The Six Nations may still be two months away but there has already been plenty of debate over who should wear No.10 for Wales.

With Dan Biggar having retired from international rugby, Gareth Anscombe unavailable due to his commitments in Japan, and Sam Costelow injured, now is a good time for candidates to make themselves known.

That was exactly what Ioan Lloyd did for the Scarlets in their 29-23 victory over Cardiff at the Arms Park at the weekend.

The latest URC derby was an ideal time for Lloyd to state his case and his regional coach Dwayne Peel reckoned the former Bristol player did just that.

“He was outstanding,” said Peel.

“He is electric in attack. He’s box office and he lit up that game.

“People coming to watch that match – either Scarlets or Cardiff fans – will have thought ‘Bloody hell, he’s good’.

“You have your heart in your mouth sometimes when you see him running from behind your own sticks in a derby, but that’s great.

“As a coach, you are half watching the game with your hands on your head because you don’t know what he’s going to do next, but then the other half you are celebrating what he’s doing.

“He’s growing all the time as a 10 and I thought he was excellent. That was his best performance for us. He is such a threat with ball in hand.”

The Scarlets led 19-14 at the break with skipper Gareth Davies crossing twice from scrum-half, while Cardiff had flanker Ellis Jenkins red carded for a tip tackle on opposite number Dan Davis on 28 minutes.

Final quarter tries from wing Steff Evans and full-back Johnny McNicholl sealed the win for the visitors with the boot of fly-half Tinus de Beer earning a losing bonus point for Cardiff.

Cardiff head coach Matt Sherratt: said “We started the game on fire but the red card undoubtedly had a bearing on the game.

“To stick in it for just over 50 minutes with 14 men and get a point out of it shows the character of the team.

“I would not say I am pleased but it is the seventh game we have got something from this season.”

A cruel bounce of the rugby ball did for the Ospreys after they looked set to cause a major upset at Benetton Rugby’s Stadio di Monigo fortress.

 

Having led for much of the second half, they were level at 13-all when a huge kick downfield by the Italian side bounced up in the Ospreys 22 and hit Owen Williams in the head before going out for a home line-out.

That gave them the platform from which they conjured up the winning try four minutes from time for replacement full back Giacomo De Re as the Italians won 18-13.

Ospreys coach Toby Booth claimed: “You could tell what it meant to Benetton as they celebrated at the end as if they had won the World Cup.

“My overriding emotion is pride, with a tinge of frustration. Sport can be cruel, but a lot of our young players will learn from that.”

Despite an improved performance, the Dragons suffered a 49-24 defeat to Emirates Lions who feasted off the visitors’ mistakes to cruise to a bonus point victory in Johannesburg.

Dragons coach Dai Flanagan was looking for a reaction after last week’s heavy defeat in Durban against the Sharks, but his side paid dearly for not treating possession with respect.

“We were just really inaccurate. It’s frustrating because there were opportunities galore,” said Flanagan.

“We’ve just got to catch the ball, we’ve just got to make a tackle, we’ve got to work on that individually and collectively.

“It’s a massive missed opportunity for us, purely through accuracy, both sides of the ball.”