Cardiff 'fly the flag' and other URC talking points

James Hook has backed Cardiff to keep a foothold in the leading positions of the United Rugby Championship (URC) after climbing to fourth.

The capital city club gave Welsh rugby a much-needed lift on an otherwise sobering return to the URC for the regions

Matt Sherratt's side soared up the table following victory over Dragons and defeats for Scarlets, Ulster, Connacht and Lions.

And with the next league fixtures against Dragons, strugglers Ospreys and at home to Sharks, former league winner Hook said Cardiff can consolidate a play-off position.

"You look at the confidence around the club right now ever since that comeback win over Ulster, there's a real resilience," said Hook.

"Cardiff are flying the flag. They're getting wins, which breeds more confidence, and Matt Sherratt will be targeting this block of games to make sure they are in those top positions at the end of the season."

Scarlets came agonisingly close to beating the defending champions in their own back yard but instead slipped to ninth with just three points separating fifth and eleventh.

But Ospreys have now made their worst league start in five years with a loss at Zebre that condemned Dragons to last place.

So what did we learn from the latest round in the URC?

Once again Cardiff proved themselves capable of coming from behind to win games but their slow starts are becoming a cause for concern.

It seems they have a taste for comebacks from overturning a 15-point deficit at Scarlets in week two.

Since then they trailed early on in four of their five league fixtures at the Arms Park, including Saturday's 31-23 victory over Dragons.

"We're aware of how poorly we have started most of our games this season and how we change that is on us as coaches," said defence coach Gethin Jenkins.

"There's no magic answer but we need to look at how we're transferring the messages from training during the week and implementing that on match day.

"We got away with a poor start against Dragons because our discipline wasn't good and they could have put more points on the board."

Cardiff's next league match is the return fixture at Rodney Parade where they can stretch their unbeaten run in the derby to a staggering 20 league matches.

Discipline was also the key factor in Scarlets missing out on a significant result in Glasgow, according to captain Josh MacLeod.

But unlike Cardiff, Scarlets let slip a 15-7 lead in the narrow loss at Glasgow Warriors to end their three-game winning run.

"I couldn't have asked for more from the players but there's only so much defending you can do," said MacLeod, who weighed in with a match-leading 26 tackles.

"It felt like we spent three-quarters of the first half defending on our try line and, in the end, that takes it out of your legs."

Scarlets still had a chance to win it late on as Ioan Lloyd missed a penalty and saw a last-gasp drop goal charged down.

But the decision to turn down an earlier - and easier - penalty kick at goal was met with a shake of the head from head coach Dwayne Peel.

He said afterwards: "It was a decision by the boys. They had momentum but we will review it. But that's not why we lost, we weren't clinical enough."

There have been injuries, tough fixtures and distractions over Toby Booth's departure.

But this is now Ospreys' worst start to a league campaign since 2019 with just two wins - and 11 points - from their first seven games.

Jac Morgan, rested after Wales duty, was sorely missed as head coach Toby Booth admitted his team were out-played at the breakdown in the 22-17 loss at Zebre.

"We're disappointed because we had plenty of opportunities but we didn't execute them well enough," said Booth.

"But we also got absolutely killed at the breakdown.

"We need to be better at that in the right end of the of the pitch because we got there, but didn't do anything with it and we need to convert pressure into points."

Europe will bring a break but the festive derbies against Scarlets and Cardiff are now make or break.

It was a similar story for Filo Tiatia who now knows the scale of the job he has taken over as interim head coach at Rodney Parade.

He became the sixth head coach to bring a Dragons team to the Arms Park only to leave with their tail between their legs as this staggering losing run in this fixture extended to 19 league games.

Late tries softened the blow on the scoreboard but this loss was as abject as any that had come before.

"We need to learn faster. We had a good start but we need to be more courageous when you have momentum to capitalise on that pressure."

Tiatia may regret handing captain Angus O'Brien the kicking duties ahead of top scorer Lloyd Evans.

But young scrum-half Morgan Lloyd showed why he is causing some excitement, coming off the bench to score a try and create a second in his first appearance of the season.

As for whether Tiatia will get the top job on a permanent basis, he said: "I'm in the seat for the moment so I take responsibility for the outcomes. I'm happy with that."

Cardiff have been fortunate to have two Wales internationals return at just the right time.

Josh Adams played his first game in six months to fill the gap left by Mason Grady's injury.

Now Alex Mann is back, making a try-scoring return to the Arms Park, in place of Ben Donnell who looks to have suffered a serious arm injury.

"Alex needed a big break over the summer after a long season for us and Wales so we've been careful with his return," said defence coach Gethin Jenkins.

"He's one of our hardest and most accurate workers so it's great to have him back now doing his stuff."

Mackenzie Martin, still languishing with the Cardiff semi-professional team, suffered a serious shoulder injury against Pontypool on Saturday so could miss his chance to step up to the senior side.

"I don't think it's a mental thing. The past is the past, you learn from it but you can't be stuck there."

Dragons boss Filo Tiatia on the Dragons 19-game losing streak in the league to rivals Cardiff.