Dragons RFC’s 48-24 victory over Connacht headlines our Welsh rugby weekend round-up, ending their losing streak in the United Rugby Championship.

Elsewhere, Scarlets stormed the capital, beating a wasteful Cardiff side at the Arms Park on Friday night, and Ospreys lost at home to Munster.

Let’s get into the action!

Cathartic evening for Dragons as they thrash Connacht

It was a rare joyous evening at Rodney Parade on Saturday night, as the Dragons stormed to their best victory in the URC for some time, putting six tries against a sorry Connacht side.

Dragons ended a 15-month winless streak in the URC, won successive games for the first time in more than three years – having also won in Europe the previous week – and climbed off the bottom of the table.

They scored six tries and only late Connacht scores – which earned an undeserved consolation try bonus – prevented the scoreboard revealing the true scale of the thrashing.

Dragons now head to Cardiff with Tiatia and his coaches having welcome selection headaches.

Rio Dyer was on electric form, scoring one and setting up Che Hope for another with a searing break. Harri Keddie, deputising for Thomas Young and Aaron Wainwright continued his renaissance, providing physicality and breakdown expertise.

“Harri was outstanding. He came off the bench in the last couple of outings and was asking when he was going to get a start,” said head coach Filo Tiatia.

“He took his opportunity and Waino [Wainwright] was outstanding against Lyon, so there is some good competition there.”

Scarlets storm the capital

Cardiff were left to rue their wasteful performance on Friday night, as Scarlet secured an away victory for the first time this season, winning 17-21 at the Arms Park.

The Blue and Blacks dominated territory and possession with their opponents given three yellow cards.

But the hosts could only manage two tries in more than 20 visits to the Scarlets’ 22, while the visitors scored three tries with limited attacking opportunities.

Veteran scrum-half Gareth Davies was brilliant for Scarlets, scoring two opportunistic tries, the first down the blindside and the second a classic intercept.

Another experienced head was on excellent form for the away side, with 34-year-old Jake Ball rolling back the years and potentially putting himself in the picture for a Wales recall.

The lock topped the tackle charts with 19 and has a physicality that Wales have lacked since Will Rowlands fell out of the picture.

For Cardiff, it is a first defeat since January at home and they remain third in the URC table.

Ospreys downed by Munster after difficult week

Ospreys capped off the week that they confirmed their captain and vice-captain would be leaving the club at the end of the season with a deflating 10-26 defeat to Munster at the Brewery Field.

Dragons’ and Scarlets’ victories mean that Mark Jones’ find themselves at the bottom the URC after seven games, and were overpowered by a full strength Munster side.

“It’s always a blow when you lose your household names,” said Jones.

“We have done our best to keep them financially and from an environmental point of view. There is so much uncertainty for everybody involved in Welsh rugby and people out of contract are considering this when making decisions.”

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