A troubled regional rugby campaign in Wales ended on a suitably flat note, with defeats for all four of the professional sides.
Ominously for Wales head coach Wayne Pivac, less than six weeks out from the start of a Test series against the Springboks, three of the setbacks came against South African opposition.
There was silverware for the Ospreys to celebrate after lifting the Welsh Shield and qualifying for the Heineken Champions Cup, but even amid the taste of relative success, Toby Booth’s side will not — or should not — be tempted to succumb to any delusions of grandeur, after a game against the Bulls that showed they still have considerable scope for improvement.
Read more: The mini-Wales team bidding to be crowned England's best side
And while the Scarlets gave it their best shot against the Stormers, Cardiff came up with arguably the worst Welsh regional performance of the season — it’s a seriously crowded field, mind — in shipping 69 points to Benetton, with the Dragons not up to the mark, either.
MARK ORDERS picks out the winners and losers.
WINNERS
Ospreys
The script didn’t exactly pan out as Toby Booth’s side would have wanted on Friday evening, with the Bulls winning at the Swansea.com Stadium.
For much of the game, the South African team were a cut above, boasting serious power up front and extreme pace behind. The captain Marcell Coetzee was to the fore in the physical battle, along with the loose-head prop Gerhard Steenekamp, while centre Cornal Hendricks looked a different class.
At one point it seemed the Welsh team might be blown away, with immensely strong opposition forwards eating up ground when they carried and the back line having a cutting edge.
But the Ospreys didn’t give up.
They stayed in the fight, their effort exemplified by Morgan Morris and Jac Morgan, two young forwards who gamely tried to take the game to the visitors, while Sam Parry made an impact off the bench.
Reward came with two late tries that earned them crucial bonus points.
Booth’s side could still do with more creativity and plenty else besides, but the final round of the regular URC season showed there’s nothing wrong with their character.
Luke Morgan
It would be wrong to suggest every casual rugby observer would know chapter and verse about Luke Morgan. He may have played for Wales, against Scotland in 2018, but since then he hasn't featured and there has been no obvious sign of the situation changing.
But the wing Wales have forgotten about proved himself the star of the Welsh rugby weekend.
There was the expert finish that saw Morgan latch on to a manufactured kick to the corner from Gareth Anscombe, preceding a game attempt at stopping Cornal Hendricks from claiming his hat-trick try. The TMO awarded the score, but Morgan's effort had been little short of sensational.
The piece de resistance was still to come.
With the Ospreys trailing 38-24 and the clock heading for full-time, the 30-year-old plucked a South African pass out of the air before racing 60 metres for his second try and the score that help the Llandarcy-based region reel in the two bonus points which ultimately won them the Welsh Shield and a place in next season's Heineken Champions Cup.
As he lined up for the restart after his own touchdown a minute earlier, Sam Parry could be seen urging his team-mates to bag another try, saying: "One more."
It looked a big ask, with just seconds remaining.
But Morgan delivered.
For him, it was an outstanding end to the campaign.
Nick Tompkins
Maybe he has been the form Welsh centre this season, both for club and country.
He was at it again on Saturday, bossing matters for Saracens as they beat Northampton 42-38 in the Gallagher Premiership. Not only did Tompkins score a try, he also put in 12 passes and made 9 runs for 107 metres amid four clean breaks and five defenders beaten.
It was an exceptional performance from a player who quietly shone for Wales in the autumn and Six Nations without always getting the recognition he deserved.
His industry is something to behold and he never goes missing in action.
Perhaps it's time to enjoy his play a bit more.
South Wales Police RFC
They were once a hugely respected force in Welsh rugby, with internationals in their ranks and a perfectly located base where the Wales squad trained. You can read what's happened to the famous old Waterton Cross ground here.
South Wales Police boasted in their ranks the man who led Wales to a Triple Crown in 1988, namely Bleddyn Bowen, while at various points they supplied richly talented players such as Richie Collins, Richie Donovan, Ian Hall, Steve Sutton, Hugh Williams-Jones, Martyn Morris and Rowland Phillips to the national cause.
But professionalism changed the landscape for the Police, who withdrew from Welsh rugby's league structure in 2012 because they couldn't raise a team. Sadly, the news barely registered on the wider sport's radar in these parts.
Still, the welcome was always warm at Waterton Cross for opposition players and supporters.
You have to be a certain age to remember those halycon days.
Now, however, there's another notable triumph to cheer with the club of Bowen, Sutton, Ian Hall, Collins and Co winning the British Police Cup, pipping the Metropolitan Police 38-34 in the final at Stourbridge. Trailing 24-12 at half-time, they showed serious resolve to fight their way back and take the spoils.
Among those congratulating them on social media was their former skipper, the aforementioned Bowen.
A fine effort, then, from all concerned.
Scarlets props (and extras)
On paper, it appeared a total mismatch: young Steffan Thomas and the not completely heralded Javan Sebastian against the world renowned Steven Kitshoff, possibly the finest loosehead prop on the planet, and Frans Malherbe, a tighthead who, in the past and for good reason, has been described as ‘monstrous’.
But the Scarlets front-row duo emerged with credit from the encounter.
Sure, the home scrum did creak once or twice against the Stormers but largely Thomas and Sebastian gave a more-than-decent account of themselves.
Cut out wide to Ryan Conbeer, left out of the Wales squad for South Africa.
He’s a young player who’s made huge progress this season and he caused Stormers problems with his hard running. There were two line busts and five defenders beaten in a display that confirmed his promise.
A word, too, about Jac Price, a young lock who doesn’t stop tackling. If he keeps developing he, too, could be a player to watch.
Second-tier European rugby next season will be hard for the west Walians to stomach.
But their understrength team had a real go on Saturday evening.
LOSERS
Cardiff
How a team ends a season matters.
It matters because it shapes the mood of supporters and everyone at a club over the months to follow.
We can safely assume few at Cardiff Rugby are happy with life today. How could they be after a team wearing their colours made Benetton look like the All Blacks last Friday evening?
The 69-21 defeat was one of the most dismal results in the long and distinguished history of Cardiff rugby.
It is true that a lot of players were missing and youth was given a fling behind, but Dai Young’s starting side still contained 10 internationals with four more on the bench. There were players who looked so far off the pace they were in danger of being lapped and Cardiff folded when their Italian opponents upped the pressure. You can read more about the match here.
It was a dreadful performance that should prompt serious soul-searching among coaches, players and all who are part of the show at the Arms Park.
Dragons
And so another miserable season winds to a close at Rodney Parade, with the Dragons failing to win one home match from September to May.
They are a side who have a broken mindset.
On a good day, they can play attractive rugby. They did so against Connacht earlier in the season and against the Scarlets in Llanelli. Against the Ospreys in Swansea earlier this month, there was also much to admire about their running and passing. And all but two of their players managed to get into double figures in terms of metres made from ball carrying against the Lions on Saturday.
But Dean Ryan’s team are inconsistent in their play, following up something good with something bad, a trait that blights the play of a number of individuals in their side. They also appear devoid of belief that they can win. Too often, as an ex-Wales international said to this writer on Sunday morning, they look beaten before they even take the field.
It isn’t easy for the lamentably underfunded Welsh regions, but even taking the huge financial challenges into account, the Dragons have been dire over the past eight months.
Next term there has to be an improvement.
Ditching the Ospreys
It wouldn't be a great look, would it, cutting the region that has just finished top of the pile in Wales and has out-performed their Welsh rivals on the field for much of the regional era?
That would be the Ospreys, the first Welsh Shield winners and Wales' representatives in the Heineken Champions Cup next season.
It just seems odd that they are even being touted as potential fall guys amid the financial issues that engulf the Welsh professional game, and particularly given the mediocre efforts in other areas of Welsh regional rugby.
Only in Wales could such a thought even be entertained.
Regional rugby in Wales needs vision and ideas on how to generate more money and attract more investment. It needs dynamic leadership, too, with the Welsh Rugby Union needing to up their game in that respect — we're talking serious understatement there — and the Professional Rugby Board needing to avoid being snared by narrow self-interest.
Sadly, there is little to inspire hope of positive outcomes on those fronts to help transform the professional game in Wales for the better.
Myopia seems to rule, OK.
It's beyond disappointing.
Wayne Pivac
It seems safe to assume the weekend was sobering for Wales' head coach.
Three Welsh teams lost to South African sides ahead of Wales’ summer tour to the republic and the other professional side were crushed by Italian opposition.
The Ospreys found it hard to cope with the Bulls in Swansea, with the Stormers having too much for the Scarlets a day later and the Dragons succumbing to the Lions. The less said the better from a Welsh perspective about Cardiff’s annihilation at the hands of Benetton.
It's worrying for Pivac. Between them the Ospreys and Scarlets had 15 summer tourists in their ranks but few of them were eight out of 10 performers. The Ospreys were given a stern test in the scrums, while pressure forced the Scarlets to miss 32 tackles a day later. The South African sides were not only carried a lot of muscle, they also had sure handlers who could pick open defences with speed and invention.
And, potentially, plenty of those in winning South Africa teams over the weekend will not even feature for the Springboks this summer, with others rated above them.
Pivac, then, has much to ponder.
Rhys Patchell
The saddest sight of the weekend?
That would be Rhys Patchell limping off in the Scarlets’ game against the Stormers.
Days earlier he’d been named in Wales’ squad to tour South Africa. But ill-fortune never seems far away for the fly-half.
Now he’ll anxiously await an update on the severity of his latest bump.
The hope is it’ll be good news.
Anything else would be cruel.
