The latest rugby news headlines after a weekend of derby matches

Tiatia bemoans knee-drop tackle

Dragons head coach Filo Tiatia bemoaned a "dangerous" knee-drop tackle that left centre Fetuli Paea limping off during their defeat to the Ospreys at St Helen's.

As well as Paea, the Dragons lost Wales internationals Rio Dyer and Ben Carter to injury - while they had Rhodri Williams, Tinus de Beer and Aneurin Owen all sin-binned.

Knee-drop tackles will be banned throughout rugby from November 1 after a recent World Rugby announcement.

"I saw the clip," said Tiatia about Paea's injury. "It was a knee-drop tackle.

"I know the law comes in in a couple of weeks. But you can clearly see it's dangerous.

"Rugby league is heavy on it. I think World Rugby need to bring it in earlier. But he's not good."

On Dyer, Tiatia admitted he didn't "know the extent of it".

"There's a few (injuries). The injuries, you saw Carts go off. We had three yellow cards through indiscipline. That's something we need to tighten up.

"The boys have been squeaky clean. Some of the things I saw differently. We've got a few clips for Mr Whitehouse so we can learn from them."

Scarlets boss proud

Scarlets head coach Nigel Davies believes his side have turned a corner after pushing the Stormers all the way in a thrilling BKT United Rugby Championship try fest in Cape Town.

Davies was left frustrated after Scarlets scored six tries but narrowly missed out on victory, insisting his players will take huge confidence and belief from a performance that proved they can compete with the best teams in the competition.

Scarlets had been written off before the match against the South African outfit, but they produced a spirited display to take the contest down to the wire and claim a try bonus point in a 52-40 defeat.

Davies was delighted with the way his players executed their attacking game plan under pressure, although he admitted there were key moments and costly inaccuracies that ultimately proved decisive.

"First of all, congratulations to the Stormers for winning what was a fantastic contest. We came here with an intent to score tries and play rugby. It has been our focus all season and we knew we were coming to a very difficult place to play and we had to be on top of our game.

"What we have been working on mentally, physically and skill-wise is to execute under high pressure and a higher intensity so we can compete longer against the top teams and I firmly believe we have turned the corner there. There is a belief within the squad that they can do that and the boys did that today.

"I was delighted for them for the respect they would have gained from a lot of people because of that performance and also the confidence that will grow within the group as well.

"I am delighted with that performance and absolutely disappointed because we could have potentially won it. There were a couple of key moments that didn’t go our way. We also put a bit of pressure on ourselves with our inaccuracies – something we have to look at, but it was a match that could have gone either way in the end."

Davies also highlighted the value of the experience for his younger players, singling out 18-year-old fly-half Carwyn Leggatt-Jones after the young playmaker was thrust into the challenge of facing the Stormers away from home.

"This is a fabulous place to play and a lot of my players would have gained a huge amount. Look at our 10, Carwyn Leggatt-Jones, who is just 18 years old, that experience will be invaluable to him.

"We had to make a few changes because of international calls, but I was confident with the depth in the squad and a lot of these boys have been unlucky not to play earlier. I was delighted with the way they stepped up."

Pat Lam proud as Bristol defy stormy weather to hold off Exeter

By Press Association Sport

Bristol Bears director of rugby Pat Lam admitted he was “really proud” of his team after they weathered the awful conditions and a second-half fightback from Exeter Chiefs to triumph 20-7 at Ashton Gate.

Gabriel Ibitoye crossed after 27 minutes to put the home side ahead, with James Williams adding the extras followed by a penalty on the half hour to establish a 10-0 lead.

Greg Fisilau’s try, converted by Henry Slade, then brought Exeter right back into contention, but a second Williams penalty gave Bristol some breathing space before Luka Ivanishvili touched down in the dying seconds to make sure of the win.

Heavy rain and strong winds made life difficult for both sides, and Lam said: “Conditions like that really challenge your technique and mindset.

“And you can’t go into these games without the right mindset because you have to front up physically, but that physicality has to be technically accurate, otherwise you are going to give territory and possession away and miss tackles.

“We allowed them back into the game by dropping a few balls, but our message was ‘just be accurate’.

“A lot of what we saw today was a result of the work we have done in pre-season, it was not a day to throw the ball around.”

Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter gently questioned his side’s decision not to go for the posts near the end to level the scores, instead turning down two kickable penalties inside the 22.

“Towards the end we had worked our way back into it and we had an opportunity to get something,” he said.

“And our poorest maul of the game was probably at the end there, where we probably needed a killer maul. We weren’t quite as good as we needed to be, we had to play away from it, and then we lost the ball and that last period saw us make the kind of errors you just can’t afford to in these conditions.

“I think the difference between the two teams was that we just made more errors than Bristol over the course of the game, and tactically Bristol were potentially a little smarter.”

Baxter also felt aggrieved over Bristol’s first try from Ibitoye, when it came from a penalty awarded against Ethan Roots.

He said: “I think we were unfortunate with the first try because I don’t think Ethan has done anything.

“He is leaving the maul after being told to by the referee. Bristol make an error at the back, he picks the ball up and all of a sudden we are penalised.”