Ospreys v Leinster 02/09/11

First topic message reminder :

The team to face Leinster this weekend in the Ospreys first game of the new Pro-12 is as follows:

15 Richard Fussell
14 Kristian Phillips
13 Andrew Bishop
12 Ashley Beck
11 Hanno Dirksen
10 Dan Biggar
9 Rhys Webb

1 Duncan Jones
2 Mefin Davies
3 Cai Griffiths
4 Ian Gough
5 Ian Evans
6 Tom Smith
7 Justin Tipuric (Capt)
8 Jonathan Thomas

Replacements

16 Matthew Dwyer
17 Ken Dowding
18 Joe Rees
19 James King
20 Morgan Allen
21 Tom Isaacs
22 Matthew Morgan
23 Sonny Parker

We're missing a few key players who are all on international duty - and some off with injuries. If anyone's got the Leinster team, please post it in reply.

I think Fussell is improving with every game and becoming more accustomed to the Full Back position. He does run good angles and make a good contribution to the Ospreys. He will never be World class but he is a decent player at Regional level and worth his place.

valjester wrote:Alyn- I thought the ref was fairly poor for both teams, ospreys were offside for the whole match, but unfortunately it is to be expected with fitzgibbon.


Very dissappointed with the leinster backrow and berquist. I'd give berquist a bit of time to settle in and he has the excuse of having to play outside of cooney who hasn't improved from last year's u20s were he was terrible as well.

Leinster fans won't be too bothered by this result anyway, they tend to start the season slowly and are missing a player or two.

You missing 14 players I think, while the Ospreys had 7 Welsh internationals in their pack, and 2 in the backs, with another on the bench. Really you need to win your home games in this league, so losing 1 away wont hurt too much. Whoever wins the league this season will have the weakened teams thrown in their face at the end either way.

AlynDavies wrote:

valjester wrote:Alyn- I thought the ref was fairly poor for both teams, ospreys were offside for the whole match, but unfortunately it is to be expected with fitzgibbon.


Very dissappointed with the leinster backrow and berquist. I'd give berquist a bit of time to settle in and he has the excuse of having to play outside of cooney who hasn't improved from last year's u20s were he was terrible as well.

Leinster fans won't be too bothered by this result anyway, they tend to start the season slowly and are missing a player or two.

You missing 14 players I think, while the Ospreys had 7 Welsh internationals in their pack, and 2 in the backs, with another on the bench. Really you need to win your home games in this league, so losing 1 away wont hurt too much. Whoever wins the league this season will have the weakened teams thrown in their face at the end either way.

I'm not a leinster supporter but I agree with you, just looking at the highlights now and they are just emphasising how poor leinster were. But what I thought was noticeable about the ospreys was that, unlike in other years, every player seems to care and are trying their hardest. In previous years it was obvious that some players only played when the mood took them, If this team can keep it up they will go very well this year despite the loss of their 'stars.' They will have a solid scrum, an alright lineout and everyone working for the team, if bigger kicks is goals they will score a lot.

The leinster lineout is in pieces at the moment, strauss had a poor game today I thought.

Not sure Taff made any mention of him being a superstar there NJ.

With regards to Fussell I agree with you NJ in that I think he runs into contact well at all, something he needs to work on.

Agree with Taff though in that he's v good under the high ball and does always look to counter-attack, which is something any back three player should do.

And seeing as he's mainly a winger, surely his job is to be there to finish off tries?? Not sure why you're criticising him for that to be honest.

Agree with other's about the ref, he didn't have the best game, but he was pretty poor for both sides, and I don't think it effected the match too much really. Guess tis just the standard we expect now in the Pro12

valjester wrote:I'm not a leinster supporter but I agree with you, just looking at the highlights now and they are just emphasising how poor leinster were. But what I thought was noticeable about the ospreys was that, unlike in other years, every player seems to care and are trying their hardest. In previous years it was obvious that some players only played when the mood took them, If this team can keep it up they will go very well this year despite the loss of their 'stars.' They will have a solid scrum, an alright lineout and everyone working for the team, if bigger kicks is goals they will score a lot.

The leinster lineout is in pieces at the moment, strauss had a poor game today I thought.

People who watch the games on TV or just talk about it on the forum probably wont be aware of this. But the Ospreys are really trying to change their image. they are doing tons of community events, and a lot of coaching at junior clubs. today they had a tent up with a few players giving out masks and banners to kids (I met Joe Bearman and he gave me a banner). After the game the players went around the stadium and signed autographs, instead of just running off the field to the changing rooms.
I think the Ospreys have finally woken up, they advertised themselves as a glory hunters club, people who want to be associated with successful teams jump on their bandwagon, but when the wheels fell off last season, a lot of "fans" deserted them. Now they finally seem to be building the right way, promoting youth, getting involved in the local communities and generating as much positive publicity as possible. In the long term the Ospreys will be much better for this new methodology within their community.

That's great to hear Alyn, it's what the Scarlets started to do a couple of years ago and it really seems to be starting to work for us. I think it's all the regions really need to do

rugbydreamer wrote:That's great to hear Alyn, it's what the Scarlets started to do a couple of years ago and it really seems to be starting to work for us. I think it's all the regions really need to do

Yup sorry Dreamer, the Ospreys always seem to be nicking good things off the Scarlets, be it players or ideas .

you haven't got a good young full back there have you? I wouldn't mind Steffan Jones from the Dragons, but I don't think I'd be safe going up there anymore if the Ospreys nicked anymore of their players.

Hearts and Minds old military ploy

ha keep your hands off our players! and to be fair, not really nicking any idea. The O's used to do all this when the regions first formed, just don't know why they ever stopped really.
Tipuric is a great captain for you guys though, looked like just a really good team performance today which is v encouraging.

The game will appear here on I player later.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0141ry4/Scrum_V_Live_2011_2012_Ospreys_v_Leinster/

Yup developing Tipuric as a leader is a good thing, at least if Warburton gets injured we Wales will have someone influencial to come in at 7 to replace him.

AlynDavies wrote:
People who watch the games on TV or just talk about it on the forum probably wont be aware of this. But the Ospreys are really trying to change their image. they are doing tons of community events, and a lot of coaching at junior clubs. today they had a tent up with a few players giving out masks and banners to kids (I met Joe Bearman and he gave me a banner). After the game the players went around the stadium and signed autographs, instead of just running off the field to the changing rooms.
I think the Ospreys have finally woken up, they advertised themselves as a glory hunters club, people who want to be associated with successful teams jump on their bandwagon, but when the wheels fell off last season, a lot of "fans" deserted them. Now they finally seem to be building the right way, promoting youth, getting involved in the local communities and generating as much positive publicity as possible. In the long term the Ospreys will be much better for this new methodology within their community.

Yeah it has to be done and that sounds like really smart marketing. The Irish province seem to be miles ahead of the others in this regard but its good to know that the ospreys, and hopefully the other welsh teams, are waking up to the need to build up support through marketing instead of just expecting fans to turn up. Connacht have sold a record number of seasons tickets this year due to a number of promotions, ulster are trying to expand their support base in different ways as are the italians. The more strong teams we have, with larger attendances is better for the league and a strong league is in all the countries interest. The scots will have to get their act together as well but they seem to be going backwards.

The best wingers do more than just score a try when someone hands it to them on a plate. I can't believe I had to tell you this... I'm confused, if he does look to counter-attack then he must be really bad at doing it since he looks so anonymous in doing so.

when did I say he was one of the best wingers? I just said finishing off tries is one of his jobs as a winger. Not really sure what your problem is here NJ.

valjester - Scarlets have sold a record number of season tickets too, so looking good for a fair few teams in the Pro12

rugbydreamer wrote:when did I say he was one of the best wingers? I just said finishing off tries is one of his jobs as a winger. Not really sure what your problem is here NJ.

valjester - Scarlets have sold a record number of season tickets too, so looking good for a fair few teams in the Pro12

Good to hear. I think leinster and ulster are both up. Munster are down by 10% but have still sold 17,500 tickets and they sell a number of different types of seasons ticket so you aren't really comparing like to like when you compare them with other teams.

Did I say YOU said that he is one of the best wingers??????? I had said it to highlight my point about his limitations as a player. Not impressed by his performace tonight, seems to be picking up where he left off and imo that isn't good enough to be in the Ospreys first team.

He was one of the O's best players last season NJ I believe. I was replying to your point that it was seemingly a negative in your eyes that he can finish off tries created by his team. I was merely pointing out that is a wingers job. Not sure where this whole issue of him being a best winger is coming from. He has limitations, I've agreed with you on that, just can't see why you think his ability to finish of tries is a negative is all.

Val - aye the Scarlets are up but they are no way near the Munster and Leinster figures, those are crazy good amounts of tickets sold really when you think about it!

rugbydreamer wrote:He was one of the O's best players last season NJ I believe. I was replying to your point that it was seemingly a negative in your eyes that he can finish off tries created by his team. I was merely pointing out that is a wingers job. Not sure where this whole issue of him being a best winger is coming from. He has limitations, I've agreed with you on that, just can't see why you think his ability to finish of tries is a negative is all.

Val - aye the Scarlets are up but they are no way near the Munster and Leinster figures, those are crazy good amounts of tickets sold really when you think about it!

Yep but if they keep working on it, they'll get there.

I really hope so Val

Also having watched the highlights on rte, it still annoys me that hook is paid to give his opinion on rugby. I know that he is supposed to be a wum and his job is to get debate going like dunphy does. The only problem with that is at least dunphy actually watches football and generally knows who the players are and has actually seen them play before. Hook never watches rugby and has a f***ing clue about anything unless he has just watched the match and yet still manages to get it wrong. Today he was claiming that berquist is behind madigan for the 10 jersey during the world cup which is a load of c**p, he has obviously never seen berquist before and I'd be surprised if he knew who he was.

Really surprised how the O's forwards disintegrated in the second half. Rhys Webb was MOTM but he had a poor SH. He doesn't seem to have pitch awareness which is a serious shortcoming for a scrummie.

Potato Head had his usual starchy performance where he manages to alienate both sets of fans. The guys running the line weren't any better somehow missing the forward pass for the first try and awarding the penalty for a barge in the last minute??!

Thought the O's locks were both great in the first half.

Berquist doesn't look like a flyhalf... (well he does LOOK a bit like Quade Cooper but that's as close as he gets).

Carr was ridiculous trying to run the ball in injury time at the end of the first half and ended up gifting the Spreys a try - really really poor decision.

Willis isn't great but he looked stellar compared to Cooney. With Boss being unexpectedly unavailable Leinster are woefully short at 9, and Schmidt needs to do something about that PDQ.

Thought Berquist looked lost, missing tackles and generally looking like a rabbit in the headlights every time he touched the ball. Not writing him off but he needs to improve if he's going to hold the fort for Johnny. Cooney was poor too but he's really an academy scrum half with very few (if any) starts so again you couldn't write him off, Willis did steady the ship when he came on. Thought Hagan looked good in the scrum and around the park but the lineout was pants, Gibbs will go through them over that. The backs were forcing everything and a patient O's defence had all they needed to deal with us.

All is not lost but a MASSIVE improvement needed.

your 9 and 10 were pretty awful, that berquist debut reminded me of sam norton knightmare debut for the blues

os cracking first half but we blew some good turn over situations in the second half

word of praise for the much maligned cai griffith he was excellent yday

Morning gents.

A solid start to the season for the O's. Both sides obviously missing loads of players but Scott Johnson would have been happy with the first half especially with a kindergarten selection in the backs. Through players leaving and WC and injuries the likes of Mike Phillips, Hook, Bowe, Byrne, Walker all missing but these kids looked good in that half.

I hope the O's stick with a lot of them and give them plenty of game time this year and build a real team.

The forwards were a lot more experienced and although you could say there were 7 internationals in there, only 1 has played in recent times and that was a cameo for the captain, Tipuric. The rest are long retired such as Duncan Jones (34/35) , Mefin (39) and Gough (35??).

The O's will be disappointed with not getting the bonus though and knowing how tight things are at the end of the year then that could come back to haunt them. (awesome tackle by Ruddock to stop that try)

I thought Leinster reserves were very poor and got turned over at the ruck throughout the game. They also didn't really threaten much and resorted to keeping it tight in the second half to try and get back in to it.

Really not sure about Berquist as well. Seemed to take the ball standing totally still and then just shovel it on meaning any momentum came to an abrupt halt.

Finally I thought the ref was pants, as usual, I'm afraid. Refereeing of that standard will ultimately hold the league back. I have to agree with JD in the commentary that surely if a player is off their feet at a ruck 2 feet from their own line and plays the ball with their hands to prevent quick ball that has to be a yellow card. It is what the yellow card was invented for surely.

Finally Finally the crowd was disappointing with only about 5,500 there. I would urge O's supporters to get out and support their team. This will be exciting times down there. Whilst the Galacticos have gone you can expect some good rugby from the kids who are all local and representing you r region, Get out there....

The Great Aukster wrote:Really surprised how the O's forwards disintegrated in the second half. Rhys Webb was MOTM but he had a poor SH. He doesn't seem to have pitch awareness which is a serious shortcoming for a scrummie.

Potato Head had his usual starchy performance where he manages to alienate both sets of fans. The guys running the line weren't any better somehow missing the forward pass for the first try and awarding the penalty for a barge in the last minute??!

Thought the O's locks were both great in the first half.

Berquist doesn't look like a flyhalf... (well he does LOOK a bit like Quade Cooper but that's as close as he gets).

Carr was ridiculous trying to run the ball in injury time at the end of the first half and ended up gifting the Spreys a try - really really poor decision.

Willis isn't great but he looked stellar compared to Cooney. With Boss being unexpectedly unavailable Leinster are woefully short at 9, and Schmidt needs to do something about that PDQ.

Valid point about the ospreys forwards 3 of our front 5 are well into their 30's, I have doubts if they can last the full game and the back ups at present are not good enough. With bearman jarvis and breeze/baldwin due back soon that should improve

doctornickolas wrote:

Finally Finally the crowd was disappointing with only about 5,500 there. I would urge O's supporters to get out and support their team. This will be exciting times down there. Whilst the Galacticos have gone you can expect some good rugby from the kids who are all local and representing you r region, Get out there....

5,500 was it? I thought it was less than that to be honest. I wholeheartedly agree with your post about people making an effort to watch their region though. As I said though, it seemed really flat too. I think this is a really exciting period for the Ospreys too and would hope atmosphere and attendances improve.

JB, hasn't Cai been playing quite well for the Ospreys recently (towards the tail end of last season included)?

They announced the crowd near the end and it said 5,4??. Can't remember exactly. These kids deserve to play in front of a good crowd though and I hope that some more rugby like we saw in the first half will draw the fans in.

Kick off only one non-Welsh qualified player starting absolutely brilliant.

Leinster lose the opening game of the season for the 7th year in a row, according to the RTE pundits. That's an unusual stat for a team that's normally one of the best. I guess we're slow starters.

I hope we don't start as badly as lat year. Three defeats in the first 4 games I think. It meant it was impossible for us to catch Munster and earn a home final.

Oh that will make the rest sit up and take notice, roysh. Dragons at the RDS, will be a big challenge next week, after that debacle, but we need that 1st win. Almost feel sorry for those lads in training this week. Almost. Schmidt and Gibbs will hammer into them. Expect a massive improvement. Which wouldnt take much. He should start Madigan and Willis.

Believe.

Cymroglan wrote:Kick off only one non-Welsh qualified player starting absolutely brilliant.

Dirksen is qualifing for Wales on residency and will be availiable soon.
Ruddock was also on the field so can we count him as Welsh also?

jb1973 wrote:your 9 and 10 were pretty awful, that berquist debut reminded me of sam norton knightmare debut for the blues

No way was it that bad!

Everyone was telling me Berquist is great. Now after one game everyone's saying he's pants! Which is it?

Interesting watching last night. The Ospreys defence was suffocating but if Leinster had maybe tried a few chips over it, they might have found some more joy.

The forwards the major weakness but I think with more time together, they'll improve. I've no doubt about that.

Feckless Rogue wrote:Everyone was telling me Berquist is great. Now after one game everyone's saying he's pants! Which is it?

I would venture a guess is that he played well in one match and then played poorly in the next

Good first half for the O's but the half backs were poor in the second half, no vision and kicking poorly.

I Evans should be with the Wales squad looked good the whole game.

glamorganalun wrote:Good first half for the O's but the half backs were poor in the second half, no vision and kicking poorly.

I Evans should be with the Wales squad looked good the whole game.

If Evans can maintain that level of performance throughout the season he will be in contention come the 6N's.Very encouraging signs.

glamorganalun wrote:Good first half for the O's but the half backs were poor in the second half, no vision and kicking poorly.

I Evans should be with the Wales squad looked good the whole game.

He looked good at the breakdown, still has to work on his penalty count though. Will he get much gametime when AWJ and R.Jones get back though?

Agree with you there Wales. Ianto's a bit of a liability in terms of his discipline. I don't think he's good enough for the Welsh squad because of it. He'll get plenty of game time whilst the Jonesy's are out, and then he'll be on the bench I expect.

Cari wrote:Agree with you there Wales. Ianto's a bit of a liability in terms of his discipline. I don't think he's good enough for the Welsh squad because of it. He'll get plenty of game time whilst the Jonesy's are out, and then he'll be on the bench I expect.

The one thing Wales always lack is big, tough men and Ianto is exactly that! The guy is a beast!

But an indisciplined "beast" is useless Alyn because he's either in the bin or giving away points.

Cari wrote:But an indisciplined "beast" is useless Alyn because he's either in the bin or giving away points.

He's no worse than Craig Quinell was though, or Martin Johnson... he might get the odd card, but lets be honest in 86 Ospreys games, he has 4 yellow cards. That's no worse than Duncan Jones or Tipuric to be honest, Ian just likes to throw his weight around that's all no harm in it really.

It's not so much how many cards he's got. Not everyone can get away with throwing their weight around, and can cost valuable points. Anyway, he's unlikely to make it to the Welsh squad any time soon, so I'm not too concerned.

I Evans had a very good game he turned over quite a lot of ball and made a lot of tackles, he is the type of player to battle with SA second rows in the line out where we suffer time and time again. Charteris for his size has to be lifted as his jump is not as good as Evans.

evans great for 50 minutes then looked knackered , if he can play like than for 80 minutes he will be pushing for a test recall

pete (buachaill on eirne) wrote:Don't mean to sound arrogant but our backline looks unreal compared to theirs in every position except possibly 9

Comfort wrote:

pete (buachaill on eirne) wrote:Don't mean to sound arrogant but our backline looks unreal compared to theirs in every position except possibly 9

Chuckle Chuckle

I remember seeing that post on the weekend, thought I had to point it out - all done in love with cuddles though of course

I suppose this highlights the difference between the ospreys fans knowing their talented youngsters and others only the big names that have left, thats why the ospreys fans are quietly optimistic this season, theres some huge huge talent coming through in that backline over the next couple of years.

Leinster came out slow, they seemed to not want the ball in the first half, they'll improve throughout the next couple of games.

Im excited to see what the young guys can do for the ospreys this year, obviously much tougher challenges will come along than the first few games against other depleted sides. And maybe someone can keep these kids away from hair-stylists,fake tan and cash4gold!

Feckless Rogue wrote:Leinster lose the opening game of the season for the 7th year in a row, according to the RTE pundits. That's an unusual stat for a team that's normally one of the best. I guess we're slow starters.

I hope we don't start as badly as lat year. Three defeats in the first 4 games I think. It meant it was impossible for us to catch Munster and earn a home final.

Which parallel universe was that in? A draw 3 years ago and a win 4 years ago.

Feckless Rogue wrote:Everyone was telling me Berquist is great. Now after one game everyone's saying he's pants! Which is it?

I know nothing about his pants. But he was great v the Rebels and pretty good v the Saints. Fecken sh1te v Ospreys. If his form continues to get worse every game we are fcukt.

Give him time. Schmidt will have done his homework. Backup to Carter is a hard job. But he was. Our real problem is at 9.