Archive January 31, 2026

United Rugby Championship

Ospreys (7) 19

Tries: Morgan-Williams, Lloyd, Giles Cons: Walsh 2

Dragons (7) 13

Ospreys continued to prove a point on the pitch after beating Dragons in the United Rugby Championship thanks to Keelan Giles’ 80th-minute try.

Mark Jones’ squad have had to cope with uncertainty over the club’s future, but showed their spirit with a dramatic victory in Bridgend.

It was 7-7 at half-time after Ospreys scrum-half Reuben Morgan-Williams, released by Wales for game time, sniped over to respond to the opener by Dragons fly-half Tinus de Beer.

Angus O’Brien inched the visitors into a 13-7 lead with a pair of penalties before replacement hooker Lewis Lloyd guided over a driving line-out in the 74th minute to reduce the deficit to one point.

Jack Walsh pulled the conversion but, with Dragons reduced to 13 men, Ospreys kept their composure to work Giles over at the death.

It was a derby when on-field action was not the only talking point in a tumultuous season for Welsh rugby.

Home supporters staged a pre-match protest against the Welsh Rugby Union and owners Y11 Sports & Media, whose bid to buy rivals Cardiff threatens Ospreys’ future beyond 2027.

Ospreys were boosted by Wales releasing Morgan-Williams and loose-head prop Gareth Thomas, who made his first appearance since suffering a calf injury at the start of December.

The hosts were without six members of Steve Tandy’s squad and the visitors were denied the services of two.

Dragons then suffered a huge blow in just the second minute with the loss of influential South African tight-head Rob Hunt, who was carried off after injuring his left hamstring when cleared out of a ruck.

The Rodney Parade club’s former Wales loose-head Wyn Jones did not last much longer – he went off in the 12th minute with the game still scoreless.

That meant replacements Jordan Morris and Cebo Dlamini were in for long shifts on a draining surface, and the injuries turned out to be critical.

Ferocious defence was the winner in the opening quarter with both sides failing to get off the mark after kicking penalties to the corner.

Dragons eventually made pressure count in the 18th minute when hard carrying by big ball carriers was followed by tenacious fly-half De Beer going through a gap for a try that Angus O’Brien converted.

The visitors failed to extend their lead despite being on top and paid the price on 32 minutes when the alert Morgan-Williams sniped under the posts from a ruck, Jack Walsh levelling from the tee.

In-form wing Rio Dyer, who missed out on the Six Nations squad, was twice denied down the left corner as Dragons tried to respond and it remained level at the break.

O’Brien knocked over a pair of penalties either side of a bout of defence to put the visitors 13-7 up approaching the hour.

Ospreys opted against calling for the tee from penalties, but found Dragons, with strong defence and the big clearing boot of O’Brien, a tough nut to crack as the rain lashed down.

Dragons were reduced to 14 men for the finish when Dlamini was yellow-carded for a high tackle on Harri Houston in the 73rd minute.

Ospreys kicked to the corner and Lloyd went over from the driving line-out only for Walsh to pull the conversion.

Dragons lost another man with four minutes to play due to needing to play with uncontested scrums.

Ospreys: Hopkins; Kasende, Cokanasiga, K Williams, Giles; Walsh (co-capt), Morgan-Williams; G Thomas, Parry (co-capt), Botha, Fender, R Smith, Ratti, Moriarty, Morse.

Replacements: L Lloyd, S Thomas, Henry, De Witt, G Evans, Foley, Nagy, Houston.

Dragons: O’Brien (capt); Richards, Inisi, Owen, Dyer; De Beer, Hope; W Jones, Coghlan, Hunt, Douglas, S Davies, Woodman, Beddall, Keddie.

Replacements: Burrows, Morris, Dlamini, Lewis-Hughes, Minto, R Williams, Paea, C Evans.

Yellow card: Dlamini 72

Referee: Ben Connor (Wales)

Assistants: Ben Breakspear & Carwyn Sion (Wales)

Everton manager David Moyes has criticised the laws of the game after he was booked for sprinting onto the pitch to celebrate Beto’s last-gasp equaliser against Brighton.

Beto came off the bench to score a 97th-minute equaliser on his 27th birthday, earning the Toffees a 1-1 draw at the Amex Stadium.

Unable to contain his emotions after snatching the point, the 63-year-old Scot set off from his dugout and ran onto the pitch, before referee Chris Kavanagh issued him with a yellow card for leaving the technical area.

Moyes drew comparisons with David Pleat’s celebrations at Maine Road after his Luton side avoided relegation from the top flight on the final day of the 1982-83 season with a win against Manchester City.

“I hope you’re not going to call me ‘Pleaty’ going forward,” Moyes said after the game.

“The difference is Pleat doesn’t get booked for it, they think it’s OK and everybody enjoys seeing the celebrations.

“We’re killing it. The managers can’t come out of their technical area to celebrate a goal, knee sliding, do things which give you people [the media] quite a bit to talk about.”

Asked if he would do it again, Moyes replied: “I bloody will do it again!

“Actually, if I’d been a bit more mobile, I might have done a knee slide. That would only have got me a yellow as well, so I might as well have gone the whole hog.”

Earlier this season, former Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca was handed a one-match touchline ban after being shown a second yellow card for leaving the technical area to celebrate with his players in their last-gasp win against Liverpool.

Football managers have produced some unforgettable celebrations down the years and found their place in football folklore – but many would be punished under the current laws.

Jose Mourinho ran the length of Old Trafford’s touchline to celebrate Francisco Costinha’s late goal as Porto knocked Manchester United out of the 2003-04 Champions League.

A re-enactment of the moment came a decade later when Chelsea knocked out Paris St-Germain to reach the semi-finals of the competition, while the Portuguese also sprinted down the touchline and onto the pitch of Camp Nou as his Inter side stunned Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona in 2010.

Jurgen Klopp ran onto the pitch to hug goalkeeper Alisson Becker after Divock Origi scored a 95th-minute goal against Merseyside rivals Everton in 2018.

United Rugby Championship

Ulster (14) 21

Tries: Wilson, Bell, Irvine Cons: Murphy 3

Cardiff (0) 14

Australia prop Angus Bell scored a superb solo try as Ulster defeated Cardiff 21-14 in the United Rugby Championship.

After early pressure, Scott Wilson’s try was converted by Jack Murphy before Bell lit up a bitterly cold night at the Affidea Stadium.

Bell picked up the ball on the edge of the 22, beat two Cardiff players and sidestepped full-back Cam Winnett on his way to the tryline.

Murphy converted again and Richie Murphy’s side led 14-0 at the interval.

Ulster had thrown away leads of 19 and 14 points in their two previous meetings with Cardiff, most recently in the Challenge Cup in December, and Yohan Mulder’s try in the second half gave the visitors hope.

Charlie Irvine grabbed Ulster’s try with 15 minutes remaining, but Cardiff immediately responded through Steff Emanuel as the game opened up.

However, after resisting late Cardiff pressure, the hosts held on to win and they overtake Cardiff in the URC table to move up to fourth place, eight points off leaders Glasgow Warriors with a game in hand.

Both sides were missing several players before the Six Nations but it was Ulster who made a fast start in Belfast.

Murphy’s side were camped in the Cardiff 22 and got the reward for their early pressure.

Prop Wilson crashed over under the posts in the 12th minute after some good work by David McCann to charge into the 22, and Jack Murphy added the conversion.

Not to be outdone, Australian prop Bell, who is on a deal with Ulster until the end of the season from the Waratahs, scored the try of the night in the 19th minute when he picked the ball on the 22, broke through two tackles, sat down Winnett with a superb sidestep and raced over the line.

Murphy again added the extras, and Bell’s try was so good it left Ulster back row Marcus Rea with his hands on his head, in disbelief in what he had just seen.

The visitors threatened eight minutes after the restart when hooker Evan Lloyd made several metres, but the in-form Zac Ward, who missed out on Ireland selection, claimed Callum Sheedy’s kick under pressure and the chance was lost.

But they made their pressure count in the 54th minute when the forward hammered the Ulster line and scrum-half Yohan Mulder raced over the line.

The stop-start nature of the game did not help either side as temperatures fell and the rain increased, and replacement Dave Shanahan somehow dropped the ball with the tryline gaping from Matthew Dalton’s offload.

Ulster got their third try moments later when Irvine, a part-time medical student, powered over the line, which Murphy converted, but Cardiff immediately responded when Emanuel latched on to Sheedy’s pass and raced clear, and the fly-half converted.

Cardiff threw phase after phase at the Ulster line, but James Hume produced a big turnover with five minutes remaining.

Ulster: E McIlroy; W Kok; J Hume, Ben Carson; Z Ward; J Murphy, C McKee; A Bell, R Herring, S Wilson; I Henderson (capt), C Irvine, M Dalton, M Rea, D McCann.

Replacements: J McCormick, S Crean, B O’Connor, H Sheridan, L McLoughlin, D Shanahan, J Flannery, B Moxham.

Cardiff: C Winnett; I Lloyd; H Millard, S Emanuel; T Bowen; C Sheedy, Johan Mulder; R Barratt, E Lloyd, J Sebastian; J McNally (capt), G Nott; A Lawrence, D Thomas, T Basham.

Replacements: D Hughes, D Southworth, J Cowell, R Thornton, L de la Rua, A Davies, E Evans, L Halfpenny.

On 25 November, Coventry City won 4-2 at Middlesbrough to move 10 points clear at the top of the Championship, while the Sky Blues were 13 points ahead of third place on Boxing Day. Now their lead has disappeared after a 2-1 loss at QPR and the chasing pack are closing in as Frank Lampard’s side stutter badly.

McLean: “Losing at QPR is a massive blow. It will give everyone chasing Coventry belief that they can go and catch them and overtake them. I’d probably rather be one of those chasers than Coventry at this moment.

“It’s a tough, tough period for Frank Lampard. If he manages to do it, it will show what a good manager he is.

“This is the first time he’s been at a club that is top of the division. Now it’s how you cope when you’re the big club at the top of the tree.

“They’ve hit a rough patch but the good teams recover from that. That’s where you are judged. Everyone goes through them but it’s how you recover.

“At the moment they are really struggling and it is giving the others huge amounts of confidence.

“The problem Coventry have now is they are trying to find form when Middlesbrough and Hull are flying – and Ipswich, who have definitely improved from the start of the season.

Middlesbrough’s push for promotion is being driven by midfield dynamo and captain Hayden Hackney. Only 23, the local lad scored the winner in the 1-0 victory over Norwich City to move the Teessiders level on points at the top.

McLean: “I’ve looked at Middlesbrough and thought they needed to keep hold of Hayden Hackney. I wouldn’t have been surprised if some team had come in during January and taken him.

“Whatever his price tag is now, it will be double if they go on and get promoted to the Premier League.

“He is an outstanding talent. He is the heartbeat of that Middlesbrough team. He is calm on the ball, he always seems like he has time and space, always looking forward to try to make something happen, and pops up with important goals.

“He is the full package. Once he gets into the Premier League, he’ll go on and have an outstanding career.

“His performances are showing that he’s in the conversation to be the best player in the Championship. There are a lot of good ones, but he’s one of the stand-outs.

West Bromwich Albion are now only one place and two points above the Championship’s bottom three after a meek 3-0 defeat at fellow strugglers Portsmouth, leaving Eric Ramsay with one point from four games as head coach since he replaced Ryan Mason earlier this month.

McLean: “You look at West Brom and think they are too big to go down, but the performances they have put out week after week, they are definitely not.

“Their away form is as bad as I’ve ever seen in the Championship, so there is every chance they could find themselves falling out of the division.

“I don’t know if they realise they are in a relegation fight. I don’t think they’re playing like they are when I watch them. They’re playing like they’re comfortable and other sides like Portsmouth and Oxford are scrapping for their lives.

“Until they start doing that, they are going to continue to lose games.

“With Ryan Mason leaving, they would have hoped to get that new manager bounce and a bit of momentum. It just hasn’t played out like that and they look like a team that is going to get relegated.

A 1-0 home loss to Lincoln City leaves Wigan Athletic above League One’s relegation zone on goal difference only. There is a big FA Cup trip to Arsenal on the horizon for the 2013 winners but one victory in 10 league games is a pressing concern for manager Ryan Lowe.

McLean: “I’m not totally surprised because Wigan are not a club that can compete financially with some of them in the division and Ryan Lowe has probably struggled in that department, in being able to strengthen the squad.

“Their performances haven’t been great and like so many other teams, because they haven’t been able to perform consistently, they have slid down the table and all of a sudden, they’ve gone from being a team that could go either way and they’ve fallen towards relegation.

“It was always going to be tough against Lincoln – for me, the best team in the division – so they couldn’t really expect anything. But their position is an accumulation of underperforming week after week and now they find themselves in trouble.

“If they start looking ahead to the Arsenal game, by the time they reach that, they’ll be in the bottom four, so they need to be focused on their league campaign.

In League Two, Cambridge United are now 14 games unbeaten, with six consecutive victories. The 3-0 success at Oldham Athletic has taken them up to second, their highest position of the season as manager Neil Harris has got the U’s flying over the winter following relegation last season.

McLean: “Cambridge look like a different animal this season. They look like a team that can go toe-to-toe with anyone, home or away.

“They epitomise their manager. They’re strong, they’re physical, they run hard and they are getting performances and winning games.

“With the momentum they’ve got, they’ll believe that they can go all the way and get promoted.

“It’s only because Bromley have exceeded everyone’s expectations as to why Cambridge are not top of the table.

“The pre-season favourites were MK Dons, who are under-achieving in my eyes. They probably have the best manager, they’ve spent the most money and they’ve brought in Championship players like Callum Paterson and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing. But I think the expectation is getting the better of them.