The Ospreys, who had seven players on duty with Wales, managed to outscore Northampton Saints by two tries to one, but still went down to 19-17 defeat at the Liberty Stadium.
The Dragons then took up the cudgel in the Magners League v Guinness Premiership battle and came up with an impressive 20-9 home victory over Sale Sharks that contained two tries without reply.
The newly named Anglo-Welsh Cup, which the Cardiff Blues and Ospreys won at Twickenham in the past two years, has been slotted into the fixture list during the international match windows this season allowing the teams to offer first-team opportunities to younger players.
A young Scarlets side then came up with a share of the spoils at the Twickenham Stoop as they matched the home side with two tries in a 15-15 draw.
That just left the reigning champions, the Blues, to launch the defence of their title in a re-match of last season's final against Gloucester at Kingsholm. They, too, matched their hosts try for try, but it was a last gasp penalty from Ceri Sweeney, who ended with 16 points, that eventually won the day as he took the score to 26-25 in the visitors' favour.
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