The new year sun stubbornly declined to rise in the east as both Cardiff and the Dragons fell to defeats in United Rugby Championship derbies.
Ospreys edged out Dai Young’s team 22-19 at the Arms Park, with the Dragons proving unable to tame the 14-man Scarlets.
Warren Gatland would have been a keen observer ahead of his Wales Six Nations squad naming.
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Who did themselves favours in that respect and whose hopes went backwards?
We look at the weekend’s winners and losers.
WINNERS
Justin Tipuric
A lot of the chat before the derby between Cardiff and the Ospreys had been about Thomas Young and Jac Morgan, and both players played well in the United Rugby Championship encounter at the Arms Park. Young has been one of the signings of the season and didn’t stop working for his side, while Morgan hounded Tomos Williams into the mistake that led to Owen Williams’ try, defended with purpose throughout and carried with conviction. You can read about Morgan winning our player of 2022 fans' vote here.
But the man-of-the-match gong deservedly went to Justin Tipuric.
In atrocious conditions, the Ospreys skipper proved an ultra-safe lineout option, taking 10 throws for his side, while he also snaffled two turnovers and organised his team’s defence while missing nothing with own tackling.
It was vintage Tipuric in so many ways, with the openside thinking his way through the game and making a series of good decisions. Alongside him, the physical Ethan Roots showed up well with Morgan completing an excellent back-row trio.
Against the likes of Young, Josh Turnbull and Taulupe Faletau, the Ospreys trio needed to be at the races, and they were.
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Two returning Lions Tests full-backs
Wayne Pivac’s final campaign as Wales head coach saw him use three different players at No. 15 in four games, none of them specialists in the role, with Gareth Anscombe, Louis Rees-Zammit and Josh Adams preferring to ply their trade elsewhere.
It would have cheered Warren Gatland, then, that two British and Irish Lions full-backs returned to playing action on New Year’s Day, and returned in some style.
Liam Williams showed up well for Cardiff against the Ospreys in his first game since September, while Leigh Halfpenny barely put a foot wrong for the Scarlets against the Dragons.
It was trademark Williams at the Arms Park — buccaneering runs, bombs defused with unfathomable courage, defenders beaten and brave tackles. There was even time for the Waunarlwydd product to get involved in a minor skirmish after he took exception to a heavy hit from Ethan Roots which the referee deemed illegal. Williams finished that one with a grin on his face.
His side may have lost on the day, but could be pleased with his own performance.
Halfpenny enjoyed a good day, too. He has been unable to get going after his comeback from long-term injury, with niggles hitting him at every turn. But he kicked superbly off the tee on Sunday and was faultless in his general play. The huge smile on his face at the end of the game told a story — it was good to be back.
Another back-three plus for Gatland was the effort of Josh Adams. His try was a scorcher, seeing him fly down the left like an arrow fire from a bow, the highlight of a strong display.
Ospreys' scrum
Missing Dmitri Arhip and Dillon Lewis, Cardiff always looked likely to hit problems at scrum-time against the Ospreys. The concession of six penalties in that area underlined how much their worst fears came to pass.
All six front rowers the visitors used performed strongly.
Tom Botha caused Rhys Carre problems and, predictably, Wales’ first-choice loosehead Gareth Thomas had a productive afternoon on the other side of the scrum. Between them, Sam Parry was industrious and powerful. Cardiff’s attempts to counter the visitors’ power didn’t please referee Adam Jones as the penalties mounted.
Then the Ospreys sent on their own version of the bomb squad, with Nicky Smith, Dewi Lake and Tom Francis taking the field. Lake caught the eye in all areas, and while Cardiff had the odd bright set-piece moment in the final quarter, they couldn’t break the pushing-and-shoving dominance of the visitors from across the M4, with locks Alun Wyn Jones, Adam Beard and Rhys Davies playing important parts in the effort as well.
Jones rumbled forward in the set-pieces at the Arms Park like a tractor in low gear and was good in other areas, too.
None of it was pretty.
But in dismal conditions it was pretty effective.
Scarlets’ pack
They played for more than half a game with seven men up front yet were still able to keep the Dragons at bay in the encounter in Llanelli.
Particularly deserving of praise were Sam Lousi and Aaron Shingler, ably supported by Vaea Fifita.
Lousi doesn’t have a bad game. The Tongan is physical but also skilful with it, an all-court player who repeatedly bangs in 8/10 performances. If there were times in the second half when it appeared the Scarlets' forwards were not down on numbers after Sione Kalamafoni’s sending off, that was because Louis was doing the work of two men.
Much the same could be said of Shingler.
A member of Wales’ World Cup squad in 2019 and a Six Nations Grand Slam winner in 2012, he has endured a tough few years because of injuries but the 35-year-old rolled back the years against the Dragons with one of his finest performances.
As with Lousi, there were ground-eating charges, multiple tackles and turnovers.
Also flying the flag for the seasoned brigade was the indefatigable Ken Owens, while at the other end of the age spectrum props Kemsley Mathias and Steffan Thomas are showing real promise, helping to give the Scarlets a setpiece advantage that proved decisive on Sunday evening, with WillGriff John also to the fore.
Of course the Dragons’ scrummaging limitations have to be taken into account — their set-piece was sending out more distress signals than a small boat on a stormy night in the North Sea — but, still, the Scarlets did a job on them in that area.
Keiran Williams
A quick word on the Ospreys centre.
Injuries hammered him in 2022 but he has quietly returned to fitness of late and is starting to build form.
He is trying to add to his game and Cardiff found him a handful. There were some nice passes but running hard is still his forte and he beat six defenders on the day, with his power and low centre of gravity making him difficult to stop.
Just maybe, things are looking up for him.
Dragons duo
Rio Dyer and Bradley Roberts. There weren’t many others who emerged in credit for the Dragons against the Scarlets — Ross Moriarty, perhaps, if we consider matters other than his customised brand of peacekeeping.
But Dyer and Roberts sent timely nudges Warren Gatland’s way.
Both rose above the mediocrity that blighted much of their team’s play in Llanelli.
George North
It’s considered an honour to be the mystery runner in the Nos Galan race that's been run on the streets of Mountain Ash on New Year’s Eve since 1958.
A feather in the cap of George North, then, who filled the brief over the weekend, leading the 64-year-old tradition.
Previous mystery runners include mystery runners Nigel Owens, Chris Coleman, Shane Williams, Colin Jackson, Sam Warburton and Nathan Cleverly.
LOSERS
Dragons
We will let head coach Dai Flanagan do the talking after his side failed to prevail despite having a man advantage for more than half a game against the Scarlets.
"No-one said it would be easy and that's a big step backwards for us tonight. We lost all the collisions, all the 50-50s, and we can't afford to do that," said Flanagan.
"I am a bit disappointed because collectively we didn't really stick to the script and we have got to look at why.
"Sometimes [the extra man] can work for you, sometimes against you. There are 15 different minds on the field. I have to look at connecting that and we didn't quite get that right.”
It was a miserable effort from the east Walians.
They appeared to be making progress in the early part of the season but they were smashed in the scrums in Llanelli and couldn’t make their extra man count. Flanagan won’t panic but he’ll know he has work to do to get the Dragons firing again.
Sione Kalamafoni
Ross Moriarty’s approach to calming conflagrations has already been noted.
It may not conform to everyone's idea of diplomacy, involving as it does an opponent's skull cap being ripped off.
But, hey, Moriarty does thing his way.
Sione Kalamafoni felt sufficiently riled to throw a couple of punches at the Dragon. In days of yore, the incident between the pair might have been seen as something or nothing.
Not any more.
S4C''s Twitter operation styled it as a moment of madness from the Scarlets No. 8.
A punch that connects, as Kalamfoni’s did on Moriarty, is not going to have a happy ending for the man doing the punching and the Tongan can have no complaints about the red card that followed.
"It's a physical game rugby and emotion just took over,” Dragons coach Dai Flanagan, who used to be part of the Scarlets’ team management, noted later. ”I know Kalamafoni pretty well and he's a great human being, so I am pretty sure there was no poor meaning in it, if that makes sense."
It does.
But expect a ban to follow, all the same.
Cardiff's discipline
Again, a team boss’s words tell the tale.
"The set-piece was a factor but so were the penalties in the second half,” said Cardiff director of rugby Dai Young.
"We struggled to get out of our half with our indiscipline and we made poor decisions around the breakdown which gave them easy field position and momentum. If you keep giving the Ospreys lineouts five metres out, they're going to convert a few of them."
There were six scrum penalties and 17 transgressions all told, according to one count.
Under those circumstances, Cardiff did well to have a shot at squaring the match in the final minute.
They are a side with a lot of talent behind the scrum and they have quality options in the back five of their pack, but they need Dmitri Arhip and Dillon Lewis to return to fitness and they need that to happen quickly.
READ MORE:
Ospreys beat Cardiff amid last-gasp drama at the Arms Park
14-man Scarlets pull aware from Dragons as tempers flare in Llanelli
The Welsh rugby transfers and deals to be done imminently in 2023 as French and English clubs circle
