarlets. Yeah no one expected a win, and Leinster did get frustrated in the second 20 minutes at a ref who actually policed them, but in the end 8 tries to 1 is just awful. Dumb yellow from Johnny Williams, followed by a nice try, another mixed bag from him.

Well done the Dragons, well worth the win.

[Sandydragon]

The only Welsh wins this year are going to come from derbies...

Being reduced to 14 men doesn't seem to have the same galvanizing effect on our teams as it does elsewhere. Absolutely no complaints about Protheroe's red though, in fact I think Morgan was pretty lucky to avoid another one. It was only ever damage limitation for the Os after that. If any team could have failed to make us pay, you'd back the Dragons, but fair play they got the job done. Os' decent start to the season completely pissed away. Marvelous.

Dear god that was poor from the Ospreys. Particularly their idiot wingers - agreed, Luke Morgan was lucky Dyer landed himself safely otherwise that would have been red too. But a team that had a number of our best players (Lake, Beard, Tipuric, Jac Morgan, North) looked worryingly short of a clue after the first 10 minutes.

Cardiff were also poor against Zebre (although they have clearly improved), in fact lucky to get a draw from the match due to Zebre's dreadful goalkicking.

And Scarlets. Yeah no one expected a win, and Leinster did get frustrated in the second 20 minutes at a ref who actually policed them, but in the end 8 tries to 1 is just awful. Dumb yellow from Johnny Williams, followed by a nice try, another mixed bag from him.

Well done the Dragons, well worth the win.

Kind of sums him up really.

[Numbers]

The only Welsh wins this year are going to come from derbies...

Being reduced to 14 men doesn't seem to have the same galvanizing effect on our teams as it does elsewhere. Absolutely no complaints about Protheroe's red though, in fact I think Morgan was pretty lucky to avoid another one. It was only ever damage limitation for the Os after that. If any team could have failed to make us pay, you'd back the Dragons, but fair play they got the job done. Os' decent start to the season completely pissed away. Marvelous.

Dear god that was poor from the Ospreys. Particularly their idiot wingers - agreed, Luke Morgan was lucky Dyer landed himself safely otherwise that would have been red too. But a team that had a number of our best players (Lake, Beard, Tipuric, Jac Morgan, North) looked worryingly short of a clue after the first 10 minutes.

Cardiff were also poor against Zebre (although they have clearly improved), in fact lucky to get a draw from the match due to Zebre's dreadful goalkicking.

And Scarlets. Yeah no one expected a win, and Leinster did get frustrated in the second 20 minutes at a ref who actually policed them, but in the end 8 tries to 1 is just awful. Dumb yellow from Johnny Williams, followed by a nice try, another mixed bag from him.

Well done the Dragons, well worth the win.

Kind of sums him up really.

To be fair to the Scarlets that was a scratch team against a very strong Leinster 23 away from home, we've suffered bigger defeats to them with more experienced players so I'm not too disheartened, I think we have to resign ourselves to not being particularly successful in any competeitions for the foreseeable future, the worrying factor about having so many young players in the squads is that they are far more prone to injury, I wonder how many regions will run out of players as we go through the season..

[paddy no 11]

Grady looks great on the wing tonight

[Son of Mathonwy]

Grady looks great on the wing tonight

Well done Cardiff, great result.

[Sandydragon]

Excellent win, and just reading how young that team is in the Fail.

Grady is an interesting one. He has less to think about on the wing and he’s big strong and quick. But who out of our wing contingent would you drop for him at the moment (for Wales I mean)?

[Son of Mathonwy]

Excellent win, and just reading how young that team is in the Fail.

Grady is an interesting one. He has less to think about on the wing and he’s big strong and quick. But who out of our wing contingent would you drop for him at the moment (for Wales I mean)?

Hard to say. Obviously not LRZ. Dyer had a very mixed performance today - great individual try and a lot of good work but some random stuff too including a totally wild pass that led straight to a Sharks try. Not sure where Adams is at at the moment - although he hasn't shown his top form for a little while.

So I could see Grady sneaking ahead of Dyer. But with the possibility of LRZ moving to 15 there could be room for Grady and Dyer.

[Sourdust]

I am slowly warming to Dyer, although I still suspect many of the candidates could have come on similarly well given the confidence that he's been shown. Grady is similarly unconvincing, but might also benefit from not being dropped after a couple of bad games. I like his on-field demeanor; by which I mean, he looks like a smug nasty bastard who I'd cross a bar to avoid, which is a compliment for a rugby player.

[Sourdust]

Oh yes and much as I enjoyed the bonus-point win yesterday, Scarlets were properly unbelievably bad. They didn't look like they cared - I know they obviously did, but it didn't show. When I saw that backline on the big screen I was very nervous; by early in the 2nd half I was relaxed, and by the end of it I was actually pretty angry on Scarlets fans' behalf.

Watching it back on telly we did get the smooth end of some fairly flaky reffing, I must admit. The ref was a newbie and it showed, presumably he'll improve.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Oh yes and much as I enjoyed the bonus-point win yesterday, Scarlets were properly unbelievably bad. They didn't look like they cared - I know they obviously did, but it didn't show. When I saw that backline on the big screen I was very nervous; by early in the 2nd half I was relaxed, and by the end of it I was actually pretty angry on Scarlets fans' behalf.

Watching it back on telly we did get the smooth end of some fairly flaky reffing, I must admit. The ref was a newbie and it showed, presumably he'll improve.

Oh yes, I enjoyed that too. A welcome change after last week for the Ospreys. A forward dominated encounter, and the Ospreys dominated indeed. The lineout and maul were particularly one-sided. Not a day for the backs but the more physical Ospreys did well - Keiran Williams and Nagy. Lloyd did his best to keep the Scarlets in it with his faultless boot but to no avail. The Ospreys forwards, well I could name them all really, excellent work.

(Nice intro to regional rugby for substitute fly-half Dan Edwards.)

The Ospreys should do better with those push-over tries though - 2 opportunities wasted with the ball held up. In a closer encounter that could have been fatal.

[Sourdust]

I'm as keen to see Munster lose as any right-minded rugby fan, but I can't pretend to be sorry to see Glasgow's "Do what you like, we'll just score from every maul" trick come a cropper. Once again they brought NOTHING ELSE to the party, and unlike Ospreys, Munster were able to exploit enough of the cracks that FIVE maul tries still wasn't enough.

There is no obligation on the away side to entertain, of course; but they can't expect to win many friends playing like this.

[paddy no 11]

I'm as keen to see Munster lose as any right-minded rugby fan, but I can't pretend to be sorry to see Glasgow's "Do what you like, we'll just score from every maul" trick come a cropper. Once again they brought NOTHING ELSE to the party, and unlike Ospreys, Munster were able to exploit enough of the cracks that FIVE maul tries still wasn't enough.

There is no obligation on the away side to entertain, of course; but they can't expect to win many friends playing like this.

Ease up on the munster bashing, we're back and playing champagne rugby

[Son of Mathonwy]

Another clickbait headline from WoL. No, North isn't leaving 'Welsh rugby' he's leaving Welsh club rugby.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rug ... y-28224314

[Son of Mathonwy]

Damn, that was a frustrating one for the Ospreys. Given given the weakens team they took to Benetton, they did well to have a close match and get a bonus point. But they almost got the win. Without those injuries to Edwards and Nagy ( ) think they might have hung on to the lead.

Excellent performance from the Scarlets. Although, like the recent Ospreys/Dragons match, that red card made it less competitive.

Drains - another week in SA, another beating . . . although a bit more competitive this time.

[Sandydragon]

Cardiff vs Newport. Fecking hell

[Sandydragon]

That was utterly embarrassing. Cardiff getting the run of the green to be fair but it’s basically a training run for them.

[Sourdust]

So that's a 56-20 aggregate in the "West Wales Derbies" and it's hard to say that Os played really well at any stage.

A small part of me is loving it but in all honesty, what's happening to the Scarlets isn't funny.

Cardiff, on the other hand, are great fun to watch right now. Sure, that style works better against the Dragons that against Bath; but that is what rugby is supposed to look like dammit!

[Son of Mathonwy]

Jeez, Cardiff outclassed the Dragons. Newport just don't have enough good players to compete.

The Ospreys benefited from a disastrously off day for Lloyd's kicking game (a tough day for him - it looked like an unexpected extra chance to shine at 10, then he lost his radar completely). And a rock solid defence (even if they had nothing else till late in the match when the difference in bench quality really showed). Really missing Morgan and Morris though. Owen Williams is looking at lot better than earlier in the season now, maybe playing his way into Gatland's thinking - he's definitely an option now.

Cardiff/Ospreys will be interesting. Cardiff will face a dramatically better defence than today but you'd have to see them as favourites with current form (and injuries).

[Sourdust]

The way Cardiff are playing you'd have to fancy them against us, but there are a few levellers. Firstly as you say, our defence is decent; although only when we commit to a defensive game. If we "join in" with the champagne stuff, we'll get diced. Also, the game is at the Brewery Field, where there's at least a chance of some kind of home-biased atmosphere. A lot depends on whether Cardiff can keep this form up. The performance that put 50 on the Dragons still puts 30 on us, I reckon. But with the space they leave, we'd get a few back. It might come down to kicks!

[Sandydragon]

How the hell did Llanelli lose that? But frankly don’t care, we managed to hold on for the win.