Darren Powell reviews the weekend action involving the Welsh sides.
Leinster put on a second-half show to slay the Dragons
On Friday night the Dragons travelled to The Aviva Stadium where Leinster will be playing their home games this season, all whilst the RDS is undergoing renovations.
Leinster had previously played at the Aviva Stadium winning on 28 occasions prior to this game.
The Dragons came into this game feeling confident after beating the Ospreys in the dying stages last week. It was a special occasion for Leinster as Irish prop Cian Healy was making his 281st appearance for the club.
First Half
After a slow start for both teams, it was Leinster who crossed for the first try of the evening with Number eight, Jack Conan crossing over from a line out in the 18th minute.
Seven minutes later it was a the Dragons’ turn to get on the score board with fly-half Lloyd Evans successfully kicking a penalty to cut the deficit.
Then after 36 minutes Ross Byrne went over for Leinster’s second try of the evening to give Leinster a 10-6 lead at the break.
Second Half
It took just four minutes for Leinster to score their third try of the evening after the TMO confirmed that Max Deegan had grounded the ball over the line.
Then two minutes later, a quick-thinking lineout move saw Joe McCarthy crash over to stretch the lead to 24-6 going into the final 15 minutes.
The fifth score came via Jordan Larmour before winger Aitzol King strolled over for the sixth try of the evening for the home side in the final moments of the game.
Final Score Leinster 34-6 Dragons
Cardiff overcome shaky start to take Welsh Derby
It was the second weekend of the season and it was another Welsh Derby and this time it was West against East as Llanelli was the venue on Saturday.
It was a special occasion for scrum-half Gareth Davies who was making his 250th appearance for the Scarlets.
First Half
It took just 13 seconds for the Scarlets to open the scoring as centre Macs page who was only making his second appearance for the home side collected a deflected kick from Cardiff full back Cam Winnett and the centre ran in to score the opening try of the game. The conversion was added by Sam Costelow to make it 7-0 Scarlets.
Moments later the Scarlets added to the score when Costelow kicked a penalty.
Moments later it was Taine Plumtree who had an easy walk in to score the Scarlets second try of the afternoon.
It took Cardiff 17 minutes to get on the score sheet as captain Liam Belcher went over after a driving line out.
Some nice passing saw winger Mason Grady cross for Cardiff’s second try of the afternoon to cut the lead to three at the break.
Second Half
It took 56 minutes for Cardiff to score their third try of the game after Ryan Elias was sent to the Sin bin after a high tackle was picked up by the referee.
Then a scrum was brought down by Alec Hepburn after a few scrum penalties which then went against Hepburn and he was sent to the Sin Bin.
That then resulted in Cardiff passing it a few times and replacement winger Harri Millard crossed for Cardiff’s third try.
Then Sam Costelow had the chance to put the Scarlets back in front but his penalty was wide of the posts and it remained 15-17 to Cardiff.
Then on 62 minutes an entail kick by Cardiff centre Ben Thomas which was then charged down by Dan Thomas and then went backwards from Mason Grady.
It was then centre Thomas who gathered the ball and he managed to hand off a few Scarlets players and he scored for the fourth try of the afternoon.
Dan Edwards on song to give Ospreys a big win in Bridgend
It was the Ospreys first home game of the season but it wasn’t the Swansea.com stadium that was the venue for this match as the fixture had to be played else where due to a clash of fixtures between Swansea city playing at home, so it was Bridgend that played host on Saturday evening and the Ospreys had also named this fixture Brewery fest, BRAAI Edition which the abbreviation word Braai, meaning ‘grilled meat’.
First Half
It took the Stormers just five minutes to open the scoring in Bridgend after some nice hands saw winger Leolin Zas cross over.
The conversion was successful as the Stormers led 7-0 after 6 minutes.
It took the Ospreys 8 minutes to score their first points of the evening after a successful penalty by Dan Edwards.
It was a penalty by Jurie Mattee who extended the Stormers advantage by another three points.
Some lovely footwork by Ospreys centre Owen Watkin and a lovely offload was eventually saw captain Jac Morgan score the first try for the Ospreys.
Second Half
Five minutes into the second half a cool as you like drop goal by full back Damian Willemse saw the Stormers added to their lead.
Moments later it was a lovely kick through by Justin Tipuric which put the Stormers on the back foot five metres out from there try line.
Three minutes after the Ospreys scored their second try of the evening as scrum-half Reuben Morgan-Williams, on his 100th appearance, went over after some great pressure by the home side.
Three minutes later it was Dan Edwards who was calm as you like as he slotted over a lovely drop goal which saw the Ospreys move three points clear.
It was then scrum half Reuben Morgan-Williams with a lovely chip over the top and then it was re-gathered by Morgan-Williams who then calmly offloaded to Dan Edwards who went under the sticks.
JD Schickerling then went over for the visitors after an entail drive to the line to cut the lead to six points with under the minutes to play.
But Ospreys sealed the win with a catch and drive maul which the Stormers collapsed, resulting in referee Andrew brace going straight over to award the Ospreys a penalty try.
A fact from the game was that Dan Edwards became just the third Ospreys player to score a try, convert , score a penalty and a drop goal in the same United Rugby Championship match after James Hook and Dan Biggar, who both did it twice.
