Two Scarlets see red as Ospreys are far too strong for their Welsh rivals

Ospreys won at Parc y Scarlets in September and were again dominant with a penalty try and two further touchdowns for lock James King and skipper Kahn Fotuali’i. Stand-off Dan Biggar booted 14 points and Fotuali’i also kicked a drop-goal in front of 19,443 in Swansea.

The Scarlets were not helped by having replacements Rob McCusker and Gareth Owen sent off in the final minutes and also had another three players, George Earle, Tavis Knoyle and Aled Thomas, sin-binned .

The home team struck first when Biggar kicked a third-minute penalty from a scrum offence and good Ospreys pressure ended with a snap drop-goal from scrum-half Fotuali’i to double their lead. Centre Ashley Beck’s kick to the corner further racked up the pressure on the Scarlets, who lost the resulting line-out and were forced to defend a five-metre scrum. But the Scarlets scrum disintegrated as referee Nigel Owen gave the home side a penalty try converted by Biggar.

There was some respite for the Scarlets when No 10 Thomas opened the visitors’ account with a 27th-minute penalty.

However, two minutes later, lock George Earle was yellow-carded for an illegal tackle on Fotuali’i.

Against the 14 men Ryan Jones went over the line, but the referee had already blown for a penalty which Biggar kicked to give the Ospreys a 16-3 lead.

A forgettable first half for the Scarlets was made worse when Biggar put over his third penalty in injury time to give the Ospreys a 16-point interval lead.

King scored an unconverted try on 48 minutes and the 21-point lead was increased to 24 with a fourth Biggar penalty.

Scarlets’ replacement scrum-half Knoyle was sin-binned for taking Eli Walker without the ball as Fotuali’i squeezed in at the corner. The Scarlets had a third man, stand-off Thomas, sent to the bin before McCusker and Owen were both shown red late on for foul play.

Cardiff, meanwhile, moved two places up the table with a hard-fought derby victory over Dragons in an Arms Park mudbath. Cardiff overtook Edinburgh and Treviso to go seventh, despite being under the cosh for much of the match.

They pulled through thanks to four penalties from teenage stand-off Rhys Patchell, but Dragons claimed the only try through centre Andy Tuilagi

The visitors who had the better possession and territory of in the first half but they were unable to convert that pressure into points, with No 10 Dan Evans missing two penalty attempts

In contrast, from virtually their first entry into opposition territory on 15 minutes, the Blues took the lead through a Patchell penalty. The 19-year-old struck twice more as the conditions worsened. On 21 minutes, he doubled the lead after Wales skipper Sam Warburton won a penalty with some excellent breakdown work. Then, just before the half-hour mark, Patchell landed his third successful kick after the Dragons went offside.

Patchell’s opposite number Evans had an immediate opportunity to hit back when the Dragons were awarded a penalty right in front of the posts courtesy of their dominant scrum, but, in attempting to drive his kick through the wind, Evans sent it wide to leave his team trailing 9-0 at the break.

The question was would a nine-point lead be enough, with the Dragons having the elements in their favour in the second half? It was not long before that advantage was significantly reduced as Tuilagi scored the opening try of the game for the visitors on 48 minutes. After sustained pressure on the Blues line, Tuilagi took a short pass from Poole and smashed through, taking two players to the line with him. Scrum-half Wayne Evans added the conversion with Dan Evans injured and it was the latter’s replacement at No 10, Lewis Robling, who put the Dragons ahead for the first time on the hour. Their lead was short-lived however as Patchell promptly landed his fourth penalty.

And, despite piling on the pressure, the Dragons were unable to conjure up the winning score, with Robling just wide with a late drop goal attempt.