It was three defeats out of three for the Welsh regions in the opening round of the European campaign with a young Cardiff side playing very well against Toulouse except a certain Antoine Dupot was in town and they lost 39-7.
The Dragons had a torrid time out in France as they dominated the first 55 minutes but did not score against 13-men Perpignan, before conceding three tries in 10 minutes and lost 22-16.
Then on Sunday, Sale blew away the Ospreys in the opening 25 minutes by scoring three tries, the only positive was they did win the second half 10-0 and fullback Mat Protheroe was so good, the Sale social media team accused him of diving during the game.
Although Sale did have the last laugh as they defeated Toby Booth’s side 21-13.
So, as we dust last weekend under the carpet quicker than Sale deleting a tweet about Protheroe, can all four Welsh regions bounce back in the second round of European action?
Yes, this week will see the four regions in action as the Scarlets have returned to training after their quarantine in Belfast.
Friday 17th of December: Dragons vs Lyon – 20:00 Uk time | S4C
Dean Ryan will not be a happy man after his side’s performance against Perpignan last Saturday.
It was going well for the Gwent region; Sam Davies’ kicking was giving the Dragons plenty of territory and the French side were ill-disciplined.
At one stage the Dragons had a five-meter lineout against 13 men, yet Tex Cavubati was stopping every maul he saw last Saturday.
Then a complete collapse occurred and the Dragons have a losing bonus point to their name where on another day they should have had a win.
This week they face another French side as Lyon head to Rodney Parade after a bye in the opening round.
The visitors are currently sitting in fourth in the Top 14 after six wins and six defeats in 12 games this season, they have also picked up seven bonus points.
Currently, they are coached by former Clermont and Toulon scrum-half Pierre Mignoni.
Lyon have French international Dylan Cretin as captain and a whole host of internationals at their disposal, the likes of Josua Tuisova, Liam Sopoaga and Felix Lambay.
Although we await confirmation about the starting sides for both teams as it will be interesting to see if Lyon take the Challenge Cup seriously.
English official Craig Maxwell-Keys takes charge of this match with Adam Leal and Phill Watters as assistant referees.
Looking at both squads in full there’s some serious talent in this Lyon side, some would say they might be a Champions Cup team and I think they will get an away win – Lyon by 7.
Saturday 18th of December: Harlerquins vs Cardiff – 13:00 Uk time | BT Sport & Channel 4
If you thought hosting Toulouse with a huge amount of bodies unavailable was tough, try facing the English champions the following week.
This is the task that Cardiff have in store as they head to Twickenham Stoop this Saturday to face Harlerquins who are off the back of an impressive away win against Castres in round 1.
However, there were some positives from the Toulouse game, Cardiff gave debuts to several youngsters, Theo Cabango & Jacob Beetham performed well despite that latter getting sent off and Dan Fish still has some tricks up his sleeve.
James Botham slotted info number 8 nicely in a backrow with Olly Robinson & Ellis Jenkins with the trio causing havoc earlier on against the European champions.
Instead of facing Dupont in round 2, they will have to deal with Marcus Smith who can create something out of nothing.
There’s also Alex Dombrant, a big, physical number 8 and will test the Cardiff backrow.
Quins are coached by Tabai Matson, with the likes of Nick Evans, Jerry Flannery & Adam Jones supplying a good foundation of assistant coaches.
It is an all-French officiating team with Tual Trainini as referee with Benoit Rousselet & Cedric Marchat as assistant referees.
It will be a very tricky game for Gruff Rees’ side but they will want to make as much carnage as they can, although I believe Harlequins will take the spoils in the second half – Harlequins by 24.
Racing 92 vs Ospreys – 17:15 Uk time | BT Sport
Unfortunately, there’s been seven covid-19 cases in the Ospreys camp which will affect preparation for a tricky test in Paris.
After their defeat to Sale in round one, it will be interesting to see the reaction of the Ospreys players after an extremely poor opening quarter although they still fought back and I’m sure Toby Booth will be happy with the effort in the second half.
However, something that the Ospreys will need to improve on will be their ‘red zone efficiency’ as the head to Paris to face a Racing 92 side who absolutely hammered Northampton in their opening round win.
‘Red zone efficiency’ is a posh way of saying home many times a side gets into the opposing 22 and how many times they scored points.
The Ospreys spent over six minutes in Sale’s 22 last Sunday and only got 13 points for their efforts, which isn’t particularly good.
If they do the same this weekend against Finn Russell and co, it could be a long evening for Booth’s side.
Racing 92 have the likes of Teddy Thomas, Kurtley Beale & hattrick hero Wenceslas Laurent available in their squad.
Cristophe Ridley will be the man in the middle after he took charge of the Dragons in the opening round.
I think the Ospreys can give them a good game, but in the end I think Racing will run away with it – Racing by 19.
Sunday 19th of December: Scarlets vs Bordeaux Begles – 13:00 Uk time | BT Sport
The final Welsh region in action this weekend will be the Scarlets as they return to action to action for the first time since October.
They face a Bordeaux side that have won nine out of 12 Top 14 games this season, although they did fall to a narrow defeat against Leicester Tigers in their opening round match.
In this Bordeaux squad are a couple of members of the French squad as Cameron Woki & Mathieu Jalibert featured in the win against the All Blacks.
In addition to the French pair, the likes of Ben Lam & highly rated hooker Joseph Dweba.
Karl Dickson of England will be officiating to complete a hattrick of regions to have an English official as referee.
Sadly, I think it will be a clean sweep of Welsh defeats as Bordeaux will be far too strong for a side that has only returned to training this week – Bordeaux by 25.
Openside Blog 