Stephen Jones went from villain to hero as the Scarlets spared their Pro12 blushes by earning themselves a late share of the spoils against local rivals Ospreys, drawing 9-9.

The Wales flyhalf's name was mud in the first half as he was sent to the sin bin but the veteran recovered after the break to kick the game-defining penalty to level the scores.

Dan Biggar's nine points, all from penalties, looked all set to earn the Ospreys the local bragging rights as well as their first win in four games.

But anything Biggar could do Jones was determined to do better, kicking nine points of his own, including his nerve-jangling 78th-minute effort to secure a draw.

The Ospreys wasted the perfect opportunity to wrestle the early initiative when Biggar missed a third-minute penalty only for fellow flyhalf Jones to repeat the unwanted trick nine minutes later.

That deadlock was broken however by Biggar on 25 minutes when, after Jones was sin binned, the Ospreys No. 10 duly slotted the first points of the game with a penalty.

The home side's numerical advantage didn't last long however with Justin Tipuric, returning from suspension, getting himself into fresh hot water by being sent to the bin.

With Jones absent fullback Dan Evans took over kicking duties but he failed with a 32nd-minute effort and the visitors went in at the interval trailing 3-0.

Just two minutes after the restart the Scarlets were level when Wales No. 10 Jones notched his first points of the game with a penalty only for Biggar to hit back almost immediately with a three-pointer of his own.

And on 48 minutes the Ospreys' three point advantage became six when Biggar took his tally for the evening to nine.

Nigel Davies' side looked to have wasted their chance to get back into it with a pair of missed penalties, Jones and Evans the culprits, in the space of five minutes.

But the veteran flyhalf made no mistake with a penalty just shy of the hour mark. And when the home side were penalised for offside with just two minutes left on the clock Jones duly slotted a penalty to level things.

With second-half replacement and Wales World Cup star George North running the Ospreys ragged Davies' side looked the most likely to nick a late victory in the final stages.

But the final play of the game saw the Scarlets knock on to leave the points shared.

The scorers:

For Ospreys:
Pens: Biggar 3

For Scarlets:
Pens: Jones 3

Teams:

Ospreys: 15 Richard Fussell, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Andrew Bishop, 12 Ashley Beck, 11 Eli Walker, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Kahn Fotuali’i, 8 Jonathan Thomas, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Joe Bearman, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Alun Wyn Jones (captain), 3 Cai Griffiths, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Duncan Jones.
Replacements: 16 Huw Bennett, 17 Ryan Bevington, 18 Aaron Jarvis, 19 Ryan Jones, 20 Tom Smith, 21 George Stowers, 22 Rhys Webb, 23 Shane Williams.

Scarlets: 15 Daniel Evans, 14 Liam Williams, 13 Adam Warren, 12 Scott Williams, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Tavis Knoyle, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Rob McCusker, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Damian Welch, 4 Dominic Day, 3 Rhys Thomas, 2 Matthew Rees (captain), 1 Iestyn Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Phil John, 18 Rhodri Jones, 19 Sione Timani, 20 Richie Pugh, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Jon Davies, 23 George North.

Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)
Assistant Referees: Neil Hennessy, Jon Mason (both WRU)
TMO: Tony Rowlands (WRU)

Aironi 6-18 Glasgow Warriors

Duncan Weir's 18 points ensured Glasgow Warriors succeeded where Scottish rivals Edinburgh failed in the Pro12 earlier this season by seeing off Aironi in Italy.

Rookie flyhalf Weir defied the tricky conditions in Viadana to help the Warriors bag themselves an 18-6 win at the same ground where the Gunners went down to a 25-19 defeat at the end of September.

Aironi's contributions to the scoreboard came from the boot of Naas Olivier who kicked six first-half points but the Warriors - led by Weir - ultimately bagged themselves a comfortable win.

The Warriors drew first blood early on when Aironi were penalised at the ruck and Weir kicked the penalty but the Italians were soon level after Troy Nathan was caught offside.

Weir's opposite number Olivier made no mistake with the easiest of penalties on five minutes.

But his next points were far from comfortable. After a period of sustained pressure from the home side the South African flyhalf notched three points from a tough angle after the Warriors were caught offside after 11 minutes.

The kicking war continued with Weir taking the lead, first levelling things with another penalty before making it 9-6 on 22 minutes - a three-pointer again doing the damage.

After his dead-eye start with the boot Weir showed his human side with the half-hour mark approaching - missing a drop goal before coming up short with a lengthy penalty attempt.

But the 20-year-old flyhalf came roaring back from those disappointments and made sure his, and Glasgow's, first-half ended on a high by notching a drop goal with the last kick of the half to make it 12-6.

The Italian side were seemingly handed the perfect opportunity to get back into the game early in the second half when Johnnie Beattie's troubles continued when he was yellow carded for coming over the top of a ruck.

The Scotland international was overlooked for the World Cup squad earlier this year and having been dropped last weekend was looking for redemption in Italy but it failed to materialise.

Beattie took some solace from the fact that Olivier missed the resulting 48th-minute penalty and another three-point effort seven minutes later.

The Warriors stretched their lead to nine points on 62 minutes when Weir took his personal tally for the afternoon to 15 with another three-pointer after Aironi were caught offside.

And he was at it again ten minutes from time when the Italians were penalised for bringing down the scrum - this time slotting impressively from distance to make it 18-6.

Despite Weir missing a late penalty the Warriors easily saw out the final stages to take the win - their fifth of the season.

The scorers:

For Aironi:
Pens: Olivier 2

For Glasgow Warriors:
Pens: Weir 5
DG: Weir

Teams:

Aironi: 15 Ruggero Trevisan, 14 Giulio Toniolatti, 13 Andrea Masi, 12 Matteo Pratichetti, 11 Sinoti Sinoti, 10 Naas Olivier, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Nick Williams, 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Nicola Cattina; 5 Marco Bortolami (captain), 4 Quintin Geldenhuys; 3 Fabio Staibano, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Matias Aguero.
Replacements: 16 Roberto Santamaria, 17 Salvatore Perugini, 18 Luca Redolfini, 19 George Biagi, 20 Josh Sole, 21 Tyson Keats, 22 Luciano Orquera, 23 Gabriel Pizarro.

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Peter Murchie, 14 Federico Aramburu, 13 Alex Dunbar, 12 Troy Nathan, 11 Tommy Seymour, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Chris Cusiter, 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 John Barclay, 6 James Eddie, 5 Al Kellock (captain), 4 Richie Gray, 3 Ed Kalman, 2 Dougie Hall, 1 Ryan Grant.
Replacements: 16 Finlay Gillies, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 Mike Cusack, 19 Rob Verbakel, 20 Ryan Wilson, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Graeme Morrison, 23 Stuart Hogg.

Referee: Dudley Phillips (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Marius Mitrea, Stefano Roscini (both Italy)

Benetton Treviso 11-22 Edinburgh

Edinburgh finally recorded a first away win of the Pro12 as they put an end to Treviso's four-match winning run in a scrappy 22-11 win in difficult conditions at the Stadio Monigo.

The Gunners had come away with a bloody nose on their last trip to Italy, falling 25-19 to Aironi, but young stand-off Harry Leonard was on target from the kicking tee while Scotland flank Ross Rennie grabbed the only try for the visitors.
Treviso had led after Ludovico Nitoglia's try but eventually came away with nothing as they failed to recreate the form which saw them thump Newport Gwent Dragons a week ago.

The result sets up Edinburgh perfectly for next week's trip to London Irish as the Heineken Cup kicks off, while Treviso face the tough task of travelling to Premiership champions Saracens.

Leonard got his side off to the perfect start as he slotted an early penalty after just ten minutes.

There had already been time for Kris Burton to miss one penalty in the fourth minute, but the Australian-born Azzurri flyhalf made amends just before the quarter-hour with a well-struck drop goal to make it 3-3.

Leonard added his second penalty after 28 minutes, but Treviso took full advantage when Scotland centre Nick De Luca, in his second start for the Gunners this season, was yellow-carded.

Treviso fullback Nitoglia scored his third try of the season to put the Italians in front for the first time with two minutes to go before half-time.

But Leonard gave Edinburgh back the lead with a third penalty on the stroke of half-time to make it 9-8 after Lorenzo Cittadini had also been sent to the bin.

Having missed another opportunity immediately after the break, Leonard did manage to stretch the visitors' lead on 46th minute with his fourth penalty.

That was cancelled out by Burton's first penalty of the day, but Leonard matched him with another three points with just over 15 minutes to go to make it 15-11.

The Gunners then made the decisive break as Scotland openside flank Rennie burrowed over for only his third try in Celtic League history with ten minutes remaining.

And despite the Italians' best efforts they were not able to break through to earn even a losing bonus point.

The scorers:

For Benetton Treviso:
Try: Nitoglia
Pen: Burton
DG: Burton

For Edinburgh:
Try: Rennie
Con: Leonard
Pens: Leonard 5

Teams:

Benetton Treviso: 15 Ludovico Nitoglia, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Ezio Galon, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Luke McLean, 10 Kristopher Burton, 9 Tobias Botes, 8 Marco Filippucci, 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Corniel Van Zyl, 4 Antonio Pavanello (captain), 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Franco Sbaraglini, 1 Michele Rizzo.
Replacements: 16 Diego Vidal, 17 Ignacio Fernandez Rouyet, 18 Pedro Di Santo, 19 Benjamin Vermaak, 20 Manoa Vosawai, 21 Fabio Semenzato, 22 Willem De Waal, 23 Brendan Williams.

Edinburgh: 15 Jim Thompson, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Nick de Luca, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Harry Leonard, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Netani Talei, 7 Ross Rennie, 6 Dave Denton, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Esteban Lozada, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford (captain), 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Steven Lawrie, 17 Kyle Traynor, 18 Lewis Niven, 19 Steven Turnbull, 20 Stuart McInally, 21 Chris Leck, 22 Greig Laidlaw, 23 Tom Brown.

Referee: Andy Macpherson (Scotland)
Assistant Referees: Alan Falzone, Stefano Marama (both Italy)

Ulster 22-3 Connacht

Ulster finally put an end to four straight Pro12 defeats with a hard-fought 22-3 win over Irish rivals Connacht at Ravenhill.

Despite the return of their World Cup stars last weekend they had fallen to another away defeat at the Scarlets, but they made sure the same would not happen again on World Cup winner John Afoa's debut as they went some way to improving their terrible record against Irish provinces that had seen them win just one of the last seven encounters against Irish opposition.

However Ulster did not find it easy against a Connacht side who were also struggling with three straight defeats coming into the game, and it was only two tries either side of half-time which sealed the win before Ian Humphreys try in the last play of the game.

Humphreys had given Ulster an early lead with a penalty after just two minutes but that was cancelled out by Miah Nikora on the quarter hour.

The home side finally managed the deadlock as Humphreys drifted wide before switching with Craig Gilroy cutting inside and the young wing flew over for his second try of the season as Ulster led 8-3 at the break.

Connacht's hopes took a decisive hit just two minutes after the break as Ireland prop Tom Court went over, with Humphreys' conversion stretching the lead to 15-3 for the home side.

And despite a lot of effort from both sides neither was able to find a breakthrough in a scrappy second-half until Humphreys last-gasp score.

After a period of concerted pressure the flyhalf collected the ball about 30 metres out and after drifting to the left he straightened and sliced through a weak Connacht defence to stroll under the posts unopposed.

His drop-kicked conversion sealed the win with the last action of the match but Brian McLaughlin's side know they will have to improve considerably ahead of the visit of Top 14 heavyweights Clermont in the opening fixture of the Heineken Cup.

Connacht will also be competing in Europe's premier competition for the first time as they welcome unbeaten Harlequins to the Sportsground.

The scorers:

For Ulster:
Tries: Humphreys, Court, Gilroy
Cons: Humphreys 2
Pen: Humphreys

For Connacht:
Pen: Nikora

Teams:

Ulster: 15 Simon Danielli, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Craig Gilroy, 9 Ian Humphreys, 10 Paul Marshall, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 7 Chris Henry, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Dan Tuohy, 4 Johann Muller (captain), 3 John Afoa, 2 Rory Best, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements: 16 Andi Kyriacou, 17 Paddy McAllister, 18 Adam Macklin, 19 Lewis Stevenson, 20 Robbie Diack, 21 Ian Porter, 22 Nevin Spence, 23 Adam D'Arcy.

Connacht: 15 Tiernan O'Halloran, 14 Fetu'u Vainikolo, 13 Gavin Duffy (captain), 12 Dave McSharry, 11 Brian Tuohy, 10 Miah Nikora, 9 Paul O'Donohoe, 8 George Naoupu, 7 Eoghan Grace, 6 TJ Anderson, 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Michael Swift, 3 Rodney Ah You, 2 Adrian Flavin, 1 Brett Wilkinson.
Replacements: 16 Ethienne Reynecke, 17 Ronan Loughney, 18 Dylan Rogers, 19 Dave Gannon, 20 John Muldoon, 21 Frank Murphy, 22 Niall O'Connor, 23 Matthew Jarvis.

Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Paul Haycock, Brian MacNeice (both Ireland)
TMO: Tony Redmond (Ireland)