It was a fantastic set of results for the Welsh regions, with a comeback victory from the Dragons headlining the weekend where Cardiff and Ospreys also secured victory.

The Dragons – without a victory for 364 days – came back from 21-6 down to win 23-21, with Angus O’Brien’s late conversion securing a vital victory.

Elsewhere, Ospreys will push for a last-16 tie at Brewery Field in the New Year after going two from two by winning at Montauban and Cardiff beat Ulster with the last kick of the game from Callum Sheedy.

Scarlets faced the reigning Champions Cup winners Bordeaux and lost, despite a strong performance from Dwayne Peel’s men.

Dragons win against last season’s runners up to end winless misery

At 21-6 with less than fifteen minutes to go, you could forgive a few Dragons fans if they were getting a strong sense of deja vu. Having gone winless for a day less than an full year, Filo Tiatia’s men looked doomed to repeat the same mistakes.

Only they did not.

Harri Keddie’s brace of tries, sandwiching Oli Burrow’s score saw the Dragons roar back, allowing full-back Angus O’Brien to slot the match-winning conversion in the 80th minute.

Dragons ended a wait for a victory that went back to their success at Newcastle in the Challenge Cup on 15 December, 2024.

It was their first win on home soil since overcoming Ospreys in the United Rugby Championship (URC) on the opening weekend of 2024-25 – a 14-month wait.

“It feels awesome and the most important thing was that we won,” said O’Brien, who captained the side in the absence of Wales lock Ben Carter.

“The boys showed great character, grit and determination. I am so pleased for everybody that we managed to get over the line.

“It’s important we build on that now and take great confidence from the way that we finished the game.”

Cardiff stage a comeback of their own to best Ulster

Despite playing away from Cardiff Arms Park for seven weeks, the Blue and Blacks staged a comeback to rival that of the Dragons to beat Ulster 29-26.

Leigh Halfpenny’s return as a Cardiff player at the age of 37 after 11 years away was the only comfort for the home fans as they saw their side trail 12-26 after 55 minutes.

But the night ended with Wales fly-half Callum Sheedy kicking the match-winning penalty to the delight of the home crowd, whose noise inspires their side.

“The crowd were brilliant,” said Sheedy. “They always are here at Arms Park. It feels like when we need them, they step up and there’s no feeling quite like it.

“When we’re chasing that win at the end and you can just feel them right behind us. It makes you feel invincible out there.”

Tries from Danny Southworth and Dan Thomas saw Cardiff draw level, before Sheedy’s nerveless kick secured the full five points.

“It shows what we’ve got in the squad,” said Sheedy.

“It always felt like we were in it, never felt like we were out. We’ve got a special group.”

Ospreys win to forget off-field woes for a weekend

Of the Welsh regions, the Ospreys have started the best of the four, despite dealing with off-field rumours surrounding Wales captains Jac Morgan and Dewi Lake.

“Any team that had those players with them, it would be a big blow to lose them,” said head coach Mark Jones.

“All I can assure our supporters is we’re doing our best to keep them. They’ve got the best offers we can give in front of them.”

With Lake and Morgan missing for Ospreys, Jones’ side were excellent in their 22-33 victory over Montauban, with tries from Ross Moriarty, Morgan Morse, Keelan Giles, Efan Daniel, and Kieron Hardy sealing the win.

Eight-try Bordeaux to strong for scrappy Scarlets

Scarlets took the lead against reigning champions Bordeaux – only for the French side to roar back with five first-half tries.

Fletcher Anderson – the west Walian team’s new number eight – scored twice as Dwayne Peel’s men held their own for large periods in the south of France.

“It is obviously disappointing that we didn’t get anything out of the game, we were fighting hard for that fourth try at the end.” Peel said.

“I can’t fault the effort of the boys, it was just our inaccuracies that hurt us out there, you can’t allow a side of the quality of Bordeaux easy ins and I felt we did that at times.

“Our forwards carried strongly, I thought Fletcher Anderson at eight was excellent, he has been a really good signing for us.

“When we were in their 22 we took our tries well, it was just frustrating that the game got away through our inaccuracies.”

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