First up were the Neath-Swansea Ospreys, who started well, had a first-half wobble, and finished strongly to overcome Ulster at the Gnoll by 41-30.
In the televised fixture, fans could clearly be heard chanting ‘Ospreys Ospreys’ – evidence that if success does come, fans will follow, old rivalries will not be forgotten, but new bonds forged.
Former Swansea stars Scott Gibbs and Gavin Henson were instrumental figures in a second half performance that saw the Ospreys playing with confidence as they ran in fours tries to Ulster’s three.
The performance of the round came from the Celtic Warriors who disposed of Borders 49-12.
The Warriors went into the halftime break leading 31-0, with the game effectively over as a contest.
Neil Jenkins seems destined to be as prolific in a Warriors shirt as he has been in a Pontypridd jersey, scoring 24 points on the night.
Five-pointers came from Aisea Havili, Shaun James (2), Gareth Wyatt and Nick Kelly.
Read the match reports for these games on the official Celtic League website by clicking here
Cardiff couldn’t make it the perfect night for Wales as they went down 13-23 to Glasgow Rugby.
With Craig Quinnell, and Dan Baugh and Ben Evans all angering the referee to varying degrees, Cardiff did not have sufficient manpower to stop the Scots.
The result echoed the opening day of the 2002/3 competition, where Cardiff were beaten at the Arms Park 35-44.
In the all-Welsh battle between Llanelli Scarlets and the Gwent Dragons, the Scarlets snuffed out the Dragons’ flame with a comfortable 35-11 victory at Stradey Park.
A tight first half saw points coming exclusively from penalty goals -four from Gareth Bowen and two from the Dragons’ Brett Davey.
Former Wales skipper Scott Quinnell tore through the Gwent defence twice to score in the second half, and Bowen was on target with the boot,scoring 22 points with six penalty goals and two conversions.
Gwent’s only try came from flanker Jason Forster.
CELTIC LEAGUE ROUND 1 RESULTS
05/09/03
NEATH-SWANSEA OSPREYS 41 ULSTER 30
GLASGOW 23 CARDIFF BLUES 13
THE BORDERS 12 CELTIC WARRIORS 49
06/09/03
LLANELLI SCARLETS 35 GWENT DRAGONS 11
Read match reports at the official Celtic League web site by clicking here
