The latest rugby news stories from Wales and beyond today
Here are your rugby morning headlines for Friday, January 2.
Peel under pressure as Shanklin bemused
Scarlets coach Dwyane Peel finds himself under big pressure heading into the New Year after an alarming festive season left the Welsh side rooted to the bottom of the United Rugby Championship table.
Peel had to endure mocking chants of “you’re getting sacked in the morning” from jubilant Dragons supporters at Rodney Parade as they were taken apart by the Gwent region who are now six points clear of their rivals in 12th.
The 28-5 loss left Premier Sports pundit Tom Shanklin bemused by the Scarlets’ lack of ambition. The west Walians have won just two matches all season. Victory at Rodney Parade would have lifted them off the bottom of the league, but a hapless performance saw the Men of Gwent seal a bonus point win.
“We haven’t seen the Scarlets throw many shots at the Dragons,” said Shanklin on commentary for Premier Sports.
“We’ve seen them start the game really pragmatically, maybe thinking they’d take the Dragons in the second-half. It hasn’t worked out that way.
“There’s been a real lack of ambition from the get go. A lot of kicking.
“That’s not the Scarlets way. We’re used to seeing a team that wants to throw the ball around and wants to play in the wider channels.
“We’ve not seen that all day.”
Peel admitted his side had fallen off in performance following a win over Cardiff at the Arms Park in December, having lost to the Ospreys at home on Boxing Day before the Dragons defeat.
“We’ve had a disappointing week with two derby losses,” said Peel.
“We had some high-profile games with Bristol and Bordeaux-Begles then backed that up in Cardiff, but we have fallen off in the last two weeks.
“We’ve picked up a few injuries but there are no excuses, we weren’t at our best today and had enough on the field to produce some good stuff.”
Dragons delighted after superb start to 2026
While it was despair for the Scarlets, the Dragons were left delighted after starting 2026 with an impressive victory.
Having waited until midway through December in 2025 to record their first win of the year, they started the new year in superb fashion
“It’s massive,” said Dragons co-captain Angus O’Brien afterwards. “It’s testament to the work we’re doing – coaches, staff, players.
“We’ve had some tough results at the start of the season but a lot of the performances have been there. We just haven’t played a full 80 minutes.
“Getting that win against Lyon, you could see the confidence against Connacht. It wasn’t perfect, but that second-half we were foot on the throat and we were clinical. I’m delighted we’ve come away with five points.”
Dragons head coach Filo Tiatia was equally pleased after his side bounced back from a narrow defeat against Cardiff on Boxing Day to make it three wins from four.
“We are happy with the outcome,” said Tiatia. “I said at half-time that we were still in gear three because we hadn’t taken the opportunities we had been given.
“I wouldn’t say it was an easy win – it was touch and go in the first half – but I was really happy that we were better in areas we were targeting after losing to Cardiff.”
Wales star reflects on year to remember
Wales back-row Olly Cracknell has reflected on a 2025 to remember after finally making his Test debut last year. The 31-year-old has been a consistent performer for Leicester Tigers in the Gallagher Prem, leading to a long-awaited Wales cap in the autumn under Steve Tandy.
“For me personally I found my feet in 2025 and then the Wales selection was absolutely massive because I’ve been fighting for that for such a long time — my whole career, really,” Cracknell told Leicester’s club website.
“I played Wales under 20s, signed for Ospreys, got into the squad in 2017 and didn’t play Six Nations, then didn’t get back in for eight years until now. I fell out of favour at Ospreys, moved to Irish, moved to Leicester and it was only when I started going well with Leicester I started thinking there’s a chance here again.
“I was hopeful last year but every camp that goes by — Six Nations, Autumn, Summer — you load it up on your phone and you’re not in. It can deplete you quite a lot. So I’ve done quite well to get back in and it was amazing to play. Incredible.”
Ospreys glad to climb up the table after righting some wrongs
Ospreys co-captain Sam Parry says the club were determined to right the wrongs from their recent home defeat to Munster as they beat Cardiff 33-22 at the Brewery Field.
Less than a week ago the Ospreys were rooted to the bottom of the United Rugby Championship table but back-to-back Welsh derby victories over arch-rivals the Scarlets and Cardiff has catapulted Mark Jones’ side into the play-off positions.
“If I’m being honest Munster embarrassed us really and taught us a lesson on a few things we pride ourselves on,” Parry told the BBC.
“That really stung us that did.
“It was out first time back here since then and as a group we were determined to put those wrongs right.
“I’ll be honest when I looked at the table and saw we were bottom it really hurt.
“I’m glad we are climbing up the table.
“We are not where we want to be yet so we will keep going and keep going to try to get as high as we can.”
Scrum-half Kieran Hardy, who was the only fit number nine in the squad, was outstanding, scoring a brace of tries and controlling the game exceptionally well.
Keelan Giles, Parry and Iestyn Hopkins also crossed for tries while Dan Edwards contributed eight points from the kicking tee as the Ospreys overpowered Cardiff up-front.Cardiff did not leave empty handed with a brace of tries from Josh Adams along with a score apiece from Taulupe Faletau and Javan Sebastian ensuring they left Bridgend with a losing bonus point, while Callum Sheedy kicked two points.
“It was massive,” said Parry.
“It was something we spoke about in the week. We needed to put on a big performance today especially against Cardiff who had been going very well but also just to back up last week.”