The Heineken Champions Cup can still be the most unforgiving of tournaments — ask Ulster, riding high in the United Rugby Championship but crushed 39-0 by Sale Sharks in Europe.
Then there’s Racing 92, loaded with big names but wiped out 42-10 at home by Leinster.
Wales’ representatives the Ospreys had a chance to start on the right note against an under-strength Leicester Tigers team in Swansea. But a frustrating performance riddled with errors saw them come unstuck, leaving Toby Booth's men not so much with a mountain to climb over the rest of the pool stages as the entire Himalayas.
There was better fortune for the other Welsh sides in the EPCR European Challenge Cup.
We take a look at the weekend’s winners and losers:
WINNERS
Dwayne Peel
No-one at the Scarlets will be getting too carried away by a European Challenge Cup success over a Bayonne side which contained only two starters from the team that defeated Lyon in the Top 14 a week earlier. Still, as the old cliche runs, a side can only beat what’s in front of them.
The 39-7 victory will give the Scarlets a squirt of confidence when they most needed it, after a start to the season that had seen them win just one out of nine United Rugby Championship games.
It would take a hard heart not to feel pleased for their coach Dwayne Peel, too.
The former Wales scrum-half has endured a tough time since returning to the Scarlets as head coach and there have been times when it has looked as if he’s been carrying the weight of the world upon his shoulders, operating in a Welsh rugby environment riddled with uncertainty and with a squad plagued by injuries, with a number of players not performing at their best. He will know as well as anyone it’s his responsibility to get the best out of those players.
But he was rated as a fine young coach at Ulster and it was good to see the Scarlets playing with smiles on their faces against Bayonne. Momentum is important in rugby and one win can do a lot. There’ll be far tougher tests ahead, but Sunday’s win will lift morale in Llanelli.
Dai Flanagan
Talking of coaches, hats off to Dai Flanagan of the Dragons amid the impressive job he’s doing there. This term, the east Walians have beaten Munster, the Ospreys and thrashed Zebre 47-7.
On Saturday, they drew 31-31 against the Lions in South Africa with half-backs Rhodri Williams and Sam Davies pulling the strings. Hooker Bradley Roberts also caught the eye, along with Harrison Keddie, a heart-and-soul player who rarely has a bad game.
Where the Dragons took a jump forward in the summer was with their recruitment. The hard-hitting Sio Tomkinson is a force to be reckoned with in the three-quarter line, Roberts is a buzz-bomb of a hooker and the likes of Sean Lonsdale and George Nott are proving good value in the back five.
And the relentlessly positive Flanagan is showing up well as head coach, with the players responding to his promptings. He isn’t a shouter, instead preferring to hone in on problems and solve them with skill and analysis. He is also calm and impressive in his media dealings. When they brought the young coach in, the Dragons completed a fine piece of business.
Lloyd Williams
Cardiff have been the top-performing team in Welsh rugby this term, putting behind them the difficulties of last season and playing as though they are enjoying it, which is always a good sign.
They had way too much for a second-string Brive side that contained just one starter from the team which faced Bordeaux-Begles in the Top 14 the previous week. But, as with the Scarlets against Bayonne, that wasn’t Cardiff’s problem. The best way to tutor clubs who send out weakened sides in Europe is to thrash them, and Dai Young’s players did exactly that to Brive on Saturday evening, handing out a 41-0 hiding.
There were plenty of fine performances, with Josh Adams, Thomas Young, Kristian Dacey and Ben Thomas among those standing out and Lloyd Williams claiming the man-of-the-match award on his 250th appearance for the club. Williams has been a great club servant, consistent and hard-working, performing on tough days for the team and when the side are on top, with his mastery of the basics ensuring his performance levels rarely dip. He scored a try in the round one match to crown another rock-solid personal effort.
Dai Young later said the players were determined to get the right result for him, and they duly delivered. A fine show, then, from all concerned.
Nicky Smith
There wasn’t much for the Ospreys to be excited about as they fell at home to a Leicester team that arrived missing key players, but their starting front row should be exempted from any criticism.
Nicky Smith, Scott Baldwin and Tomas Francis dominated the scrum contest, with Smith, in particular, having his direct opponent on toast, forcing a stream of penalties out of Joe Heyes. Eventually, the referee tired of Heyes’ transgressions and dispatched him to the sin bin.
For Smith, it was the ideal way to respond after Wales questionably left him on the sidelines for all but 35 minutes of the recent autumn series.
Anthony Watson
It just needs to be said: What a superb solo try against the Ospreys in Swansea. Watson is a jewel of a player, capable of shining in any company.
A young Leicester team were magnificently committed in south-west Wales, drawing on their club’s finest traditions. But the one moment of true class came from the experienced Watson, who collected the ball some 45 metres out and proceeded to befuddle the home defence in a blaze of shimmies, steps and smooth acceleration.
Brilliance wins all arguments.
Wales’ Gloucester-Hartpury contingent
There was something to be pleased about from a Welsh perspective in England, with Gloucester-Hartpury Women inflicting the heaviest-ever Premiers 15s defeat on champions Saracens.
The victors’ Welsh contingent were to the fore, with fly-half Lleucu George player of the match.
In the starting team were also Wales captain Hannah Jones at centre, hooker Kelsey Jones, lock Gwen Crabb and flanker Bethan Lewis, while Cara Hope, Sisilia Tuipulotu, Siwan Lillicrap and Lisa Neumann were on the bench. All helped their side pile up an eye-popping 53-7 victory.
LOSERS
Ospreys
Toby Booth once proclaimed that he had always been a glass half-full kind of guy. It seems safe to assume his relentless positivity is being tested right now.
Losing to a below-strength Leicester Tigers team at home was a bad moment for the Ospreys. True, the Tigers have fight and defiance in their DNA and are never an easy side to beat.
But with a crushing advantage at the scrum and an edge in the lineouts, the Welsh side should have prevailed. Their pack won 56 percent of the possession and in the likes of Morgan Morris and Scott Baldwin they had strong forward performers on the day, while Rhys Webb and Alex Cuthbert had their moments behind.
It wasn’t enough. Simple mistakes undermined the Ospreys’ game with their skill levels letting them down. They lacked creativity beyond their half-backs and had no one with the class of Anthony Watson. Both Leicester tries should have been prevented, while in attack the Welsh team were predictable, relying too much on the bludgeon without having one true power-carrier up front and lacking imagination outside Webb and Jack Walsh in the back line.
The challenge for Booth is to breathe life into a side low on confidence and short of poise, but it’s an understatement to say the Ospreys' next six fixtures are challenging, with French champions Montpellier to be faced home and away, Leicester to be taken on in the East Midlands, the Scarlets and Leinster to be hosted in Swansea and in-form Cardiff to be visited on New Year’s Day.
But a win or two is the minimum requirement to calm those who are understandably getting a shade unsettled at the way the Ospreys’ season is panning out.
Welsh professional rugby
A new coach for Wales and an announcement of a verbal agreement to break the impasse at the top of Welsh rugby. Cause for positivity?
Well, Warren Gatland knows how to win and there’s hope that he will start the process of turning around the men's national team’s fortunes. He’ll know it won’t be easy, though.
And let’s not get too excited until signatures are inked onto paper on the matter of a fresh agreement for finance in Welsh pro rugby. These matters should have been resolved long before now.
Meanwhile, fires continue to rage, with Will Rowlands leaving Welsh rugby next season and Max Llewellyn also packing his suitcase, while Gareth Anscombe appears to be a target for Pau.
The longer Welsh rugby waits for an arrangement that allows the four Welsh professional teams to know their budgets and recruit and retain players, the more damaging the situation will become.
It’s dismal that it’s dragged on for so long. Dismal and unacceptable.
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