The comebacks of Taulupe Faletau for Cardiff, Jac Morgan for Ospreys, and Elliot Dee for Dragons provided a glimmer of hope for the struggling Welsh regions, according to multiple reports. However, the Scarlets were the sole Welsh winners in the round, with Cardiff, Ospreys, and Dragons all falling to defeats. The Stormers' victory over the Dragons completed a South African clean sweep in URC round 13, with the Bulls, Lions, and Sharks also recording wins.
In detailed returns, Jac Morgan produced a textbook jackal to win a crucial breakdown penalty for the Ospreys in their match against Benetton. Taulupe Faletau returned with 24 minutes of action for Cardiff against the Bulls, showing strong carries during his time on the field. Elliot Dee returned as a starter for the Dragons against the Stormers after recovering from a shoulder injury.
Faletau's comeback was potentially short-lived, as he suffered an arm injury in Cardiff's subsequent defeat to the Sharks, which could lead to another lay-off. Cardiff did manage to earn a losing bonus point in that match with a penalty from Ioan Lloyd. The Dragons earned a try bonus point in their defeat to the Lions in Johannesburg, with Rio Dyer scoring two tries in the match.
The Lions' victory boosted their URC play-off hopes. Meanwhile, the Stormers' win over the Dragons completed the South African sweep for the round. The Scarlets provided the lone bright spot for Wales, running in six tries to beat Zebre in a URC basement battle, a result that moved them to 14th place in the table.
However, the match was not without controversy, as Scarlets' Macs Page had a try chalked off for a knock-on in the build-up. In contrast to the Welsh struggles, Ulster have engineered a dramatic season turnaround. The team finished 14th out of 16 teams in the URC last season with just 38 points.
This season, they have surged up to second in the URC table and have already surpassed last year's points tally with six games still to play. Their recent form includes a bonus-point win in Edinburgh, which marked their first dominant away victory in the league outside Ireland this season. Ulster's resurgence is reflected in increased international representation, with seven Ireland internationals in the matchday squad against Wales last week, compared to none the previous year.
The team also progressed in the Challenge Cup, beating the Ospreys 28-24 to reach the quarter-finals, where they will face La Rochelle. La Rochelle demonstrated their threat by scoring three tries in 13 minutes in the first half against Newcastle in their own Challenge Cup match. The Ospreys kept their playoff hopes alive with a crucial 21-10 victory over Ulster in a United Rugby Championship match at Brewery Field on Saturday.
This followed their previous 19-13 win against the Dragons, which had also helped maintain their position in the playoff hunt. In the match itself, Cormac Foley opened the scoring for the Ospreys with a try. Ulster held a 10-7 advantage at one point through tries from Zac Ward and Tom Stewart.
However, the Ospreys struck back in the final 13 minutes with tries from James Ratti from close range and Daniel Kasende, the latter benefiting from a Michael Lowry mistake. The Ospreys' victory came amid significant off-field uncertainty, as they are the likeliest region to be cut by the Welsh Rugby Union, a revelation that emerged almost a month before this match. Historically Wales's most successful region and currently ahead of the Dragons and Scarlets in the URC table, this was their first game since finding out about the potential cut.
For Ulster, this defeat to the Ospreys represented another fluctuation in their recent form. Before this game, they had lost just four matches in all competitions, with two of those losses occurring in Wales. This was their third defeat to a Welsh region this season, following a 26-19 loss to Connacht at the Affidea Stadium, which secured a bonus-point win for Connacht and marked Ulster's first defeat in Belfast this season in the URC.
Ulster were weakened for the Ospreys match due to the ongoing Six Nations, with Stuart McCloskey, Robert Baloucoune, Tom O'Toole, and Nick Timoney playing for Ireland. The Ospreys took full advantage, completely controlling the final 40 minutes of the match to secure their victory. The head-to-head record between these two teams shows a competitive history.
In their last five meetings, the Ospreys have wins on 18th February 2024 and 4th December 2021, while Ulster have wins on 8th October 2022, 26th February 2021, and 10th October 2020. In other round 13 action, Munster fell 34-31 to the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in a nine-try URC encounter. Despite scoring one more try than the Bulls, with Tom Ahern scoring two tries for Munster, they could not secure the win as Embrose Papier crossed twice for the Bulls.
Ulster's recent results include a 28-12 victory over Zebre in the URC, a match that moved them up to third in the table at that time. That match against Zebre was marred by a red card incident, with Zebre's Simone Gesi shown a straight red for attempting to put his fingers in Stuart McCloskey's eye. In the Challenge Cup, the Ospreys had a late try disallowed against Ulster due to a forward pass in the build-up, a decision that proved crucial in their narrow defeat.
Ulster's form in their last five games includes a win against Zebre, a loss to Connacht, a win against Edinburgh, and the recent loss to the Ospreys.