Ospreys v Scarlets Friday 3rd January, KO 7.15pm, S4C

Not sure if there is a self impossed ban on a thread for this match and the previous because of the current crisis! Or if no one has gotten around to it. Either way, here are the teams. I fancy a home win. I'd be happy to see some tries mind from any region! We are Welsh remember! That's what we do!

Ospreys: S Davies; A Natoga, B John, A Beck, J Hassler; D Biggar, R Webb; D Jones, R Hibbard, A Javis, A Wyn Jones (capt), I Evans, J Tipuric, S Lewis, J Bearman. Reps: S Baldwin, R Bevington, A Jones, J King, M Allen, T Ardron, T Habberfield, R Fussell.

Scarlets: G Owen; K Phillips, N Reynolds, S Williams, F Climo; R Priestland, R Williams; P John, E Phillips, S Lee, J Ball, G Earle, J Turnbull, J Barclay, R McCusker (capt): Reps: K Myhill, R Evans, J Adriaanse, J Snyman, A Shingler, G Davies, A Thomas, J Williams.

Thoughts? Predictions?

Forgot to mention. Particular shout out to Duncan Jones who becomes the first player to make 200 appearances for the Ospreys! Top bloke!

COME ON PEOPLE! SOMEONE MUST HAVE A VIEW ON THE GAME!

A MILLION COMMENTS ON THE FUTURE OF RUGBY IN WALES BUT NONE ON AN ACTUAL BIG GAME!

Ospreys. Pack SHOULD get the upper hand

YES. Thanks Munkian! I agree.

Scarlets have more dangerous backs though.

Cardiff v Dragons was our Backs v their Forwards and they kicke dus to death   

Think Ospreys will be pretty comfortable (gut feeling). Home advantage is huge and they'll be buoyed by the fact they have just beaten them.

Oh come on! Talking about rugby is just sooooooooooo 2013! Everyone knows this is a European business law forum now - get with the program MRZ!

The Boxing day game was great fun - really hope tonight can provide something similar - but I fear the weather may have a big say.

Well as some of you know I'm in a 'Mixed Relationship'. I walk in the path of righteousness, while she is a blydi Turk supporter  (and a Gog, the crosses I have to bear    ) so it'll be an interesting night in Ty Penfro
 
IF the Ospreys can reduce the error count from Boxing Day, I think it was something like 20+ handling errors,  I'll back them to win by double figures. However, it looks like it will be a horrendous night weather wise, so that should level the playing field (Copyright - Cliche's R Us 1972)

Scarlets need possession. Our front 5 are going well this season and have surprised a lot of critics. Our back row lacks balance though and I expect the O's to win that battle. That being the case it could be a tough night for the Scarlets particularly that even when we have possession Priestland has been Grud-awful.

Quick question for Scarlets fans - what happened to flanker Jonathan Edwards? Is he now playing semi-pro or retired early? I always liked him as a player.

Handbags early doors. More to come no doubt.
Hoping for an Os win and dim points for the Turks.

Great off load from the ex-Drags flanker, Sam Lewis. 

Good to see Webb finding some form

Good games this, very impressed with both flyhalves

wales606 wrote:Good games this, very impressed with both flyhalves

Yep.
Both looking to run with the ball and kicking well too.

Cardiff Dave wrote:

wales606 wrote:Good games this, very impressed with both flyhalves

Yep.
Both looking to run with the ball and kicking well too.

Oops Priestland.

Exciting finish too

Good game, good game.
Scarlets deserved their point.
Interesting chat at the end on radio Wales regarding the PA and why it has taken 2 years for the WRU to finally address the situation. My thoughts too.

Half backs killed it for us. Priestland had some good moments but totally flakey once again. Missed a penalty that would have made a big difference at the end. Kicked aimlessly, dropped the ball, missed a penalty touch finder    What I'd give to get Owen Williams back off Leicester and North back from Northampton    Typical - we finally put a decent pack together and we can't create anything - for   sakes!   

Ah well time for a   - well done spreys, good game ... you deserved it I s'pose   

 

Just back. Felt like a hollow win tbh after the second half. Dominated the first and well done scarlets for creaming our scrum all game. I'll wait to I watch the tv replay but I thought nige had a absolute shocker second half. Gave us nothing. We didn't play well I admit but I think we weren't allowed to by the ref. Don't think Sam davies is quite ready at FB yet either...

Breadvan wrote:Just back. Felt like a hollow win tbh after the second half. Dominated the first and well done scarlets for creaming our scrum all game. I'll wait to I watch the tv replay but I thought nige had a absolute shocker second half. Gave us nothing. We didn't play well I admit but I think we weren't allowed to by the ref.  Don't think Sam davies is quite ready at FB yet either...

Best ref in the world apparently according to Welsh Rabo commentators and Welsh Rabo pundits.
Guessed a Biggar knock on today which wasn't.

Just back from the game, I'd like to spew some venom at Nigel Owens for his handling of the game, though I'm going to wait until I see the game again before saying too much.

I'd love some info on the yellow card though, to me it looked like Natoga tackled the man and the ball bounced off his hip.  Though I was in the stands in the middle of the pitch.

I can remember penalties being given against us for holding on at rucks, when the Scarlets players didn't roll away, in fact it seemed every 50/50 decision went against us.

Anyway I'm pleased we won, I didnt hear any Scarlets fans before, during or after the game which was unusual.  IT seems they finally have a pack, but now dont have a back line, which is opposite of a few years ago.  16 tries in 12 games, not great to be honest.  While the O's have 27!

Like I said.....Dave. I'll watch on tv and if the decisions were correct, I'll give credit, but from the stands it looked like he was harsh on the Os all second half. Agree with shifty on the yellow, he def tackled the player.

Nigel tweeted Hodges after NYD saying good game, so maybe it's just considered acceptable to make glaring mistakes now?

Could hear the Scarlets a fair bit on tv.

Breadvan wrote:Like I said.....Dave. I'll watch on tv and if the decisions were correct, I'll give credit, but from the stands it looked like he was harsh on the Os all second half. Agree with shifty on the yellow, he def tackled the player.

Like I said, he guessed a knock on which he couldn't have seen and stopped play when he shouldn't have. Also noticed him not noticing Phil John getting shoved in the air at scrum time tonight. Pen Scarlets.
Don't get me wrong I like Nige and he makes as many mistakes as the players do. He has balls though and is a good ref, but the tv people big up brand Nige way too much for me. Remember when he got both teams together for a chat mid game? That was hilarious.

He certainly did make mistakes - did anyone catch the end of the Munster game? Embarrassing. On the details of this game - yes he did miss Phil John popping up but lets face it, we were whupping the Ospreys scrum all night so not the biggest error ever. Natoga's yellow - deserved. Second time he deliberately left his arm trailing in the path of the ball - one of those "Whoopsy was that me?" accidentally on purpose things. In my opinion what let Nige down was his handling of the ruck - players coming in and going straight off their feet, others weren't rolling away and killing the ball ... and yes it was Scarlets boys a lot of the time. I think refs tend to favour the attacking side which is what the Scarlets were for the most part of the 2nd half, but he should still maintain that players stay on their feet.

Yeh just watched bits of the game on s4c. He did knock it on deliberately in the tackle. Scarlets mullered our scrum all game. I can see why we let Owen and Phillips go too.

Shifty wrote:Just back from the game, I'd like to spew some venom at Nigel Owens for his handling of the game, though I'm going to wait until I see the game again before saying too much.

I'd love some info on the yellow card though, to me it looked like Natoga tackled the man and the ball bounced off his hip.  Though I was in the stands in the middle of the pitch.

I can remember penalties being given against us for holding on at rucks, when the Scarlets players didn't roll away, in fact it seemed every 50/50 decision went against us.

Anyway I'm pleased we won, I didnt hear any Scarlets fans before, during or after the game which was unusual.  IT seems they finally have a pack, but now dont have a back line, which is opposite of a few years ago.  16 tries in 12 games, not great to be honest.  While the O's have 27!

Terrible conditions apparently down in South West Wales so you have to take that into account with regards to the ref and players but the Natoga incident was clearly a yellow.

I though both sets of half backs played well, Scarlets pack performed bloody well and glad to see our Barclay beginning to crank it up at last

Breadvan wrote:Yeh just watched bits of the game on s4c. He did knock it on deliberately in the tackle. Scarlets mullered our scrum all game. I can see why we let Owen and Phillips go too.

Both very average. Shame - I had some hope for Owen.

Watched the game on TV, impressed with the Scarlets front 5, well on top in the scrums against a very experienced Ospreys front 5. The downside of the Scarlets scrum domination was the Opsreys back row and Webb screwed up most of the Scarlets ball also the Ospreys went forward with bad ball, Webb had one of his best games for some time. The Scarlets backs were so far back they were going backwards in possession. Preistland made a few good breaks but was assisted by a clear obstruction for one, other than that he was poor. Scott Williams really put himself about and was by far the best Scarlets back by some margin. It almost seems like role reversal, Scarlets pack on top in the set piece and the Ospreys backs on top but the same result, an Opsreys victory. Good game again shame the weather was so bad.

The Scarlets biggest issue with this match is the mole that the Ospreys sent to us, Gareth Owen! He really is not up to the job in the Rabo. I think if we could have swapped him for Sanjay, and Climo for Jordan, then we would have left with a win. But to be fair the Ospreys are just far more professional an outfit than us, and deserved to do the double on us this season.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:The Scarlets biggest issue with this match is the mole that the Ospreys sent to us, Gareth Owen!  He really is not up to the job in the Rabo.  I think if we could have swapped him for Sanjay, and Climo for Jordan, then we would have left with a win.  But to be fair the Ospreys are just far more professional an outfit than us, and deserved to do the double on us this season.

I can agree with you to a point SS, but the real difference last Friday was the half backs especially Webb and Williams where Webb totally manhandled Williams and your backrow were not in the position to shackle him.

Webb has certainty put his hand up for the six nations in the two derby games.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Webb has certainty put his hand up for the six nations in the two derby games.

I wouldn't go that far SS he was very poor last year, and IMO he cost us a play off place, you cannot play your way back into the Welsh squad on 2 good performances.

wayne wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Webb has certainty put his hand up for the six nations in the two derby games.

I wouldn't go that far SS he was very poor last year, and IMO he cost us a play off place, you cannot play your way back into the Welsh squad on 2 good performances.

Outplaying a welsh squad member in a big game does help mind