Ospreys vs Ulster- Teams Announced

First topic message reminder :

Scott Johnson has named his Ospreys side to face Ulster and it's a landmark for Ospreys utility forward Jonathon Thomas; he's winning his 150th cap

Ospreys

15 Barry Davies
14 Richard Fussell
13 Tom Isaacs
12 Andrew Bishop
11 Hanno Dirksen
10 Dan Biggar
9 Rhys Webb
1 Duncan Jones
2 Scott Baldwin
3 Aaron Jarvis
4 Ian Gough
5 James Goode
6 Tom Smith
7 Justin Tipuric (Capt)
8 Jonathan Thomas

Replacements:

16 Richard Hibbard
17 Cai Griffiths
18 Joe Rees
19 James King
20 Joe Bearman
21 Matthew Morgan
22 Sonny Parker
23 Kristian Phillips

One change in the Ulster team- Luke Marshall comes in for the injured Darren Cave in the centre and Nevin Spence switches from 12 to 13. Willie Faloon replaces McComish on the bench and Academy scrumhalf Blane McIlroy comes in for Ian Porter who has a rib injury.

Ulster

15 Jared Payne
14 Craig Gilroy
13 Nevin Spence
12 Luke Marshall
11 Ian Whitten
10 Ian Humphreys
9 Paul Marshall
1 Declan Fitzpatrick
2 Andi Kyriacou
3 Jerry Cronin
4 Lewis Stevenson
5 Dan Tuohy
6 Pedrie Wannenburg
7 Chris Henry (Capt)
8 Robbie Diack

Replacements

16 Nigel Brady
17 Paddy McAllister
18 Adam Macklin
19 Tim Barker
20 Willie Faloon
21 Blane McIlroy
22 Paddy Jackson
23 Adam D'Arcy

Unavailable due to injury:Callum Black (neck), Darren Cave (hamstring), Ian Porter (ribs)

The game will take place at the Liberty Stadium at 4.30pm on Sunday; the game will be televised on S4C and will be available to stream live on the BBC Sport website for fans located in the UK.

The Ospreys team for Sunday:

http://www.ospreysrugby.com/rugby/5772.php

Jonathan Thomas will be one of only two players to make their 150th appearance for the Ospreys, so congrats to him.

Yes congrats to JT. Not sure about this team though. SJ said he was taking the threat of Ulster seriously, if so why hasn't he started with our strongest team??

Just to make it easier for people, here's the team copied and pasted from the above link
15 Barry Davies
14 Richard Fussell
13 Tom Isaacs
12 Andrew Bishop
11 Hanno Dirksen
10 Dan Biggar
9 Rhys Webb
1 Duncan Jones
2 Scott Baldwin
3 Aaron Jarvis
4 Ian Gough
5 James Goode
6 Tom Smith
7 Justin Tipuric (Capt)
8 Jonathan Thomas
Replacements:
16 Richard Hibbard
17 Cai Griffiths
18 Joe Rees
19 James King
20 Joe Bearman
21 Matthew Morgan
22 Sonny Parker
23 Kristian Phillips

Whose Scott Baldwin? (not another Baldwin brother is he?) and whats wrong with Mefin, is he injured?

They are not stating that Mefin or yanto are injured???

Neither of them are injured as far as I can tell - looking at the list of players not selected through injury. I'm actually glad Ianto's not there because his discipline is a bit of a liability at times. Not sure about Mefin...maybe they want to give the newbies a go. Mefin's about 65 anyway, it's about time he retired and let someone else have a go

Interesting point of view Cari, I'm sure he'd love to read that lol
I just think that seeing as SJ has said how dangerous Ulster can be, whoulf he have started with the strongest team possible and then introduce them from the bench? Has Issacs played in the centre before? Isn't he a scrum half/winger? know the Ospreys see him as a utility player, but why not start with Parker, or will you tell me he's too old as well?

TB - I was only taking the pish with the ageist comment. Perhaps Johnson sees this stage of the tournament as an ideal opportunity to experiment a bit, give the newer players a chance, and swap positions - it's still early on in the season and our internationals are busy elsewhere. We'll need the experienced guys for the Heino games when they start. It may be that although they're not injured, Ianto and Mefin need a rest.

I would say Ospreys for the win, only due to the home field advantage. They are the two teams who have played the best rugby up to now, and it should actually be a really good game between two sets of young players who aren't afraid to have a go.
I think Tipuric will be key at the breakdown and if he can be as effective there as he has been, then it might start to starve the Ulster backs of any decent ball.
Interesting Stat from the USA V Aus game today - no turnovers won from ruck ball. Really underlines the value of a good 7 doesn't it?

I'm quite happy with the team, glad to see Barry Davies back at full back. I guess SJ is using the bench for impact later in the game, after a few tired legs from some of the new guys.

Thanks for that lads, I've edited the OP to include both sides

Yes quick ball I've been looking forward to Barry being back, gives us plenty of opions now with the back 3 and a fullback who is prepared to attack from deep.
Cari I knew you weren't being nasty, just me and Mef are the same age lol
Going to be an interesting game and could be the best match up of the weekend. Ospreys have to front up for the full 80 mins and not drop off the pace like they did in our first two games. Ulster looked really strong last week against the Blues, and again I hope they show that kind of form this week. It will help identify how well our youngsters can do against a side on form. That said, weathers not looking good for sunday, so may not be the open running game I was hoping for.
Just as a side conversation, what do we think of Bigger this season? He took a lot of flack last season, and I think he will be crutial to our success on Sunday. I think he plays so much better with Rhys at 9. thoughts anyone?

quick ball (not myself) will help the back line, which suffered a bit with MPhilips, so we'll see as the season goes on. As for bigger, i'm not fond of the guy, so he's got to put in a lot of big games to get back in my good books.

It will be interesting to see how Biggar performs with the new 9 (can't remember his name soz) when he comes back from the WC. I still think Biggars got a int future but needs to work on a few things - problem is Gats has his favs and is known to leave players in the wilderness.

Still think Priestland, Jones, Hook and Tovey are ahead of him and better than him.

Incredibly bad news for Ulster;

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/9695.php

Ian Humphreys has had to withdraw from the team- suffered a recurrence of the injury he got from Lualala's late hit last weekend. What a shame for him!

I think that could be enough to swing the game in favour of the Ospreys. We'll be fairly exposed in the absence of an experienced 10. Jackson is very talented, but also very young and untested.

Disaster.

Don't panic lads it's a Irish ref

Gives Jackson a chance. Might not be great news for this game but cant hurt us in the long run. Im going to call it now. Future Ireland midfield

Big chance for Jackson. Hardly going to help him that the irratic Marshall is at 9. Payne the old man in the backline. I don't know whether to cheer on these boys or organise some welsh babysitters to look after them.

Marshall at 12 at least gives Jackson another kicking option

Yeah, I'm happy enough to see Jackson and L. Marshall together with Pienaar around it's just that P. Marshall is not a very sympathetic scrum-haf to play with!

At least when Paul inevitably throws the ball well over Paddys head, it will reach Luke and he can then boot it. Its genius thinking!

Ulsters pioneering new attacking formation; Ball comes out of the ruck to 9, 10 stands ready to receive the pass, 12 and 15 cover the potential areas where the pass will really end up!

Nah, we joke, but he tries hard. He wears his heart on his sleeve and I admire him for it. Just wish he was a bit more precise!

The chances of a win have shrunk, but I have to say that I'm glad that Jackson is getting a crack of the whip. No jaded journeymen, no foreign imports, no versatile stand-bys from other positions being asked to fill in - just two exciting, talented young fellas at 10 and 12. Didn't we think that this is what this stage of the season would be all about? We have a decent pack lining out - if they step up, the youngsters should get decent possession.

So off the top of my head, we have Jackson, Marshall and Gilroy at 20, Spence at 21, Whitten at 23 and Payne at 26? Ahhh- youthful exuberance.

I think Paddy Jackson is still 19!

Paul Marshall is only 26 aswell.

No Ian Evans for the Ospreys?

Fussell has looked awful lately, so sticking him on the wing out of the way is probably a good move. Kristian Phillips has looked poor also, so it's also good he has been dropped. He is still very young and maybe needs to develop more before he is consistent.

Richard Hibbard is back on the bench which is a good sign he is getting over his injury. Likewise Joe Bearman who has been injured for ages with a stomach injury.

Another f'ing Irish ref though, why do we have an Irish ref at the Liberty stadium every week...

Alyn, I think its down to season after season of the Welsh regions spent complaining about Scottish refs.

AlynDavies wrote:No Ian Evans for the Ospreys?

Fussell has looked awful lately, so sticking him on the wing out of the way is probably a good move. Kristian Phillips has looked poor also, so it's also good he has been dropped. He is still very young and maybe needs to develop more before he is consistent.

Richard Hibbard is back on the bench which is a good sign he is getting over his injury. Likewise Joe Bearman who has been injured for ages with a stomach injury.

Another f'ing Irish ref though, why do we have an Irish ref at the Liberty stadium every week...

We have had 2 welsh refs at ravenhill so far this year.

Alyn, if a ref from a union which has a team playing is selected he is always from the nation the away side is from. He generally is assisted by officials from the host union is assessed by the host union.

We had James Jones last week against Cardiff for instance.

Just some very late team news in: Richard Hibbard will be starting instead of Scott Baldwin this afternoon. Baldwin has withdrawn due to a shoulder problem.

The game is about to start. I hope Ulster can do the business but I'm pretty apprehensive. After all, this is a tough place to go and we're missing Humphreys- pretty key player.

Get in!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jackson try

Great start for Ulster, should help Jackson settle down ok.

Fair penalty actually to Ulster. Looked harsh on the Ospreys at first viewing but he definitely drove up

That was a strange decision to penalise Duncan Jones for that scrum.

look im a loosehead. some one explain that penalty to me?

I reckon the ref has just decided that Duncan Jones was getting penalized for a terrible haircut, Hanno Dirksen look out.

Very lucky there Ulster, Payne should have kicked lumps out of it. Looked like Jones drove up on the 2nd viewing which you arent allowed to do. Happy to be corrected if i could see it again

Now that was clearly an O's penalty

That one was a penalty for not binding but it went the other way!

The offence penalised was of course on the other side of the scrum. Seems like a lottery right now!

Ah Jackson pulls another one. I hope these don't cost us!

Poor from Jackson. We need those converted

Absolutely no bind there from Jones either.

Fair play to the ref for the yellow. Shouldnt be taking that abuse

Duncan Jones is absolutely dominating Jerry Cronin in the scrums. But unfortunately the referee seems to want to penalise the dominant scrum. Wel, I say unfortunately- it's not bad for us.

Obviously Jones has to adapt. What was Hibbard sin binned for?

The referee has got his scrum decisions right so far, not sure what the issue is.

Jim Neily seems convinced that the penalties are correct as Duncan Jones is continually boring in and coming up in the scrum and that Jerry Cronin has the better of him. I cant comment much on front row play if im honest but Duncan Jones definately seems to be popping up which you dont need to be a guru to know.

Hibbard gone for swearing at the ref.

I've noticed that Jones isn;t binding as well Stand. There are so many scrums where you could have penalised both sides.

Jones is in no way driving straight though notch and he had no bind or attempt to bind. Ulster look very poor at the breakdown though.Ospreys definitely dominant there

No way would that have been a bin. There was no shoulder involved at all. Penalty the right call

Ulster need to put a bit of width on this and get the ball away from the Ospreys backrow. So far all they have looked for is Spence or whitten through the middle and it aint working

Yeah, I feel we've not exactly really started playing with the requisite intensity. The game has been very scrappy so far; penalty count has been quite high.

No real rhythm to the game. It feels like both teams are in second gear. What exactly was said between Hibbard and the ref?

No idea Notch. Replay only showed hibbard cracking up and yelling at him

Looks very similar to the game here last year. Ulster are useless at the breakdown currently