Just how good can this OSPREYS team become?

First topic message reminder :

Doom and gloom was predicted when the Ospreys coaches moved on and the team began losing a whole raft of players. But instead Steve Tandy taking over has been a breath of fresh air, perhaps even a revelation.

Ospreys were yesterday crowned champions of the Rabo Pro 12 Celtic League after beating Leinster in the RDS (again). What is different this time around is that the Ospreys are playing together, for each other, like a good team (special mention to Adam/Ryan/Alun-Wyn Jones and Ian Evans here). Something I've never seen before. Also, the opposition are back to back European champions and possibly the greatest team to lift the trophy. So speaking as a neutral is beating the euro champs three out of three times in a season a good platform to build from and make a more significant mark in the Heineken Cup than before?

Knowsit17 wrote:Honestly I feel Kahn Fotuali'i is singled out and overly criticised. He's much better than some of his performances let off. Had a good WC with Samoa and hasn't had an all bad debut season with the O's. Terrific game against Munster as well as a couple earlier in the season. Maybe outweighed by errors and yes, he did look under pressure late at in Dublin but that's the point, Leinster were applying it seriously by that point and Fotty was hardly the only player making errors as a result.

He is one of those players that divides opinions, I think this season there have been teething troubles because he is used to playing a certain way, while the Ospreys under the old coaches had a set game plan and very often you would see conflict in games between the two. So often I would see the Ospreys with forward momentum and then Kahn would stop all our momentum and shout at the forwards to form a pod, the forwards would all be in different positions and would have to scuttle around and reorganise and by the time we had done that any space had gone and we'd be starting again against an organised defense. This would anger the Ospreys crowd a lot, resulting in a lot of frustration.

First impressions are also important and Kahn did not get off to a good start and that is vital if you join the Ospreys, lets be honest the fans are used to being successful and they only want players who they see can continue that success. In his first game he made a comedy of errors he even dropped a simply kick while under no pressure it left a bad impression on the fans and it will take a while to shake off.

Personally I dont rate him very much, though I do accept he has had a few decent games when he has come on as a sub. I think Webb has far more potential in the long term.

Knowsit17 wrote:Eh? How was yesterday's side Leinster B? O'Brien the only noticeable absence from the starting XV and even he's not so good that his presence can singularly transform a B side into an A

Read the post again:

"Ospreys need to get regular wins against full-strength, top class sides in the League (like yesterday)......"

Pot Hale wrote:

Knowsit17 wrote:Eh? How was yesterday's side Leinster B? O'Brien the only noticeable absence from the starting XV and even he's not so good that his presence can singularly transform a B side into an A

Read the post again:

"Ospreys need to get regular wins against full-strength, top class sides in the League (like yesterday)......"

Ospreys haven't beaten Leinster B. They have beaten Leinster 3 times though. Jeez pint of bitter or two? You didn't hear any Munstermen claiming it was an A or a B team on the three occassions they lost. The only bitching seems to be coming from the Ladyboys camp.

Try and learn a thing or two off your rival province, like how to be gracious in defeat (three times) .

right, so its the ospreys fault they've beaten every team Leinster have put in front of them in the league this season?

Gotta agree, I really like irish rugby fans, never met a bad one in real life, (win or lose), but faaaark me these leinster fans dont half come across as bitter whingers when their team actually loses!

Who is talking Comfort? That's two Welshmen in a row fighting about the non-talking Leinstermen - until this one again Pot Hale's comment was written at 9.33 AM...and in it, as far as I can see, he was clarifying an earlier point he had made and insisting he had NOT said Ospreys had met Leinster B in the final. But Morg wasn't having any clarification or self-defence. No, he wanted battles and bullets and attacked again.

I wish I could find it but I remember my first words in one of the threads about the game was a congratulations to the Ospreys...I've said here that they are a dangerous side, a very dangerous side...I've said here that they are now certainly in contention for HC honours next season. I've said Williams is a 'great' player in my eyes, one of THE players of the era he played in... I've said here I worried about the talk of wanting a double amongst Leinster players because I worried about the hurdle - and it wasn't a small one - it was Ospreys waiting and planning.

I said all that and rarely was it ever acknowledged (if ineed at all) or that an Ospreys fan was thankful for the praise or the congratualtions. Too busy waiting and listening and (some of them wanting) the slurs and insults and 'bitterness' from the Leinster fans. That's the posts they liked to got bedded into, that was the fun part where they could throw back the putdowns.

So, maybe, for some Osprey fans, a little graciousness in victory would blend with some graciousness in defeat?

sorry SF, i should have clarified the "some" part of that sentence.

The majority have been congratulating the Ospreys and talking about some contentious decisions, which is absolutely fair enough! As i said, in person I've never met an Irish fan i didnt have a good time with debating/drinking, win or lose!

I guess it goes to show that doing the double is a very, very hard goal to acheive! Even for a side of Leinsters capabilities!

i'd like to say aswell that i dont see this as a real negative for Leinster, it'll just make them more determined to keep proving they are the best in Europe next season.

A bit of pain like this never does a team in Leinsters position any harm in the long-run!

Doing the double is bloody next to impossible....for Leinster anyway. Of course Ospreys will now go on next year and prove how simples it can be!

See you around Comfort

haha! the ospreys will have to beat the blues in the HC next year to win it, mark my words!!!

peace and love!

I think the Ospreys still have some balancing of the books to do to get their costs down to £3.5M for next season. If they can keep their remaining top class forwards, in particular Adam Jones, they will remain strong for the games when Wales allow them to play their internationals.

I am also a concerned that their current bargain priced season ticket deal could backfire. The biggest games next season could see 18,000 plus crowds generating an average of less than £4 per head! They cannot surely survive on that kind in income!

I have some sympathy with the Leinster fans over Sundays game, they were clearly the better side. The Ospreys only looked strong when Leinster were down to 14.

I thought that Poite got both sin binnings wrong. For the first the scrum was collapsing on engage, this was due to the canny Ospreys props driving downwards on the hit. That should be a penalty agianst them. The second he just simply got wrong, Adam Jones slipped his bind and went down, penalty to Leinster!

Saying that history is written by the winners and will allways show that the Ospreys as Rabo Direct Champions.