By Simon Thomas
Cardiff coach Matt Sherratt has given his backing to Cameron Winnett after his axing by Wales coach Warren Gatland.
Sherratt paid a glowing tribute to Winnett following the full-back’s player of the match performance in the 31-23 victory over the Dragons at the Arms Park.
Winnett was surprisingly left out of the Wales team for the final autumn international against South Africa after starting against both Fiji and Australia.
But he delivered the perfect response with a classy derby day display, as he showed off his defence-splitting threat with ball in hand and his creativity – especially the way he dummied through before sending Callum Sheedy in for a try.
The 21-year-old from the Rhondda made more carries (14) than any other player on the pitch, ran for 85 metres and beat six defenders.
Cameron Winnett’s step is ⚡️#BKTURC #URC pic.twitter.com/RoyWKULMfJ
— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) November 12, 2024
It was a fine all-round effort, as his coach acknowledged.
“I have to give a special mention to Cam,” said Sherratt.
“He played 21 games last season. He played on Wales’ summer tour of Australia. He played every game for us in the opening block of this season, six games on the bounce. He’s gone away with Wales, he’s come back and he’s man of the match.
“He’s somebody who has made a massive difference to us as a club. I am really pleased with him.”
Giving his own thoughts, Winnett said: “It was nice to be back at the Arms Park. It’s an unbelievable crowd here and we are glad to get the win.
“I’m just really enjoying it here at the moment, with the way we are playing, and hopefully we can pick up a few more wins now.”
Cardiff had the four try bonus point in the bag inside 50 minutes as they built a 31-9 lead in front of a near 10,000 crowd, but then lost momentum as the Dragons hit back with two final quarter tries.
“I felt we took control in the first 15 minutes of the second half and I thought we should have killed them off, to be honest,” admitted Winnett.
Sherratt acknowledged there was room for improvement, but described it as “job done” against a Dragons team who had Filo Tiatia at the helm following the departure of Dai Flanagan.
“They were coming here full of motivation, with a new head coach. It was a banana skin that we were pretty worried about,” he said.
“The boys showed a lot of effort, not that much quality, if I’m honest, but we’ll take the five points and move on into Europe.”
Cool, Calm And Collector Of Wales’ Young Player Of The Year Award . . . Cameron Winnett
It was Cardiff’s 19th successive league win over their near neighbours and it takes them up to the giddy heights of fourth in the URC table.
In contrast, the Dragons are now bottom.
The Scarlets are back in ninth place after losing at Glasgow Warriors who remain in second spot after their 17-15 at Scotstoun on Friday night, where Dwayne Peel’s men pushed the champions all the way.
The Scots trailed for much of the match and were put under heavy pressure in the closing stages after taking the lead for the first time through a 66th minute penalty from replacement fly-half Duncan Weir.
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But they held on to secure a fifth win of the campaign.
Coach Franco Smith said: “We made some uncommon errors and the Scarlets played well. They are going to be tough to beat going forward, so I’m really happy to get the win.”
The Ospreys suffered a shock defeat out in Italy, where Zebre Parma claimed only their second success of the campaign.
Home wing Simone Gesi crossed twice in a 22-17 victory and Ospreys coach Toby Booth admitted: “We’re disappointed because we had plenty of opportunities but we didn’t execute them well enough.
“But we also got absolutely killed at the breakdown.
“We need to be better at that in the right end of the of the pitch because we got there, but didn’t do anything with it and we need to convert pressure into points.”
The defeat leaves the Ospreys back in 14th spot in the table, with only Zebre and the Dragons below them.