Dominant Ospreys see off Scarlets as Morgan and Webb give Gatland timely nudge

Jac Morgan and Rhys Webb gave Warren Gatland a timely nudge ahead of the Six Nations with two outstanding individual performances as the Ospreys comfortably beat arch-rivals the Scarlets.

The 34-year-old Webb has been out of the Wales reckoning for the past two years but he was excellent here with his game management vastly superior to every other scrum-half in Wales while he is still a potent threat with the ball in his hands.

Morgan was totemic as he took the Scarlets to the cleaners at the breakdown while he was brutal in defence, and explosive with his carrying game. He may be only 23 years old but Morgan is an impressive leader, and has all the attributes to become a future Wales captain.

READ MORE: Ospreys v Scarlets incident sees red card after just five minutes as fans split

In all honesty the game was over as a contest after a mere five minutes when Argentinian loose forward Tomas Lezana got given his marching order for making direct contact with the head of Rhys Davies.

It was an accidental clash of heads but intent is irrelevant and Lezana was rightly sent off. You can read more about that here.

Half an hour later Owen Williams executed an almost identical tackle on Sam Costelow but referee Craig Evans decided a yellow card was sufficient punishment for the Ospreys playmaker.

Evans justified both decisions by claiming Williams' tackle was passive while in his eyes Lezana's was dominant. But it was a weak explanation given the game's problems with concussion with such inconsistencies undermining World Rugby's battle to safeguard the game and its players.

Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel will rightly feel aggrieved with Evans' decision but even if Lezana had stayed on the park it would have been hard to see the Scarlets