Positivity on the pitch after a week of uncertainty off it: Welsh rugby weekend round-up
The four Welsh regions produced a weekend of four positive results after a week of uncertainty, protests, and chaos off the field.
Cardiff and Scarlets secured vital wins at the top and bottom of the United Rugby Championship respectively, while protesting Ospreys fans watched their side earn three points in a captivating draw with the Lions, and Dragons came away from windy Cork with a losing bonus point.
So, who stood out for each of the regions this weekend? Read on to find out…
Sheedy shines in Cardiff victory
It was not a pretty match, but Cardiff kept their spot in the top four of the URC table with a 17-8 defeat of Benetton at the Arms Park.
On a wet and windy night, flyhalf Callum Sheedy was excellent in orchestrating the Cardiff performance, adding three crucial penalties from the tee as well.
Sheedy was left out of the Welsh squad for the Six Nations, with Jarrod Evans preferred ahead of him. If he continues to show the maturity on display here, he will be back before long.
“We speak a lot about fight and enjoyment,” said Sheedy .
“It’s not always going to be pretty and come the end of the season, no one’s going to care what that game looked like; four points, that’s the important thing.
“It’s important we don’t get too carried away with the table but we’re not stupid. We knew this was a big game but there’s a lot of rugby to be played.”
Sheedy also spoke of his sympathy for fellow Welsh rivals Ospreys after the turmoil of the last week.
“I have a few good friends in the Ospreys and thinking of them and hope everything gets resolved for them,” added Sheedy.
“Our squad had a chat on Monday about how we want to go about it and we tried to focus on the rugby side this week.”
Ospreys secure three-point draw but miss opportunity for victory
Ospreys head coach and former Welsh wing Mark Jones described the character of his side as “awesome” as they put the off-field uncertainty aside for 80 minutes to secure a draw against South African outfit Lions.
“Just think what those guys have been through over the last 72 hours to go out there and do that, it’s class,” said Jones.
Both sides had chances to win with Wales fly-half Dan Edwards missing a 79th-minute penalty and Lions wing Angelo Davids spurned a try-scoring chance.
Jones says he was frustrated with the final moments when he thought Ospreys might have been given another penalty.
“We get the opportunity to listen to the referee, while the game is going on,” said Jones.
“There were two calls in there, one from a touch judge and a TMO saying there’s an off-the-ball tackle that would need looking at, but it wasn’t. I will look back at the footage.”
Dragons more value than a losing bonus point in Cork
The phrase ‘a game of two halves’ is often overused, but not on Friday night in Cork with Storm Ingrid rolling into town.
Dragons ‘won’ the first half 7-13 when playing with the wind, but ‘lost’ the second period 15-7, with late kick from home fly-half Tony Butler with five minutes to go breaking the Welsh resistance.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the boys and it was one that got away,” said co-captain Angus O’Brien.
“It was a massive performance from the boys. To come to Munster is never easy, so to narrowly miss out like that shows where we are as a group. We’ve got to take confidence we can come away from home to these places and compete.”
Dragons will look for that elusive win away from Rodney Parade next weekend at the Brewery Field against Ospreys.
“We need to take the positives to roll into a Welsh derby with Ospreys,” added O’Brien.
Costelow’s pass of the season sees Scarlets win late
Sam Costelow gets a lot of stick from Welsh fans but you will not find a Scarlets fan with a bad word to say about him after their 27-22 victory over Ulster.
Costelow produced another performance that puts his hand up for Wales selection, including a fabulous pass to Ellis Mee as the young flyer scored an 83rd minute winner.
Scarlets had not beaten Ulster since 2018 and were 20-22 down well beyond the 80 minutes before Costelow’s moment of magic. The result lifts the West Walian side off the bottom of the URC.
The only dent in Scarlets’ victory was an injury concern to full-back Blair Murray who hobbled off in the second half with Davies unsure of the nature of the injury.
“I don’t think it was too serious but he was struggling so we needed to make that change,” said interim performance director Nigel Davies.
Murray is set to link up with Wales’ Six Nations squad on Monday and will be assessed.
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