The fight over the future of the professional game in Wales inspired Christmas past. Roads into Llanelli were jammed more than an hour before the kick-off, the match was a sell-out and two teams left nothing on the field in a tight, tense encounter that was a riposte to the notion that regional rugby is moribund.
It was a Boxing Day derby that had the sharpest of edges without becoming unsightly. It was decided seven minutes from the end by a try from a driving lineout and the scorer, given the backdrop to the game, was fitting: the Ospreys second row Ian Evans is off to Toulon next season as the regions, challenged financially, struggle to hold on to their best players.
Both sets of supporters took to the pitch before the match to protest at the Welsh Rugby Union's handling of a dispute with the four regions which may have to be resolved by a judge. The quartet will not meet Tuesday's deadline to agree to continue a participation agreement with a governing body they feel is set on controlling everything, and everyone, from the centre, in an anti-devolution policy.
There were banners in the crowd which suggested alternative versions of the acronym WRU while one, referencing the talks the regions have had with Premiership Rugby about setting up an Anglo-Welsh league next season with the future of the Heineken Cup still far from resolved, read "Aviva Derci".
It was essential, given the context, that the rugby matched the build-up and the occasion. Derby matches between two teams of roughly equal ability are invariably attritional, settled by a moment of brilliance or an egregious mistake, but although the Scarlets led for 68 minutes of the contest, they always looked like the less likely winners.
Ospreys enjoyed 69% of the territory and 62% of the possession, but struggled to break down a defence that was unflinchingly robust. Liam Williams and Aaron Shingler hurled themselves into challenges with such a reckless disregard for their own safety, that they were never likely to last the full 80 minutes.
Williams retired 15 minutes into the second half, not sure which part of his body to rub as he was led off. There was something of JPR Williams about his performance, and not just because he wore 15: he imposed himself on the game in defence and attack and had a pain threshold so high that the crowd felt the impact of his challenges more than he did.
Shingler made it to 77 minutes before a series of juddering tackles caught up with him. The Ospreys' hooker, Richard Hibbard, who was meant to have been ruled out by a broken bone in his wrist, insisted on playing and he took the physical fight to the hosts, backed up by Alun Wyn Jones and Adam Jones.
It was brutal and gruelling, suggesting that the regions would not find the attrition of the Premiership foreign, and the result was in the balance until the last whistle when the Scarlets took play through 21 phases with Alun Wyn Jones in the sin-bin without being able to fashion the winning try.
They had led 3-0 at the interval through a Rhys Priestland penalty and the outside-half doubled the score on 49 minutes with his second kick. Dan Biggar, who had gone into the match having landed 35 successive kicks in all matches in a run stretching back to September, missed two and was jeered by the home crowd throughout.
Biggar played a central role in a chance for the wing Hanno Dirksen, looping around Ashley Beck before stretching the defence with a long pass, and after punishing the home side's indiscipline at a ruck, he went for distance with a 50-metre penalty kick to touch. When Ospreys drove the lineout, Evans left the Scarlets feeling red.
Scarlets L Williams (Maule, 55); Phillips, Reynolds (Thomas, 71), S Williams, Climo; Priestland, G Davies (R Williams, 57); John (Evans, 65), Owens (Phillips, 38), Lee (R Jones, 65), Ball (Snyman, 69), Earle, Shingler (Kelly, 77), Barclay, McCusker.
Pens Priestland 2.
Ospreys S Davies; Dirksen, Beck, John (Isaacs, 52), Hassler; Biggar, Webb (Tebaldi, 69); D Jones, Hibbard (Baldwin, 55) A Jones (Jarvis, 49), AW Jones, King (Evans, 65), Bearman (Ardron, 62), Lewis, R Jones (Allen, 65).
Try Evans Con Biggar Pen Biggar.
Sin-bin AW Jones 78.
Referee L Hodges (Wales). Attendance 14,796.
