Breaking news: Welsh rugby does do the occasional positive weekend.
Really.
It hasn’t always seemed that way this season, what with the miseries of the Six Nations for the senior national team and the U20s, the struggles of the regions and the turmoil off the field, but the weekend that has just passed was unmistakably brighter.
Three of the professional teams won, Wales Women started the Six Nations with an emphatic success and there was a progressive vote for change at the Welsh Rugby Union’s EGM in Port Talbot.
OK, the Dragons didn’t have much to smile about.
But, overall, let's agree that a better few days for the Welsh game has just unfolded.
Welsh rugby
They came, they saw and they largely concurred, with 252 votes cast at Welsh rugby’s emergency general meeting in Port Talbot on Sunday and only seven voting against governance reforms.
It was a result that had to happen for the Welsh game to move forward.
The hope is it will benefit the sport this side of the River Severn because governance should theoretically be much more dynamic and diverse under the new set-up with more independents and women on the board.
What’s clear is the governing body could not have gone on as it was.
The reputational damage done by the allegations of sexism and misogyny within the old governance structure was heavy duty and a vote for the status quo would have sent out a dismal message.
But it didn’t happen and the clubs were wise to ensure that was the case.
With a better governance model — and let’s face it, the bar is not exactly set skyscrapingly high on that count given what’s come before — those same clubs should benefit and so should the regions, women’s rugby and, with increased funding and better coaching, maybe the age-grade system.
A lot of work needs to happen, of course, and no road is ever completely smooth.
And if we say the short-term outlook for the professional game is likely to be challenging, we are not exaggerating.
But Welsh rugby had a good day on Sunday.
It’s now in a better position to move forward.
Alun Wyn Jones and Dan Lydiate
No-one knows for definite whether Alun Wyn Jones and Dan Lydiate were playing their final games at the Swansea.com Stadium for the Ospreys on Saturday.
But if they were, they went out on exactly the right note.
READ MORE: 'Superhuman' Alun Wyn Jones leaves everyone guessing as coach put on the spot over star's future
Both were outstanding in the 37-18 win over the Dragons, turning back the clock and reminding all of their qualities.
Jones was everywhere and a few places more besides.
If he wasn’t popping up on the wing and sending out one-handed offloads, he was in the middle of mauls making a nuisance of himself or joining in passing movements or knocking back Dragons ball-carriers behind the gain-line. At one point, he even took time out to wrestle with opposition prop Lloyd Fairbrother.
Lydiate, too, put in a shift and a half, with a try crowning an effort that featured uncompromising defence, much physicality and excellent support play.
As touched on, it isn’t certain that the pair won’t be seen again in Ospreys colours at the Swansea.com Stadium.
But whatever happens, they have been wonderful servants for the south-west Wales region, among the best of the best, another line that can be written without fear of contradiction.
Keiran Williams and Morgan Morris
Among other players to shine brightly for the Ospreys against the Dragons were Keiran Williams and Morgan Morri
Both were overlooked by Warren Gatland during the Six Nations — Williams made the squad but didn’t feature, while Morris didn’t even get that close, missing out completely when Gatland picked his 37-strong panel back in January.
Wales’ coach was in Swansea to see both players fairly tear it up in the east-west derby.
The Dragons found Williams a handful on the gainline, where he used his power and low-centre of gravity to break tackles, and the centre showed a nice turn of foot to speed 40 or so metres for his try.
Morris also crossed and led the way not only with his carrying up front but also with his decision-making. The No. 8 has an openside’s appetite for turnovers and rare is the Ospreys game that he fails to put a stamp on.
Johnny Williams and Sam Costelow
Wales’ coaches also saw the Scarlets down a fully-loaded Sharks side in Llanelli, a result that qualifies as one of the most impressive of the season by any Welsh region.
The west Walians took their chances and managed the game exceptionally.
Costelow controlled matters with his decision-making and kicking out of hand. There were a series of high balls that possibly came down with a touch of snow on them and South African catchers usually found scarlet-shirted players smashing into them the moment they collected.
Williams caused the Sharks more problems than anyone in that respect and with his physicality generally, the centre invariably breaking the first line of defence and crossing the gainline. He also used his line-speed to kill moves in their infancy.
A nod, also, to Sam Lousi, one of the players of the season in Wales and someone who doesn’t go missing, whatever the opposition.
Wales Women
Just when it had started to seem as if Ireland had forgotten what it’s like to lose at representative level, Wales Women came along to remind them exactly what's involved.
With player-of-the-game Sisilia Tuipulotu immensely powerful in all she did, and the side confident and assured in all they did, Ioan Cunningham’s team were able to run in five tries in front of a record home crowd of 4,962.
Even given that Ireland are a team in transition, it was a hugely encouraging performance from the hosts.
There will be tougher tests ahead, but days like Saturday are to be savoured, confirming that Wales Women have players of talent and are heading firmly in the right direction.
LOSERS
Sio Tomkinson and the Dragons discipline
Had Jack Walsh insulted the city of Newport or the wider Gwent region at any point? Had he taken a swipe at the Brynglas Tunnels or undervalued Newport’s 1963 win over the All Blacks? In another life had he said anything that wasn’t entirely praiseworthy about Keith Jarrett, David ‘Bomber’ Pearce or Arthur ‘Monkey’ Gould?
If even one of those boxes were ticked, it might have partly explained the ferocity with which Dragons players went after Ospreys fly-half Walsh in Swansea.
There again, perhaps not.
In modern rugby it was quite rare to see, a player so obviously targeted for rough treatment by opposition players.
First, Lloyd Fairborther crashed into Walsh with a late shot then Ross Moriarty hit the same player with a shoulder charge so late it prompted thoughts about the letter that was finally delivered by the Royal Mail this year 107 years after it was originally sent.
But the worst of the lot was still to come, with Sio Tomkinson coming up with a high, dangerous and tardy challenge — a stone-cold red card, James Hook called it on Scrum V, adding: “He’s come from five, 10 metres, Tomkinson, and he’s taken his head off”.
It wasn't impressive.
Dragons coach Dai Flanagan said: “Most 10s run the game so if you can put them a stride off then it helps you. We did try to target certain individuals in their team but overstepped the mark.
“Sio and Ross have stood up and taken ownership for the cards. That’s the biggest thing, that you take ownership for your decisions and your mistakes.”
Had Fairbrother, Moriarty and Tomkinson time-travelled back to the 1970s, they may have got away with their antics.
But with all-seeing cameras dotted around pretty much every big ground nowadays there is zero chance of such actions going unpunished.
Walsh left the field looking more than a shade dazed.
Ex-England fly-half Danny Cipriani later took to social media to say: “The limitations the coach must have to encourage this is what should be looked at.”
Well, was the problem related to the Dragons wanting to put pressure on the opposition fly-half?
Or was it down to their ridiculously blunt execution?
Whatever, it was more than a shade primitive and way over the top, and the team paid the price.
The Dragons generally
As well as their indiscipline, the Dragons were poor in their general play, making too many errors in Swansea.
They were unable to get their attacking game going, despite occasional flickers from Steff Hughes; they had issues at the scrum; and they couldn’t impose themselves on the hosts, who didn’t need to be great to get the job done.
The Ospreys also ruled the breakdown, with Sam Parry and Huw Sutton snaffling two turnovers apiece and Morgan Morris, Alun Wyn Jones and Ethan Roots also pinching opposition ball.
Two of their three wins in the United Rugby Championship this season have arrived with Sam Davies in the starting lineup, with the Wales international adding control with his kicking game and playmaking skills, whether from fly-half or full-back. But Davies has started only six times in 2022-23.
The Dragons are still not where they need to be in the front five and they need to tighten up their defensive operation behind the scrum, with one draft of stats suggesting their backs were responsible for 16 missed tackles at the Swansea.com Stadium.
They showed when they beat the Ospreys in October they have the ability to play a high-tempo game with skill and pace.
But this latest effort was disappointing.
Tata Steel
Tata Steel have never given up at any point in their brutally tough Welsh National Championship campaign and for that they deserve a lot of credit.
But they have taken some fearful batterings, not least over the weekend when leaders Pontypool demolished them 93-3 with 15 tries.
The previous weekend they had hosted Pooler.
Unfortunately for them, home advantage didn’t prove telling as they fell 62-0.
That’s 155-3 over two matches, savage by any reckoning.
But Tata will go again this Saturday.
They have lost 18 on the bounce in the league but, small mercies, at least they won’t have to face Pontypool for a while.
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