Ospreys v Glasgow Warriors, 29 November

Ospreys v Glasgow Warriors
 
Friday 29th November 2013, KO 19:05
Liberty Stadium
 
Referee: Dudley Phillips (IRFU, 38th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Neil Hennessy, Sean Brickell (both WRU)
Citing Commissioner: Ray Wilton (WRU)
TMO: Derek Bevan (WRU)
 
LIVE on BBC Wales and BBA ALBA
 
A. Teams:
 
I. Ospreys

15 Richard Fussell
14 Hanno Dirksen
13 Tom Isaacs
12 Ben John
11 Jeff Hassler
10 Sam Davies
9 Tito Tebaldi

1 Duncan Jones (Capt)
2 Scott Baldwin
3 Aaron Jarvis
4 Lloyd Peers
5 James King
6 Tyler Ardron
7 Sam Lewis
8 Morgan Allen

REPLACEMENTS:

16 Matthew Dwyer
17 Marc Thomas
18 Dan Suter
19 Graham Knoop
20 Arthur Ellis
21 Rhys Webb
22 Matthew Morgan
23 Aisea Natoga
 
II. Glasgow

15. Stuart Hogg
14. Tommy Seymour
13. Mark Bennett
12. Sean Lamont
11. DTH Van der Merwe
10. Ruaridh Jackson
9. Chris Cusiter

1. Ryan Grant
2. Pat MacArthur
3. Ed Kalman
4. Jonny Gray
5. Al Kellock (Captain)
6. Rob Harley
7. Tyrone Holmes
8. Josh Strauss

REPLACEMENTS:

16. Dougie Hall
17. Gordon Reid
18. Jon Welsh
19. Tom Ryder
20. James Eddie
21. Ryan Wilson
22. Henry Pyrgos
23. Finn Russell
  
B. Form - head to head
 
21 Played 21
11 Wins 8
8 Losses 11
2 Draws 2
52 Tries 37
35 Conversions 26
50 Penalties 55
6 Drop Goals 1
498 Points 405
24 Avg. Age 25
 
C. Form - last season:
 
Fri 14 September 2012, 19:05
Ospreys 10 - 28 Glasgow Warriors
Liberty Stadium
 
Fri 19 April 2013, 19:35
Glasgow Warriors 35 - 17 Ospreys
Scotstoun Stadium
 
D. Parliamo Glasgow:
 
Alphabetty Spaghetti - D.T.H. van der Merwe, wing
Angel - Gabriel Ascarate, centre
Angela - Jon Welsh, prop
Barry - Byron McGuigan, wing
Big Boab - (see Ginger Tackle Monster, the)
Big Mike - (see Coo, the)
Big Naka - Leone Nakarawa, lock/loosie
Bluto - Josh Strauss, loosie/no.8
Centre, the - (see Lesser Messiah, the)
Coo, the - Michael Cusack, prop
Cooseetah - (see Cus)
Cus - Chris Cusiter, scrum half
DTH - (see Alphabetty Spaghetti)
Flippy - (see Toonie)
Fozzy - Christopher Fusaro, loosie
Furra Lineeeee - Peter Horne, centre
Ginger Tackle Monster, the - Rob Harley, loosie
Guns - Tim Swinson, lock
Henners - Henry Pyrgos, scrum half
Hoggy - Stuart Hogg, full back/wing/centre
Ickle Jon - Jonny Gray, lock
Jedi - James Eddie, loosie
Lesser Messiah, the - Richie Vernon, loosie/no.8
Mark of Nazareth - (see Messiah, the)
Meatball, the - Duncan Weir, fly half
Messiah, the/ - Mark Bennett, centre
Niko - Nikola Matawalu, scrum half
Niko's Mate - Jerry Yanuyanutawa, prop
No Maits - Sean Maitland, wing
Rhubarb - Ruaridh Jackson, fly half
Ruck Inspector, the - Alastair Kellock, lock
Schlong - Sean Lamont, centre/wing
Sherlock - Tyrone Holmes, loosie
Shrek - Gordon Reid, prop
Toonie - Gregor Peter John Townsend MBE, head coach
Wee P - Pat MacArthur, hooker
Weegie from Fiji, the - (see Niko)
 
E. Team representatives this week - economists:
 
Ospreys - Clive William John Granger, winner of Nobel Prize for Economics, born in Swansea (1934)
Glasgow - Adam Smith, pioneer of political economy, born Kirkaldy (1723)

A big game, Ospreys missing a number of top players but still getting decent results. Glasgow will see their full compliment of Internationals return for what will be a huge test for the Ospreys.

The Dragons loss for the weegies last week will definitely spur them to greater performance.

Need a massive improvement from Fridays nights shambles. I think we will still be missing a number of our Scotland players, but we should be a little stronger in the backs.

My team based on assumed availablility.

Hogg
Anybody but McGuigan
Bennett
Ascarate
DTH

Jackson
Cusiter

Jerry
Hall
Welsh
Ryder
Gray/Naka
Harley
Fusaro
Strauss

I can't help but think that the Glasgow players who were involved with the Lions all seem to have lost form. Grant is picking up again now, but Hogg and Maitland still seem to be struggling. It looks as if the tour shook, rather than increased their confidence.

Cake - that is unquestionably true with Maitland unfortunately. He is a confidence player (by his own admission) and something was said or done on that tour which has knocked him back. I just hope that the collegiality of the Glasgow set up will get the players grounded again.

After the Dragons debacle, we need a win here. Ordinarily, I would say that I am not afraid of the Spreys pack as we will match their set piece and their backs don't look particularly fluent, barring some razzle dazzle from Walker.

But that we before we ponied out against Munster and completely lost the plot against the Dragons. Now I have no idea which Glasgow side is going to turn up on the 29th.

Need to get back on track here. I rely on Glasgow to provide some good news when I'm checking the rugby scores, and that Dragons scoreline was drastic.

Surely Kellock's spiritual leadership and thorough approach to rucking is what's needed here??

How have Glasgow got 2 losses in the head to head?  

Also guys, WRU are having a jolly this weekend meaning Ospreys will be missing the majority of their players.

Welsh Magician wrote:Also guys, WRU are having a jolly this weekend meaning Ospreys will be missing the majority of their players.

Never heard of this before Magician. Does this involve all the squad taking Gibbes' credit card for a battering down Wind Street?

Chris Gibbes said post match last week how much he is enjoying life at the Ospreys but I don't think it was the social life he was referring to.

Is Adam Jones going to be back for this one?

Really enjoy watching the wrestling match between him and Ryan Grant.

George Carlin wrote:Is Adam Jones going to be back for this one?

Really enjoy watching the wrestling match between him and Ryan Grant.

No chance..!

Aaron Jarvis our number two TH is fit.

Likely team is

Duncan Jones
Scott Baldwyn
Aaron Jarvis
Lloyd Peers
Graham Knoop
Tyler Arson
Sam Lewis
Joe Bearnan
Tito Trebaldi
Matt Morgan
Jo Hassler
Ben John
Jon Spratt
Hasso Dirksen
Richard Fussell

maestegmafia wrote:Likely team is

Duncan Jones
Scott Baldwyn
Aaron Jarvis
Lloyd Peers
Graham Knoop
Tyler Arson
Sam Lewis
Joe Bearnan
Tito Trebaldi
Matt Morgan
Jo Hassler
Ben John
Jon Spratt
Hasso Dirksen
Richard Fussell

Some new names there...

maestegmafia wrote:Likely team is

Duncan Jones
Scott Baldwyn
Aaron Jarvis
Lloyd Peers
Graham Knoop
Tyler Arson
Sam Lewis
Joe Bearnan
Tito Trebaldi
Matt Morgan
Jo Hassler
Ben John
Jon Spratt
Hasso Dirksen
Richard Fussell

Predictive text or are you drunk?

Or just that stupid.. 

Biggest game of the weekend in terms of the League. Pity Wales have to play an AI the same week. Could they not have gone a week early like England?

A real blessing for Glasgow who really need to get this season back on track, especially with HC games looming. Ospreys shorn of their Welsh players look a lot more beatable - although still far from confident about taking any points back from Wales.

Dourauldscot wrote:still far from confident about taking any points back from Wales.

That's just your rather dour nature kicking in.

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:Biggest game of the weekend in terms of the League. Pity Wales have to play an AI the same week. Could they not have gone a week early like England?

Match scheduling isn't one of our strong points i'm afraid.
Also, the all Os region Welsh Premiership clash, Bridgend v Swansea kicks off at 19-15. Might have been a better idea to play this early on Saturday or on Sunday instead.

Welcome to the boards, DourAuldScot.

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:Biggest game of the weekend in terms of the League. Pity Wales have to play an AI the same week. Could they not have gone a week early like England?

Match scheduling isn't one of our strong points i'm afraid.
Also, the all Os region Welsh Premiership clash, Bridgend v Swansea kicks off at 19-15. Might have been a better idea to play this early on Saturday or on Sunday instead.

It is what it is...

Communication could be much improved though

I counted 7 hairsprays in the Wales 23 for Saturday. The Warriors wont have a better opportunity to win in Wales this season.
Whatever it takes , boys whatever it takes.

I wonder if Gatland will allow King and Beck back, to Glasgow fans you should be able to win this one, I just hope Webb is nowhere near the 23 for this match, he contributed massively to you hammering us last season, with a few absolute brainfarts, he did the same in an LV game against the Blues just over a week ago, he came on as a sub in that game and took a couple of quick penalties, beat a player and passed into touch TWICE.
He was on the bench against Zebre, but thankfully that's where he stayed, hopefully Tito and Habs will be selected, don't mind who starts.

Apparently King has been released back, but not Beck

17 players missing according to BBC.

Official Rabo preview: 

Ospreys reside in second place in the RaboDirect PRO12 table despite having lost two of their last four matches, to Ulster and Munster.
 
The Welshmen's solo defeat in their last 13 PRO12 encounters at Liberty Stadium was 12-18 to Ulster on 4th October.

Glasgow Warriors topped the PRO12 standings at the end of round 5 but two defeats in their last three fixtures has seen them drop to fourth spot. The Warriors only defeat away from home in any tournament this season was at Toulon in the European Cup. Glasgow have been victorious ion five of their last six visits to Wales since January 2012.

Glasgow have won their last four matches against Ospreys and have not lost at Liberty Stadium since 5th March 2011.

Welsh Magician wrote:17 players missing according to BBC.

Its still the biggest stumbling block for this league, the amount of games that are played with one or either team and nowhere near full strength.

Glasgow will be missing a fair few as well, it will be interesting to see how many of our interntionals are available, with back to back HC games coming up. I can't see many (if any) of McArthur, Grant, Low, Maitland, Seymour or Lamont being selected. Also Niko and Naka are both apparently playing for Fiji against the Barbarians this weekend. Added to our injury list we will be missing well into double figures as well.

Why are Glasgow releasing players outside the IRB window Dorothy?

Welsh Magician wrote:Why are Glasgow releasing players outside the IRB window Dorothy?

My guess on Niko is that it was an agreement was made with Fiji, as they released him back to us last week when they had an international and we were really struggling for available backs. With the lock, he wasn't in the Fiji squad for the 3 AIs, but lots of their players have gone back to their clubs in France, so has been called in. Again only a guess, but he probably wasn't going to play for us and could do with the gametime with his country.

Presumably Pyrgos gets another start at 9 anyway. Nowhere near as dangerous to Niko, from a Glasgow or an Ospreys perspective.

Surely MacArthur can start, giving his limited involvement with Scotland, although I agree on Lamont, Seymour and Maitland. Maitland in particular could use a week off I suspect, and same with Ryan Grant.

Just noticed a surprising stat - Edinburgh have scored more points than Glasgow in the league this season.

funnyExiledScot wrote:Presumably Pyrgos gets another start at 9 anyway. Nowhere near as dangerous to Niko, from a Glasgow or an Ospreys perspective.

Surely MacArthur can start, giving his limited involvement with Scotland, although I agree on Lamont, Seymour and Maitland. Maitland in particular could use a week off I suspect, and same with Ryan Grant.

Just noticed a surprising stat - Edinburgh have scored more points than Glasgow in the league this season.

Yeah, MacArthur is the one from that list that will have most chances of being involved. But Hall did ok on Friday and they might want to give Pat a rest ahead of big run of games.

Jeezus, this gets worse and worse :-

http://www.glasgowwarriors.org/news/13/11/27/glasgow-warriors-statement

funnyExiledScot wrote:

Just noticed a surprising stat - Edinburgh have scored more points than Glasgow in the league this season.

Everyone but Connacht have scored more points than Glasgow this season.  

Scot Abroad wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:

Just noticed a surprising stat - Edinburgh have scored more points than Glasgow in the league this season.

Everyone but Connacht have scored more points than Glasgow this season.  

Quite right. If it wasn't for the small matter of Edinburgh having conceded almost exactly twice as many points as Glasgow already this season (110 to 219), Edinburgh would totally be 4th in the league right now.

By way of update, as you might imagine all 3 of our Fijians are in the international squad for the Babas match and won't be available.
 
In the Evening Times, Toonie made a point of saying that those guys on the subs bench against Australia would feature strongly against the Ospreys, so that means we can expect to see Pat MacArthur, Jonny Gray, Chris Cusiter and the Mighty Rhubarb.
 
In a related article in the Herald, the Edinburgh coaches made a point of saying that the only determining factor in who plays against Connacht was the players' current level of health and fitness - the fact that they may recently have played internationals is completely irrelevant. That sounds like an SRU edict, so I wonder if Toonie will take the same approach.

Stronger team that I thought.

Glasgow Team

Hogg
Seymour
Bennett
Lamont
DTH

Jackson
Cusiter

Grant
MacArthur
Kalman
Gray
Kellock
Harley
Holmes
Strauss

Replacements

Hall
Reid
Welsh
Ryder
Eddie
Wilson
Pygros
Russell

Indeed, Dot, quite a bit stronger. Presumably Russell is providing 10-15 cover of sorts, with other shuffling of the backline to be done as needed. Does the 6/2 split on the bench reflect availability or how Tonnie expects this game to go/the tactics we should expect Glasgow to employ? Lamont at 12 will produce the usual howls re his poor distribution, and while its not of the top order, I see no reason why that range of exciting outside backs shouldn't see plenty of the ball.

Quite liking this new picture approach (pic from GlasgowWarriors.org):

 
Nothing short of thrilled to see Ryan Wilson back.

Edit; With Grant, MacArthur, Holmes, Gray and Strauss we aren't short of big, ball carrying barstewards either.

Well Tooney does not appear to have held back at all. Clearly sees this as a must win game to get the league back on track.

Lamont at 12 would not be many peoples choice, I don't think it would be GT's either, but we are not left with to many options with that injury list. I think that may well be where we see Finn Russell come on at some point in the game. I don't think he is going to get to many look in's at stand off this year, but seems to promising a player to keep overlooking. It looks as if he has just leap frogged Scott Wight in the queue.

Very good to see Ryan Wilson back as well. It looks as if it is going to be business as usual until after the court case, which I suppose is the right thing to do. The disciplinary action must have been in the form of fines and warnings.

Really with a team out like that against a much weakened Ospreys, this is a game we should win. We are back down in Wales the following weekend as well, so we need to find the form and fast, The business end of the season starts here.

BigGee wrote:Well Tooney does not appear to have held back at all. Clearly sees this as a must win game to get the league back on track.

Lamont at 12 would not be many peoples choice, I don't think it would be GT's either, but we are not left with to many options with that injury list. I think that may well be where we see Finn Russell come on at some point in the game. I don't think he is going to get to many look in's at stand off this year, but seems to promising a player to keep overlooking. It looks as if he has just leap frogged Scott Wight in the queue.

Very good to see Ryan Wilson back as well. It looks as if it is going to be business as usual until after the court case, which I suppose is the right thing to do. The disciplinary action must have been in the form of fines and warnings.

Really with a team out like that against a much weakened Ospreys, this is a game we should win. We are back down in Wales the following weekend as well, so we need to find the form and fast, The business end of the season starts here.

Yes, Wilson back is a huge bonus.

Agree about Lamont, not ideal at IC but there are no better alternatives at this point. Wight is just not upto it at Pro level, so to be honest we might as well promote Russell and see what he can do.

Hairsprays:

15 Richard Fussell
14 Hanno Dirksen
13 Tom Isaacs
12 Ben John
11 Jeff Hassler
10 Sam Davies
9 Tito Tebaldi

1 Duncan Jones (Capt)
2 Scott Baldwin
3 Aaron Jarvis
4 Lloyd Peers
5 James King
6 Tyler Ardron
7 Sam Lewis
8 Morgan Allen

REPLACEMENTS

16 Matthew Dwyer
17 Marc Thomas
18 Dan Suter
19 Graham Knoop
20 Arthur Ellis
21 Rhys Webb
22 Matthew Morgan
23 Aisea Natoga

With this pack the Warriors should dominate up front. So, lets all sit in front of out tellies and spend Friday evening screaming "M1 Ruaridh, M1 FFS"

Strong Glasgow side, clearly looking for a response to the horror show last week. Should be good enough to win given the players the Ospreys have missing. DTH, Hogg, Seymour and Bennett are all excellent broken field strike runners assuming they can extract the ball from S Lamont's grip.

Glasgow win, but by less than 7 and not TBP.

Wonder who is going to kick. Hoggy, Bennett, Jacko? Finn Russell was knocking them over with gay abandon while he was down under in the summer as well. As long as someone steps up.

I think this is the week we get back on track. last week was the kick up the rear end that they have probably needed all season. Bar the Leinster game and in parts against Exeter, Glasgow have not played well at all and did not really deserve to be at the top end of the league. I am expecting a few tries this week!

I've have thought Jackson best qualified, but I don't have the %s to hand. I've seen Hogg make some horrible mistakes from the kicking tee.

 Strong Glas team that. The O's forwards really suffer when (stupid) Wales play! Still, I believe those squad members can do a decent job, and have done in the past tbh. Suprised Morgans out for Davies because his finding a tiny gap and pace is lethal.

Breadvan wrote: Strong Glas team that. The O's forwards really suffer when (stupid) Wales play! Still, I believe those squad members can do a decent job, and have done in the past tbh. Suprised Morgans out for Davies because his finding a tiny gap and pace is lethal.

I was surprised by that as well. I love watching Morgan play (as long as it isn't against Edinburgh). Such a great talent. Probably not one for Gatland and his army of giants, but I personally think he has huge potential.

funnyExiledScot wrote:Strong Glasgow side, clearly looking for a response to the horror show last week. Should be good enough to win given the players the Ospreys have missing. DTH, Hogg, Seymour and Bennett are all excellent broken field strike runners assuming they can extract the ball from S Lamont's grip.

Glasgow win, but by less than 7 and not TBP.

Very hard to call FES because Glasgow's form has been so patchy.

Glasgow will either win by 3 points because Hogg has taken over the kicking from a misfiring Rhubarb or they'll score a truckload and this will be the game that turns the corner for Glasgow and makes them look more like the team that set the Rabo record for consecutive try bonus point wins lasts year. Six of one and pick 'em.

There were a few posters predicted bonus point wins against a poor Munster team and the Dragons, both games at Scotstoun and both ending in defeats-we didnt even scrape a loosing bonus point against the Dragons. Lets just keep our fingers crossed the team get a result, we are up against the Ospreys on their home patch and, the way we have been playing,thats a pretty daunting prospect regardless of how many players they have missing.
C'mon Glasgow.