The dust has settled on another European weekend and two Welsh sides are still standing in the EPCR Challenge Cup, while Wales Women continued their strong start to the Six Nations.
Cardiff reached the last eight in Europe with a rousing performance to see off Sale Sharks, while the Scarlets booked their spot by beating Brive.
The Ospreys were leading deep into the third quarter in the Champions Cup against Saracens, only for the English side to finish strongly and take the honours 35-20 in Barnet.
And for the Dragons, there was a boatload of disappointment as they shipped 73 points away to Glasgow.
Here, then, are the weekend’s rugby winners and losers:
WINNERS
Rhys Priestland
Let's start with arguably the Welsh player of the weekend.
Cardiff had any number of individuals who could fairly take their places in a queue for the man-of-the-match award in their EPCR Challenge Cup encounter with Sale.
Taulupe Faletau didn’t miss a beat in defence and continually took his side forward with ball in hand, the starting props Corey Domachowski and Keiron Assiratti did a demolition job on their direct opponents, Mason Grady ran elusively and Josh Adams threatened whenever possession came his way. Sale also didn’t have a clue what the bewilderingly unpredictable Jarrod Evans would do next.
But maybe special mention should go to Rhys Priestland. He will blow out 37 candles on his next birthday cake but age evidently doesn’t mean much to him because he is playing as well as ever. Against Sale, he had the game on a string, with his kicking out of hand putting Cardiff in good positions and his ability to identify gaps in the defence and surge through them often quite startling.
Frequently, it seemed Sale defenders had to get to him, but more often than not they couldn’t. He seemed to have the protection of some sort of invisible forcefield.
Maybe it’s experience and sharp rugby intelligence that helps to buy him that split second of time and extra metre of space. Whatever it is, the veteran guided Cardiff to a memorable victory.
Cardiff’s tribute
When Cardiff had lost an EDF Energy Cup semi-final to the Ospreys and Peter Thomas strayed into the mixed zone at the then named Millennium Stadium, just a journalist or two remained. The year was 2007 and there had been external pressure building on the Arms Park team.
“Is Dai Young’s position safe?” someone enquired of Thomas.
The then Cardiff chairman found it hard to believe the question was even being asked, composing himself before replying: “Dai's position is a hundred percent bomb proof — a hundred percent nuclear proof, even.
“I know the man. I know what he puts in and gives to this region. He has experience and works tirelessly.
“In rugby, we want to avoid the sort of culture that puts all the blame on the coach when things do not go as we would have wanted. No-one is more elated when we win than Dai, but when we lose there is no-one who is more disappointed.”
What coach wouldn’t want to work for a man like Thomas, knowledgeable about rugby, appreciative of effort, kind and utterly fair?
His passing last week saw a light go out in Welsh rugby. But the club did him proud with their tribute before the match and the performance of their players during it. It was fitting in every respect.
Sisilia Tuipulotu
A tighthead prop who carries 20 times in a game is a rare specimen indeed. One who scores tries is even harder to find. But Wales Women have exactly that player in their ranks in Sisilia Tuipulotu.
On Saturday, the 19-year-old powered over for a brace of tries and banged in a score of carries, according to one draft of statistics. They were invariably hard-yards charges, too, with the converted second row taking Wales over the gain-line.
The Welsh Rugby Union’s website lists her at 5ft 9in and 17st 7lb. Opponents struggle to stop her because of her relatively low centre of gravity and she has now banked successive player-of-the-game awards. She is Wales' new star.
She wasn’t alone in delivering for Wales in their 34-22 win over Scotland in Edinburgh, mind.
Fellow prop Gwenllian Pyrs also crossed twice, carried 15 times and achieved a turnover, while hooker Kelsey Jones made 42 metres with ball in hand and the back five of the pack tackled themselves to a standstill with openside Alex Callender leading the way.
Behind, half-backs Keira Bevan and Elinor Snowsill posed repeated problems for the home defence in Edinburgh.
England next up on April 15 in Cardiff will be a markedly tougher test, but for the moment Wales can savour their unbeaten start in this Six Nations, with the triumph in the Scottish capital following the win over Ireland.
"I was jumping up and down, the same as everybody else in the crowd last week. It was a fantastic performance and a fantastic start for them," acting Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Nigel Walker said.
Happy days, then.
The unheralded import and a player Gatland overlooked in Six Nations
The names and deeds of the Ospreys’ past overseas imports continue to resonate long after their departure from the Llandarcy-based region, with Filo Tiatia, Marty Holah, Jerry Collins, Stefan Terblanche and Justin Marshall among them.
When Ethan Roots arrived in 2021, he did so without much fanfare.
But he’s had a fine season and on Sunday against Saracens in Barnet the back rower came up with a performance even the likes of Tiatia, Collins and Holah would have been happy to sign off. Roots achieved four possession steals, made ground as a ball carrier and clattered everything that moved in black, with some of his 17 hits driving Saracens players backwards and in one case clean off the field.
Sadly for the Ospreys, it was announced on Monday afternoon that he's leaving to join Exeter Chiefs at the end of the season.
If he was their top-performing player in the Heineken Champions Cup loss, not far behind were Morgan Morris and Sam Parry up front and Keiran Williams behind, while Nicky Smith excelled around the field.
How good was Williams? The piledriving centre helped set up the first try with two line busts and scored the second. There were also crash tackles, raw physical commitment and strong work over the ball. Here was a player sending Warren Gatland a message with bells on.
Just because he didn’t feature in the Six Nations doesn’t mean he should be forgotten about in World Cup selection. Right now, he looks as exciting a centre as there is in Welsh rugby.
Ospreys supporters
They travelled in numbers and made themselves heard and seen, with their black flags fluttering in the spring breeze. Really, they couldn’t have done much more to help their side. On the day it wasn’t to be for Toby Booth's team, though.
But as the players left the field and fans drifted away for the journey home, thoughts turned once again as to why so many people this side of the River Severn would like to see an Anglo-Welsh league come about.
It isn’t that United Rugby Championship lacks quality. It obviously doesn’t, with Leinster and the South Africans among the competing sides. For the avoidance of doubt, those are among the best non-international teams in the world.
But the lack of away supporters is a perennial problem and the situation isn’t going to improve any decade soon.
Scarlets
The weather was poor and the Scarlets found it hard to display their customary panache, but they rolled their sleeves up and got the job done in their EPCR Challenge Cup round of 16 clash with Brive. Even in the rain, there was much to admire about their effort.
A resurgent Gareth Davies looked sharp and alert, while Tom Rogers, Steff Evans, Ryan Conbeer and Johnny Williams all had their moments as runners. There were also strong displays from Sam Lousi, Sione Kalamafoni and Josh Macleod and a deserved man-of-the-match gong for Vaea Fifita, with the big forward crowning his effort by racing over from long range for what we must style as a trademark effort, so often have we seen him scoring thus.
Knockout rugby is about finding a way, and the Scarlets did exactly that against stubborn opponents. A home tie this weekend against Clermont Auvergne will be tougher still, but the Scarlets have momentum and confidence.
LOSERS
Dragons
Once, the Manchester Evening News’ Saturday sports paper, the pink ‘un, responded to a 7-3 defeat for Manchester United with a headline informing its readers: “Reds in 10-goal thriller.”
The Dragons over the weekend? Sadly for them, no-one wrote about a 106-point humdinger of a game when the Gwent team visited Glasgow at the weekend and ended up on the wrong end of a 73-33 hammering.
Once again, indiscipline let them down, with the Newport-based side having a man sent off for the third successive game. Malicious intent didn't seem involved when Aki Seiuli made head contact with Peter Horne when attempting a clearout, but it was still careless with red card written all over it and he followed team-mates Sio Tomkinson and Matthew Screech in hitting disciplinary trouble.
Glasgow had started to apply pressure at the scrum even before Seiuli went off and they boasted a driving maul that caused the Welsh side a world of problems as hooker Johnny Matthews helped himself to five tries, plenty of them from that facet of play.
Dragons also missed 30 tackles out of 103 attempts, figures that will disappoint their coaches.
Even given their injuries, they will know they can do better. A lot better.
Nika Amashukeli
The Georgian referee awarded 21 penalties in the Saracens v Ospreys game, 15 of them against the visitors.
Everyone knows officials have difficult jobs, but it just seemed a lot of borderline calls went against Toby Booth’s team. Booth isn’t known for taking aim at referees and ultimately Saracens were too strong for their Welsh opponents, but the Ospreys coach could have been forgiven for feeling more than a shade frustrated.
Ospreys mistakes
If the Ospreys were to win in Barnet they had to keep mistakes to a minimum and take whatever chances were on offer.
For much of the opening half they did exactly that, looking impressively clinical as they ruthlessly converted two opportunities in the first 23 minutes.
But shortly after they blew a third chance when knocking on at a maul and later on there was a huge momentum swing when a Dewi Lake lineout throw was picked up, Saracens broke upfield and put the ball into touch, only for Rhys Webb to opt for a quick throw that somehow found its way into the hands of home replacement Duncan Taylor, who crossed unopposed.
Fair play, Webb accepted responsibility later, saying: "It was just on me. I thought he put his hand up to call for it. Instinct. It is what it is."
But Booth is evidently of the mind that the Ospreys win as a team and lose as a team, with the coach declining to play the blame game. “When you play Saracens, you have to take them out of their rhythm. You have to force a bit,” he said. “We knew we would have to do it our way. A lot of those things worked well for us. In that instance, it didn't. But we have no regrets."
The right words, for sure. And his side did a lot of good things over the 80 minutes, but not quite enough.
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