Ospreys v Treviso. Teams & match thread.

[Breadvan]

First topic message reminder :

Thought I'd start my first ever new topic post for last home game at the Liberty for the Ospreys this season.

From the beeb...

Pro12: Ospreys v Treviso (Sat)
RaboDirect Pro12: Ospreys v Treviso
Venue: Liberty Stadium, SwanseaDate: Saturday, 13 AprilKick-off: 18:30 GMT
Coverage: Live on S4C, updates on BBC Sport Online

The Ospreys make two starting line-up changes to face Treviso at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday needing a win to bolster their Pro12 play-off hopes.

Joe Bearman takes over at number eight from Jonathan Thomas and wing Ben John comes in for Tom Isaacs.

Bearman and Isaacs drop to the bench, where prop Dmitri Arhip's place is taken by Cai Griffiths.

Arhip, 24, is on Moldovan Test duty against Poland in a 2015 World Cup qualifier on Saturday.

The Welsh region are neck-and-neck with Scarlets for the fourth and final spot and after facing Treviso face two tough trips to Leinster and leaders Glasgow.

Ospreys have won their last eight home Pro12 games and have never lost to Treviso at the Liberty.

But the Italians arrive having won their last three league games and have already beaten Ospreys twice this term.

Both those wins, one in the Pro12 and one in the Heineken Cup, came on Italian soil, with Ospreys beating Treviso 38-17 at home in Europe.

"We've reached the time of the season now where there is no margin for error," said Ospreys head coach Steve Tandy.

"We may be in fourth place but the Scarlets are snapping at our heels so we will have to be at our absolute best for these three final games if we are going to secure a play-off place.

"It's the final home game of the regular season on Saturday, and it's going to be a tough test against a Treviso team that has shown time after time this season how good they are.

"They've brought something really different to the Pro12 over the last couple of seasons and are really growing, as their results this season have shown.

"If we are going to get the win we need then it's crucial that we are accurate in everything we do from first whistle to last or they will make us pay."

TEAMS
Ospreys: Richard Fussell; Tom Habberfield, Jonathan Spratt, Ashley Beck, Ben John; Dan Biggar, Kahn Fotuali'i; Ryan Bevington, Richard Hibbard, Adam Jones, Alun Wyn Jones (capt), Ian Evans, James King, Joe Bearman, Justin Tipuric.

Replacements: Scott Baldwin, Duncan Jones, Cai Griffiths, Lloyd Peers, Jonathan Thomas, Rhys Webb, Matthew Morgan, Tom Isaacs.

Treviso: Luke McLean; Edoardo Gori, Tommaso Iannone, Doppies La Grange, Angelo Esposito; James Ambrosini, Tobias Botes; Alberto De Marchi, Leonardo Ghiraldini, Lorenzo Cittadini, Antonio Pavanello (capt), Francesco Minto, Simone Favaro, Manoa Vosawai, Paul Derbyshire.

Replacements: Giovanni Maistri, Michele Rizzo, Bees Roux, Valerio Bernabò, Marco Filippucci, Christian Loamanu, Fabio Semenzato, Alberto Di Bernardo.

Referee: Dudley Phillips (IRFU)

Assistant Referees: Ian Davies, Alan Jenkins (both WRU)

Citing Commissioner: John Charles (WRU)

TMO: Tony Rowlands (WRU)

As per the last two years the squad will come over to the East stand post game, for photos and autographs etc with the fans.

[Taffineastbourne]

Adam Jones has been very noticeable in the loose tonight.He is looking pretty fit.MoM performance?

[Cari]

Hmmm, a Treviso forward is binned...not sure why though. Didn't hear the ref warn him beforehand or say why...

[wales606]

Treviso have been very competitive at the breakdown and the ref has been lenient on it - but now he YCs them on one of the few breakdown penalties he has given.

O's need to make the most of this

[thebluesmancometh]

Adam Jones has been very noticeable in the loose tonight.He is looking pretty fit.MoM performance?

Noticable and usefull are 2 different things...

Yellow for in at the side, first offence???

[Cari]

Yeah Adam's reliable as ever. If he's not on the Lions tour, I'll eat my socks.

If O's don't get the WBP this will be very frustrating. They MUST score here...ah no schitty forward pass.

[thebluesmancometh]

The Ospreys backs distribution is so amateur, why are they playing these floated half pops long passes constantly, it's holding players up in their run, proving difficult to hold onto and totally disrupts back play!!!

Biggar is the worst culprit!!!

[wales606]

O's should go for the penalty try here

And they give away a free kick

[Cari]

oh FFS! O's pinged for driving in early. Good attacking opportunity missed.

[wales606]

The Ospreys backs distribution is so amateur, why are they playing these floated half pops long passes constantly, it's holding players up in their run, proving difficult to hold onto and totally disrupts back play!!!

Biggar is the worst culprit!!!

There all scrum halves and they won't to show they can pass

Hibbard not doing his Lions chances any favours

[Cari]

SCHITT! Who's that knocked out?!

[wales606]

Bevington

[Cari]

Bevington out cold. Seems to be moving a bit now....gawd I hope he's OK.

[wales606]

Big loss for the O's if he is out for any length of time.

[thebluesmancometh]

The Ospreys backs distribution is so amateur, why are they playing these floated half pops long passes constantly, it's holding players up in their run, proving difficult to hold onto and totally disrupts back play!!!

Biggar is the worst culprit!!!

There all scrum halves and they won't to show they can pass

Hibbard not doing his Lions chances any favours

I agree mate, Hibbard and Jones seem to be flopping around the park without any intensity or purpose!!!

[Cari]

Definitely. Hopefully he'll just need a week's rest for mild concussion or something.

[Cari]

Hibbard's off now, Duncan J on.

I really hope this injury on Bevington just looks worse than it is.

[Cari]

Yay! He's walking off...probably seeing double though.

[wales606]

Munster under pressure in their 22

[Cari]

I can see the bonus point opportunities slipping away...

It's still 16-15 in TP...

[wales606]

Several intense physical minutes in Thomand

Leinster on the Munster line now.

Several drives and they are going to the TMO

:/

O'Driscoll getting pats on the head

[Cari]

Aye, just seen the update. Leinster back ahead.

[wales606]

16 - 22 to Leinster

[Cari]

...and the O's bottle the WBP as usual. If they can't get anything whilst they're a man up what can they do in eight minutes with all opponents...?

Excellent handling by Treviso too.

[thebluesmancometh]

...and the O's bottle the WBP as usual. If they can't get anything whilst they're a man up what can they do in eight minutes with all opponents...?

Excellent handling by Treviso too.

They just don't have a weapon in the backs, Biggar, Beck and Spratt are all similar, and the back 3 includes Fussell as the talent

[Cari]

Balls. a great run by Issacs and we give away another stupid penalty.

[Cari]

Yay! Webb straight through with an easy try!

28-3 FT. Still no WBP.

[Cari]

So the table now looks like this:

Ulster - 71
Leinster - 68
Glasgow - 67
Ospreys - 62



Biggar MOTM?!

[glamorganalun]

Is it me but I thought Webb was rubbish, slow getting the ball out and kicking the ball away, also his floated passes did not allow the backs and forwards to build momentum. The breakdown was a mess not helped by a ref allowing constant coming in from the side mainly by the same player even after having a yellow card.

Adam Jones is getting away with murder in the scrum not once that I could see did he bind correctly and in front of the ref!

[Shifty]

Just got back from the game, the weather was horrific, the rain was lashing down not sure how it looked on tv, but it was trench warfare out there.

We got quite frustrated with the ref tonight, he seemed to have no idea what "in from the side meant" against Treviso, he just let everything go.

Not really sure what happened with the Ianto incident but there seemed to be a lot of niggly stuff going on off the ball. I did see one of the Treviso front row going for the face of Ianto while he was on the ground at a ruck (well away from the ball), then as Ianto got up the Treviso guy ran away, only for Ianto shoulder charge him from behind, against the back of his neck and flatten him from behind. The Treviso got up to have another go to Ianto, but AWJ stepped in alongside Ianto to sort it out. the linesman did see it, but I guess he thought the Treviso guy had it coming and ignored the incident.

Secondly that linesman was shooting over the Bevington incident. He clearly was hit hard and was knocked out right in front of the linesman but he simply didnt see the player sprawled on the floor. You cant blame the ref he was on the wrong side of the ruck, but how the linesman didnt make him aware of it i have no idea.

The usual frustration with Webb, everyone in the ground and on the field can see the need for quick ball, but Webb is plodding about and delaying things, it's so damn frustrating. I really hope I am not going to sit in the stands next season and watch him ball watching for 20 seconds at each ruck, before working out what to do with it.

Game was ruined by the weather, still 3 tries and the boys did have a go. Pity KT pulled out late on, as we now didn't have an oppertunity to say goodbye to him before he goes to Northampton.

[thebluesmancometh]

Is it me but I thought Webb was rubbish, slow getting the ball out and kicking the ball away, also his floated passes did not allow the backs and forwards to build momentum. The breakdown was a mess not helped by a ref allowing constant coming in from the side mainly by the same player even after having a yellow card.

Adam Jones is getting away with murder in the scrum not once that I could see did he bind correctly and in front of the ref!

I thought Webb was ok, kicked long really well, but not enough height on the box!!!

Treviso were allowed to really contest at the breakdown, and their 8 was a monster (ask Bevington)

With regards to the backs passing, Webb Biggar and everyone outside continued with this garbage floater of a pass, it totally killed any momentum. IMHO the longer the ball is in the air the less speed and less go forward the backline has, when passing more than 4/5 feet a bullet is best!!

[wales606]

Dan Biggar won't be happy with Webb, he was shouting at him when he threw the ball away after his try - Biggar wanted to take a quick conversion and force a restart - as it was he was about 8 seconds too late.

[LordDowlais]

I was at the game last night and could not comment on here, but I will say this, that ref let Treviso get away with bloody murder at the breakdown, Treviso were constantly coming in from the side, slowing the ball down not supporting their own weight and turning the ball over, and as soon as Tupreic was within a meter of the ruck he was penalised, I am going to have to watch it on tele again this morning to see if my rants are justified though, also he seemed to let the scrum go when the Ospreys were obviously dominant and let Treviso scrummage how ever they saw fit.

[Shifty]

I was at the game last night and could not comment on here, but I will say this, that ref let Treviso get away with bloody murder at the breakdown, Treviso were constantly coming in from the side, slowing the ball down not supporting their own weight and turning the ball over, and as soon as Tupreic was within a meter of the ruck he was penalised, I am going to have to watch it on tele again this morning to see if my rants are justified though, also he seemed to let the scrum go when the Ospreys were obviously dominant and let Treviso scrummage how ever they saw fit.

Why do you think the ref is nicknamed Dangerous Dudley?
He's useless, and is one of the poorest Irish refs which is saying something.

[LordDowlais]

I was at the game last night and could not comment on here, but I will say this, that ref let Treviso get away with bloody murder at the breakdown, Treviso were constantly coming in from the side, slowing the ball down not supporting their own weight and turning the ball over, and as soon as Tupreic was within a meter of the ruck he was penalised, I am going to have to watch it on tele again this morning to see if my rants are justified though, also he seemed to let the scrum go when the Ospreys were obviously dominant and let Treviso scrummage how ever they saw fit.

Why do you think the ref is nicknamed Dangerous Dudley?
He's useless, and is one of the poorest Irish refs which is saying something.

I have re-watched it on tele, I couldn't see myself in the crowd though But I feel my my rants are well and truly justified.

[21st Century Schizoid Man]

I was at the game last night and could not comment on here, but I will say this, that ref let Treviso get away with bloody murder at the breakdown, Treviso were constantly coming in from the side, slowing the ball down not supporting their own weight and turning the ball over, and as soon as Tupreic was within a meter of the ruck he was penalised, I am going to have to watch it on tele again this morning to see if my rants are justified though, also he seemed to let the scrum go when the Ospreys were obviously dominant and let Treviso scrummage how ever they saw fit.

Why do you think the ref is nicknamed Dangerous Dudley?
He's useless, and is one of the poorest Irish refs which is saying something.

Worse than Clownshoes Clancy - impossible !

[glamorganalun]

I was at the game last night and could not comment on here, but I will say this, that ref let Treviso get away with bloody murder at the breakdown, Treviso were constantly coming in from the side, slowing the ball down not supporting their own weight and turning the ball over, and as soon as Tupreic was within a meter of the ruck he was penalised, I am going to have to watch it on tele again this morning to see if my rants are justified though, also he seemed to let the scrum go when the Ospreys were obviously dominant and let Treviso scrummage how ever they saw fit.

Why do you think the ref is nicknamed Dangerous Dudley?
He's useless, and is one of the poorest Irish refs which is saying something.

Worse than Clownshoes Clancy - impossible !

Normally I'd agree with you but Clancy had good game in the Scarlets match, he is normally blowing up for every scrum with free kicks and penalties as in the Wales v Scotland match.

[gavstar]

just watched recording of game , webb.....a nightmare !!! same old number 9 poser, look at me, everyone wait 'til i decide to do something !!!!!

biggar must be spitting nails playing off this cr*p from webb, SURELY theres a better 9 out there HELP !!!!!!!! any ideas who the oz could play at 9 ?

[wales606]

just watched recording of game , webb.....a nightmare !!! same old number 9 poser, look at me, everyone wait 'til i decide to do something !!!!!

biggar must be spitting nails playing off this cr*p from webb, SURELY theres a better 9 out there HELP !!!!!!!! any ideas who the oz could play at 9 ?

Habberfield - although the O's have decided his excellent passing game is best utilised on the wing

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