URC

[Sourdust]

For anyone wondering how competitive (the remains of) the Welsh regions will be this year: Ospreys, in Connacht, have just run in their consolation try at the end of the first half.

[Sandydragon]

For anyone wondering how competitive (the remains of) the Welsh regions will be this year: Ospreys, in Connacht, have just run in their consolation try at the end of the first half.

27-5 down and they look terrible. Fair
Enough it’s the first game but Connacht look streets ahead.

[Sandydragon]

ITS A REVIVAL!!!!!!

27-17 now.

Bit of a come down after watching the All Blacks last night.

[Sandydragon]

34-26

Better second half but it couldn’t have been much worse.

[Sourdust]

Honestly I'd have bitten your arm off for a TBP after 30 minutes. They turned a total humiliation into simply a routinely disappointing away day, which was quite some effort to be fair. It doesn't excuse the first 30 though. 60 seconds into the season and we've dropped the kick-off, conceded a scrum pen and gone 3-0 down. Then a point a minute conceded for the next half an hour. Jesus wept...

[Sourdust]

Oh, and someone please get an osteopath in to deal with Keiran Williams' dislocated mojo.

[pompey-zebra]

Cardiff look up for it, mind, particularly the forwards.

Backs getting into the action now too! 19-3 to Cardiff. But De Beer just did a Farrell and got timed out on a conversion.

[UKHamlet]

It's just like watching the RWC. Only in slow motion.

[UKHamlet]

And a fricken stupid tackle could cost Cardiff the game.

[UKHamlet]

It has

[pompey-zebra]

Well, that was disappointing.

[UKHamlet]

They should dock his pay for that. Two minutes to go and he does that. FFS

[Sandydragon]

They should dock his pay for that. Two minutes to go and he does that. FFS

Utterly idiotic.

And the Dragons let a 13 point lead go to lose narrowly to Edinburgh.

[Sourdust]

It's all terribly encouraging, isn't it?

[UKHamlet]

This is going to be a long season.

[Sandydragon]

This is going to be a long season.

I’m trying to find comfort in the number of young players who will get some exposure. But that’s a very slim thread to hang onto.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Hey, that wasn't too bad, the Welsh managed a great match of rugby. Too bad that match was made up of the first half of Cardiff's plus the second half of the Ospreys'.

Still, with my Ospreys hat on, at least it ended positively, like they had shaken off the rust and remembered how this rugby game goes. Owen Williams did not have a great game - things looked a lot better when Walsh came on. Rhys Davies and Keelan Giles looked good.

On the negative side though, remember when Connacht and Benetton used to be teams the Ospreys and Blues would never dream of losing to? Such is the Welsh decline.

[pompey-zebra]

Not a great start from the scarlets either. 14-0 down after 7 minutes.

Things can only get better for the regions, right?

[Sandydragon]

Hey, that wasn't too bad, the Welsh managed a great match of rugby. Too bad that match was made up of the first half of Cardiff's plus the second half of the Ospreys'.

Still, with my Ospreys hat on, at least it ended positively, like they had shaken off the rust and remembered how this rugby game goes. Owen Williams did not have a great game - things looked a lot better when Walsh came on. Rhys Davies and Keelan Giles looked good.

On the negative side though, remember when Connacht and Benetton used to be teams the Ospreys and Blues would never dream of losing to? Such is the Welsh decline.

Rhys Davies looked pretty good. Amongst our 4 regions, there’s at least one decent side, maybe 2.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Scarlets outclassed by the Bulls. Not surprising really - the Irish can't win there either. They couldn't begin to match the muscle coming at them but there were some promising performances - Ioan Lloyd, Taine Plumtree, Joe Roberts, Tom Rogers all looked good

[Sourdust]

Owen Williams did not have a great game - things looked a lot better when Walsh came on.

The same was true in the Cardiff friendly IMO.

Walsh has lurched from sublime to ridiculous in an Os shirt, but there have definitely been more ticks in the right column so far this season.