Cardiff triumphed in the first United Rugby Championship (URC) Welsh derby of the season by beating Scarlets in Llanelli. Tries from flanker Dan Thomas, player-of-the-match Taine Basham and replacement hooker Evan Lloyd helped seal the victory, with all three tries coming from effective attacking driving line-outs. Scarlets scored first-half tries through centre Joe Roberts and full-back Blair Murray but could only manage a second-half penalty from Joe Hawkins.

It was a match played in front of a crowd of 7,073 after kicking off at the unfriendly time of quarter to eight on a Saturday evening. Cardiff, who finished sixth last season and were the only Welsh team to reach the play-offs, were without injured Wales wing Josh Adams but gave debuts to summer signings former Australia prop Scott Sio and Namibia centre Le Roux Malan.

Scarlets, who were 14th in the 2025-26 campaign with only Dragons and Zebre below them, were missing injured number eights Fletcher Anderson and Taine Plumtree, and Wales fly-half Sam Costelow. Wales props Corey Domachowski and Kemsley Mathias were also absent, as the hosts were led out by vice-captain Ryan Elias, who was making his 200th appearance.