Welsh rugby's South African misery continues apace with the Ospreys and Dragons conceding exactly 100 points between them in the republic.
The Ospreys lost 45-15 against the Lions, with their fellow region going down 55-20 against the Bulls. But it wasn't grim news all the way from a Welsh regional perspective, as Scarlets got the job done in Italy against Zebre Parma, while Cardiff defeated Glasgow Warriors at home.
And Wales Women were outstanding in coming from behind to beat Ireland in the Six Nations.
Read more: Wales team stun Irish in Dublin
Rugby correspondent Mark Orders runs through the weekend's winners and losers:
WINNERS
Wales Women
The Welsh men’s team may have swerved badly off the road in Dublin last month, but Wales Women had no such problems as they defeated Ireland 27-19. It was a superb victory for the team led by Siwan Lillicrap.
Wales were playing their first Six Nations game with full-time professional players and part-time semi-pros after the awarding of contracts in January. And they pulled off a success which saw them dominate up front in the second half to overturn a 14-5 interval deficit.
Alisha Butchers proved the star of the show with a powerful display from the back row which helped Wales break a seven-match losing streak in the competition. But, really, Ioan Cunningham’s team boasted fine performers all over the pitch.
“We felt a bit more pressure coming into this campaign now that we’re professional, but rightly so,” said Butchers. “I’m lucky enough to have a contract and I can give my all to this sport. The growth in the last 12 months has been incredible.”
Wales have an opportunity to build on their win with a home game against Scotland next weekend, before they clash on the road with an England side who are strongly fancied to win the tournament.
What position do you expect Wales Women to finish in the Six Nations this year? Have your say in the comments section here.
Tom Lampard
It’s proving a season of milestones from Cross Keys forward Tom Lampard. Earlier this term the back-five forward enjoyed a celebratory occasion when he made his 400th appearance for the Gwent club.
Now he has drawn level with club legend Richie Donovan’s long-standing record of 412 Keys’ appearances. ‘The Don’ wouldn’t have minded one jot. Indeed, before he passed away in 2020, he urged Lampard to try to relegate him in Keys’ appearance list.
Many of Lampard’s appearances have been at flanker but he has moved up to lock in recent times. Earlier in his career he turned out on the wing and also in the centre for the former Merit Table club. He is the current Keys captain.
He is also considered invaluable to the cause. “We’ve had old timers in the bar on a Sunday morning and when they pick their greatest Keys XVs of all time, Tommy is always one of those chosen,” team manager Mark Prangell has told WalesOnline. “Don’t forget: we’ve had players like Lloyd Burns, Toby Faletau and Jeff Squire play for us.
“Tommy has won all the player of the year awards at various points, whether handed out by coaches, fellow players or supporters, and he’s also picked up the clubman-of-the-year gong. When our clubhouse was flooded by Storm Dennis, Tom was one of the first to turn up on the Monday. He had all his tools — he’s a self-employed tradesman — and worked all week at the club, helping out. He’s a true clubman and a top bloke.”
Keys marked the occasion on Saturday with a 34-18 win over Glamorgan Wanderers. Lampard scored a try. The suspicion is there was a ripple of applause. Maybe even a thunderous ovation around the ground. A great club servant would have deserved it.
Scarlets/Joe Roberts
The Scarlets had been having a tough old time of it, what with the Covid-related issues they encountered in South Africa before Christmas. They were fired up and ready to go against host teams who would have been missing their current Springbok internationals. But Omicron intervened. The Scarlets were quarantined at a key stage of the season, saw their European campaign badly affected and their United Rugby Championship season didn’t exactly get off to a flyer. Then, when they went back to South Africa, they were facing fully-loaded home teams.
Dwayne Peel’s side are not out of the woods yet: the coach will be annoyed to have conceded three tries to basement boys Zebre Parma at the weekend. But there were also encouraging signs.
Sione Kalamafoni and Sam Lousi — where would the Scarlets be without those two this season? — both played well, Tomas Lezana and Blade Thomson also had their moments, young forwards Jac Price and Kemsley Mathias caught the eye, along with wings Ryan Conbeer and Corey Baldwin, with Gareth Davies taking the official man of the match award.
Maybe brightest of all was the effort from youngster Joe Roberts in midfield, with the Coleg Sir Gar product proving a quick and punchy runner and a nice passer. He looks a player who could be developed. While he may have been turned over once or twice too often, he appeared comfortable in the senior set-up and Scarlets supporters were right to regard him later as potentially having a significant future.
Cardiff Rugby
As with the Scarlets, they could have been forgiven for feeling downbeat after two thrashings in South Africa. But they are a different side at home with the atmosphere inside the Arms Park positively vibrant these days.
On Saturday, they performed impressively to send Glasgow Warriors homeward tae think again. They were trailing 28-15 on 55 minutes but hit back to take the game at 32-28 with Willis Halaholo outstanding.
The turning point was the yellow card for the Scottish team’s Argentinian wing Sebastian Cancellier, but Cardiff also made the result happen with strong performances across the park. Their backline looked good from nine to 15.
Halaholo deserved his man-of-the-match award. He had limited game-time in the Six Nations and failed to make the most of his chance against Italy, but he was never less than threatening against Glasgow, beating defenders for fun, making ground and doing well to cope with Kyle Steyn and Sam Johnson in the opposition midfield.
Jarrod Evans also showed glimpses of the creativity plenty feel should secure him a place in the Wales squad, while Theo Cabango’s potential would be evident to a visiting Martian.
There was also a big effort from James Ratti: 16 tackles, 16 carries, 36 metres made. There isn’t anything fantastically complicated about Ratti’s game, but if a team needs a grafter who’ll take the ball forward and keep working in defence, he’s the man whose number it would help to have on speed dial. We’ll consider him a shade unlucky not to win a cap in the Six Nations, then.
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LOSERS
Ospreys
“It was painful,” admitted Toby Booth after the Ospreys were swept aside 45-15 by the Lions in Johannesburg. “We knew what we had to be good at, and we weren’t good enough for long periods. That’s very disappointing.”
The Swansea.com Stadium team failed to play the game on their own terms, allowing the hosts countless opportunities to run. With the game being played at altitude, the Ospreys struggled to cope and missed 33 tackles against a team who also won the physical battle.
Of the starting XV, Michael Collins had a decent match in midfield, defending strongly and running with intelligence, while Rhys Webb never backed down and Morgan Morris was the pick of the pack, achieving two turnovers and unlucky not to pick up a third. Ethan Roots also gave it his best shot.
But the Welsh side were outclassed, particularly in the final stages when they ran out of energy and tacklers with three tries resulting.
They are a team searching for an attacking spark. They were unable to consistently generate quick ball against the Lions and when possession did come back it was usually wasted amid errors and disappointing skills. Moves from medium to long range were rarely executed without mistakes, with Rhys Webb securing one of the visitors' tries at Ellis Park via a short-range snipe and Collins bagging the other through an interception.
A sharp attacking asset like Keelan Giles was on one wing, but he barely touched the ball. Somehow, the Ospreys need to correct that going forward. If South African teams can make good use out of nippy little back-three flyers, there's no obvious reason why Welsh teams can't do the same.
Effort is not a problem for Booth’s team, but they didn’t look from the outset as if they truly believed they could win and they need to work on their skills. Some of their Wales players should be back for the second game in South Africa, against the Stormers next weekend. On this evidence, they are desperately needed.
Dragons
The Dragons had an idea of how tough their assignment against the Bulls was going to be after the Scarlets’ hammering by the same opponents the previous weekend. But, credit where credit’s due, they rolled up their sleeves and gave it their best shot.
They were never going to win or even get close to winning: the hosts’ relentless power made certain of that. The Dragons managed three tries but conceded eight. It was all a bit predictable given the disparity in resources.
But they have played worse than this over the season with the bar admittedly set low. The moment of the game came from Bulls full back Kurt-Lee Arendse, with the little man surging clear from deep before applying the coup de grace, a no-look sidestep — looking one way then sharply veering the other way — which left Dragons scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou heading towards the burger van.
Rio Dyer, Jared Rosser and Sam Davies scored the visitors’ tries, but the home team had too much firepower.
