All well for Arwel while Scott’s happy with his lot
THE Ospreys ended their year on a much-needed high by prevailing 22-9 against the Dragons at Rodney Parade on Sunday.
It was only their third Guinness PRO14 win of the season and their first on the road.
As for the Dragons, there were some positive signs but also further evidence that their much-mooted revival will be a slow-burning affair.
Here, ANDY HOWELL considers the main talking points from the east v west clash .... Robson can cut it Gavin Henson was dropped for this one after a poor performance against the Cardiff Blues on Boxing Day.
With Bernard Jackman making moves like that, it proves to the likes of Arwel Robson that nobody is bullet- proof and that he’s willing to give those who deserve it a chance.
The 20-year-old started in terrible conditions against Lions No.10 Dan Biggar and acquitted himself very well.
His distribution was as good as it could be in the weather and his kicking game was on the money. He was also more than happy to try things and that’s great to see in a young player.
He went off to huge applause from the crowd with 20 minutes to go. He’s got a future at this level, no doubt. Ospreys bring the power Put simply, the Dragons were overpowered on their own patch on a wet and windy night.
When Bernard Jackman looked at the weather forecast before the match, he must have had his head in his hands because it meant the game was going to be won and lost in the tight.
The Ospreys’ driving maul was a real weapon on the night and Scott Baldwin’s try – the first of the night – came all too easily.
When the Dragons got on the front foot and tried to attack, they were unable to cause the Ospreys any real trouble.
They couldn’t shift the point of attack too far, they couldn’t be intricate. All they could do was keep it tight and the Ospreys swallowed them whole. With a number of players missing – Brok Harris, Leon Brown, Ollie Griffiths to name a few – the Dragons don’t really have a power game to speak of. And it bit them hard on New Year’s Eve. Baldwin makes his case It was a big night for Scott Baldwin, discarded by Wales in the autumn after his incident with a lion in Bloemfontein, going up against the man who replaced him in the November squad.
There was one crooked lineout to speak off, the ball slipping out of his grasp on another miserable night in terms of the weather.
But it was the kind of environment that suited Baldwin down to the ground – the tight, rough, nasty stuff.
His opposite number, Elliot Dee, for all his energy and dynamism, shows up better in the drier conditions and came off second best in this personal duel.
Baldwin was named man of the match but, in truth, that probably says more about the game than anything else. But it shouldn’t detract from what was a gritty performance from the Ospreys hooker. Ospreys far from perfect The Ospreys can enjoy this win because the kind of season they’ve been having - they won just two out of 11 matches before the Rodney Parade clash.
But nobody at the region can get carried away, and there’s no suggestion they will, because this should have been far more comfortable.
At times, they were ruffled when, really, if you look at the two sides on paper, this should have been a relatively straightforward night for Steve Tandy’s men.
The likes of Rhys Webb, Dan Biggar and Justin Tipuric did good things at the right times and that really dragged them through and allowed them to put the squeeze on the Dragons.
But they will have come here looking for the bonus point and they had 20 minutes to claim it with a fourth score that never came.
They need to back this up with a win over the Cardiff Blues on January 6 or the pressure will simply mount once again. Amos a doubt for the Six Nations Winger Hallam Amos is battling to be fit for the Six Nations but is up against it. He’s looking at five to six weeks on the sideline with what Dragons head coach Jackman described as a high ankle sprain.
Jackman suggested that the Dragons’ and Welsh Rugby Union medics would try to rehabilitate the injury and avoid surgery.
Amos, who was one of Wales’ standout performers during the autumn campaign, limped out of the Dragons’ defeat to the Cardiff Blues late on in proceedings on Boxing Day.
Six weeks from that point would take us up to the start of the Championship.