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Euro clean-sweep gives Howley plenty of reasons to be cheerful

Euro clean-sweep gives Howley plenty of reasons to be cheerful

There were plenty of reasons for Wales head coach Rob Howley to wear a big smile at the weekend after seeing all four Welsh regions kick-off their European campaigns with victories – the first time there had been a clean-sweep by the Welsh teams since Round 1 of the 2011/12 season.

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The Ospreys launched the victorious Welsh weekend with a 45-0 home win over Newcastle Falcons on their Challenge Cup debut. That game saw outside half Dan Biggar break through the 500 points barrier in all games in European rugby.

Next up were the Dragons, who scored four tries in a 20 minute purple patch to beat Brive 37-16 at home in the Challenge Cup. The Dragons are bidding to reach the semi-finals for the third successive season.

Cardiff Blues also played on Friday night and made it three successive bonus-point wins in the Challenge Cup with a 33-20 triumph over Bristol Rugby at Ashton Gate. That was a game in which Wales and British & Irish Loins wing Alex Cuthbert made his return from injury.

The Friday night hat-trick left the Scarlets with the task of completing the clean-sweep in their Champions Cup game at Parc y Scarlets on Saturday night. Having lost their last eight games in the tournament a win was vital.

They managed to score three tries in a 28-11 victory over Sale Sharks in Pool 3. Their next game is against reigning champions Saracens at Allianz Park.

You had to go back five years to the first round of matches in the 2011/12 season for the last time the four Walsh teams won all their games. ON that occasion there were three win in the Euroepan Cup and one in the Challenge Cup.

The Dragons beat I Cavalieri Prato 33-3 in Italy in Pool 4 of the Challenge Cup, while these were the European Cup wins for the regions:
Pool 1: Scarlets 31, Castres Olympique 23
Pool 2: Racing Metro 20, Cardiff Blues 26
Pool 5: Ospreys 28, Biarritz Olympique 21

The winning start continued in round two when there were three wins and a draw. The Ospreys drew 26-26 in Treviso, the Scarlets won 28-23 in Northampton the Blues won 24-18 at home to London Irish and the Dragons won 23-13 at home against Perpignan in the Challenge Cup.

The Blues qualified for the European Cup quarter-finals, where they were beaten by Leinster in Dublin, while the Scarlets went into the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup, where they lost 15-11 in Brive.
 

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