Pro 12: Edinburgh Rugby vs Ospreys 2nd Oct

             
Edinburgh Rugby v Ospreys
Friday 2nd October 2015
KO 18:00
BT Murrayfield

Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU, 3rd competition game)
Assistant Referees: Sam Grove-White, Stephen Ward (both SRU)
Citing Commissioner: John Kirk (SRU)
TMO: Iain Ramage (SRU)

TV: Alba & BBC Wales

Edinburgh form:

Last 3 Matches
Date Home
Away
12/9/15 Treviso 24 - 27 Edinburgh
4/9/15 Edinburgh 16 - 9 Leinster
16/5/15 Edinburgh 23 - 36 Leinster

Ospreys Form:

Last 3 Matches
Date Home
Away
13/9/15 Ospreys 18 - 20 Munster
4/9/15 Ulster 28 - 6 Ospreys
23/5/15 Munster 21 - 18 Ospreys

Teams:

Edinburgh Rugby

15 TONKS Greig
14 BROWN Tom
13 DEAN Chris
12 STRAUSS Andries
11 HOYLAND Damien
10 BURLEIGH Phil
9 KENNEDY Sean

1 SUTHERLAND Rory
2 COCHRANE Neil
3 ANDRESS John
4 BRESLER Anton
5 MCKENZIE Fraser
6 COMAN Mike (C)
7 GRANT Roddy
8 DU PREEZ Cornell

Substitutes
16 TURNER George
17 DELL Allan
18 BERGHAN Simon
19 TOOLIS Alex
20 WATSON Hamish
21 FOWLES Nathan
22 JOHNSTONE James
23 CUTHBERT Jack

Ospreys

15 Dan Evans
14 Hanno Dirksen
13 Jonathan Spratt
12 Ben John
11 Dafydd Howells
10 Sam Davies
9 Brendon Leonard
1 Nicky Smith
2 Sam Parry
3 Dmitri Arhip
4 Lloyd Ashley (Capt)
5 Rory Thornton
6 Joe Bearman
7 Sam Underhill
8 Dan Baker

REPLACEMENTS
16 Scott Otten
17 Ryan Bevington
18 Cai Griffiths
19 Rynier Bernardo
20 Olly Cracknell
21 Ifereimi Boladau
22 Tom Habberfield
23 Aled Jenkins

Good lad spoons - I was going to do this tomorrow if no one else had.

Well never mind the world cup - this is where the real excitement lies!

Unfortunately someone has made the ludicrous decision to make this a 6pm kick off, apparently so it doesn't clash with the NZ V Georgia game. If that was a concern then 6:30pm would still have been more than adequate and would have meant more people could make it after work.

Anyway back to the rugby, Edinburgh have a great chance of going 3 from 3 and staying near the top of the league. Ospreys will be desperate to get a win having lost their first two.

Big blow for us losing Ben Toolis, but McKenzie is an able deputy.

I think we stand a good chance of winning this!

Very good Mr Spoons. 


How long is Toolis out for? Anyone know? 

I suspect this thread is going to be very quiet given both Scotland and Wales have a game coming up, but thought I'd start one for those looking to discuss.

Predicted team for Edinburgh:

Sutherland
Cochrane
Andress
Bressler
McKenzie
Du Preez
Grant
Manu

Fowles
Burleigh

Hoyland
Beard
Dean
Fife
Cuthbert

Big chance of winning this. Presumably Wales will lose another dozen players against Fiji this week and remaining Welsh Ospreys will be called up.

The big danger for Edinburgh is the return of Coman and Strauss. Manu and Beard did fine work in the first couple of games, and I hope they retain their places.

Agree with that team Spoons, although I would personally select Watson at 7 ahead of Grant.

I would too, but I suspect Solly won't.

funnyExiledScot wrote:Agree with that team Spoons, although I would personally select Watson at 7 ahead of Grant.

And Tonks at 15.

Kennedy was gash against Treviso by all accounts and Fowles has played well this season so I hope he starts.

You’re right about Coman and Strauss though – they shouldn’t be starting.

I’d maybe have Coman and Grant on the bench instead of a 2nd row sub.

RDW_Scotland wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:Agree with that team Spoons, although I would personally select Watson at 7 ahead of Grant.

And Tonks at 15.

Kennedy was gash against Treviso by all accounts and Fowles has played well this season so I hope he starts.

You’re right about Coman and Strauss though – they shouldn’t be starting.

I’d maybe have Coman and Grant on the bench instead of a 2nd row sub.

I'd go along with that. Coman could cover lock if needed and often takes lineout ball.

Tonks seems to have dropped off a bit with all the positional messing about, but he's still a better player than Cuthbert at 15.

funnyExiledScot wrote:Big chance of winning this. Presumably Wales will lose another dozen players against Fiji this week and remaining Welsh Ospreys will be called up.

The big danger for Edinburgh is the return of Coman and Strauss. Manu and Beard did fine work in the first couple of games, and I hope they retain their places.

I agree with your first sentence FES, if we (Wales) get through to the QF of the WC, I can see us losing probably the first 5 games this season, we have Treviso away and then Connaught home, we should have Matavesi and the 2 Canadians Ardron and Hassler back after the pool games are completed.
Probably our team will be close to Evans, Dirksen, Spratt, Watkin, Phillips, Davies, Leonard, Smith, Parry, Arhip, Peers, Thornton, Bearman, Baker, Underhill, that would be a reasonable team with the exception of Bearman in one or two yeas time, it is too inexperienced now IMO, hoping we get a BP out of this.

How many players are the O's missing at the world cup?

RDW_Scotland wrote:How many players are the O's missing at the world cup?

Officially 12. Only 5 teams are missing more players than that.

George Carlin wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:How many players are the O's missing at the world cup?

Officially 12. Only 5 teams are missing more players than that.

No excuses for Edinburgh then - we really need to be winning this!

George Carlin wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:How many players are the O's missing at the world cup?

Officially 12. Only 5 teams are missing more players than that.

Biggar, Baldwin, Jarvis, AWJ, Lydiate, Tipuric, King, Ardron, Hassler, and Matavesi, still standing with Webb and Walker crocked, probably 9 starters with Jarvis, King and Ardron on the bench, Beck or John would also be the next choices at 13 and the latest is they are both out.

The fixtures are working out pretty well for Edinburgh. They have played Leinster already and still to play Ospreys and Ulster before the RWC players return. These are games they would not be expected to win but they will fancy their chances now.

Weegie Wizard wrote:The fixtures are working out pretty well for Edinburgh. They have played Leinster already and still to play Ospreys and Ulster before the RWC players return. These are games they would not be expected to win but they will fancy their chances now.

Edinburgh are at home where i would hope they expect to win all their game.

Weegie Wizard wrote:The fixtures are working out pretty well for Edinburgh. They have played Leinster already and still to play Ospreys and Ulster before the RWC players return. These are games they would not be expected to win but they will fancy their chances now.

It's just a shame we can't squeeze in those 1872 fixtures in the next couple of weeks. 10 points and a healthy points difference would be nice...

Coman and Strauss are back...

Edinburgh Rugby team v Ospreys, BT Murrayfield, Friday 2 October, kick-off 6pm

15 TONKS Greig
14 BROWN Tom
13 DEAN Chris
12 STRAUSS Andries
11 HOYLAND Damien
10 BURLEIGH Phil
9 KENNEDY Sean

1 SUTHERLAND Rory
2 COCHRANE Neil
3 ANDRESS John
4 BRESLER Anton
5 MCKENZIE Fraser
6 COMAN Mike (C)
7 GRANT Roddy
8 DU PREEZ Cornell

Substitutes
16 TURNER George
17 DELL Allan
18 BERGHAN Simon
19 TOOLIS Alex
20 WATSON Hamish
21 FOWLES Nathan
22 JOHNSTONE James
23 CUTHBERT Jack

It's the day for rubbish team selections.

I hope (in a nice way!) that Manu and Beard are injured. Quite on what basis Kennedy gets the nod over Fowles I'll never know. They've had once start each, and Fowles played well whereas Kennedy was all over the place.

Still, we should be winning this game.

Manu is the only injury, so the rest is squad rotation.

Agreed that we should be strong enough to win, but any squad selection that features

12 - Strauss

Doesn't fill me with much excitement.

Particularly when we could have Tonks at 10 (or is that experiment over??), Burleigh at 12 (his best position I think) and Cuthbert at 15.

Cuthbert at 15 is better than Strauss at 12......just!

Well if Manu is out then I can forgive the selection of Coman. I don't actually think Coman is a bad player, he just isn't the leader of men that Solomons seems to think he is.

Ospreys team is up as well

15 Dan Evans
14 Hanno Dirksen
13 Jonathan Spratt
12 Ben John
11 Dafydd Howells
10 Sam Davies
9 Brendon Leonard
1 Nicky Smith
2 Sam Parry
3 Dmitri Arhip
4 Lloyd Ashley (Capt)
5 Rory Thornton
6 Joe Bearman
7 Sam Underhill
8 Dan Baker

REPLACEMENTS
16 Scott Otten
17 Ryan Bevington
18 Cai Griffiths
19 Rynier Bernardo
20 Olly Cracknell
21 Ifereimi Boladau
22 Tom Habberfield
23 Aled Jenkins

Very decent Spreys team - it's not going to be straightforward to get the win.

Let's be thankful for small mercies - at least Hurley is still at 10, so we'll get some sort of creativity. Until the ball reaches the 12 channel, that is.

A sprinkling of dangerous players in that Ospreys team but we should be able to target that front 5. The Andries Strauss shaped blockage in our midfield worries me.

McKenzie probably adds even more weight then Toolis did. 

So the gain will be in the scrum, the loss in the line-out.

Bad news for Edinburgh as Coman and Strauss return to action...

O's fans: what was the point of signing Tomaszczyk if they aren't going to sign him? Surely can't be worse than Griffiths.
Also Steenkamp has to be one of the worst signing in recent times, injured for 8 months after the 1st training, dropped to the bench after his 1st appearance and crooked again after only 2 appearances, that's what i call money well spend, not.

George Carlin wrote:McKenzie probably adds even more weight then Toolis did. 

So the gain will be in the scrum, the loss in the line-out.

Coman is actually quite an effective lineout jumper though, so I think we ought to be fine in that regard.

Here was me thinking that the weight of leadership skills meant he found it exceptionally difficult to get off the ground.

George Carlin wrote:Here was me thinking that the weight of leadership skills meant he found it exceptionally difficult to get off the ground.

Ah no. It's his agile mind and blue sky thinking that gets him off the ground.

McKenzie was watching on from the sidelines to support his ‘little’ brother when I played Dunfermline a few weeks ago – he’s absolutely ginormous. Unfortunately his brother is too – easily the biggest rugby player I’ve ever played against. Luckily he wasn’t very good at using his size though! I say luckily, but I was playing fullback so didn’t have to tackle him (or run into him) all game!

In fact the whole feckin team was massive – what do they feed them in the Dunf??

VinceWLB wrote:Bad news for Edinburgh as Coman and Strauss return to action...

O's fans: what was the point of signing Tomaszczyk if they aren't going to sign him? Surely can't be worse than Griffiths.
Also Steenkamp has to be one of the worst signing in recent times, injured for 8 months after the 1st training, dropped to the bench after his 1st appearance and crooked again after only 2 appearances, that's what i call money well spend, not.

Vince, due to Tomahawks condition and injuries, he was released in a very short time, he would not have been ready for at least 8 weeks, you are right about Griffiths, but our youngster Suter shouldn't be too long, and it was reported a couple of days ago Fia who plays in NZ, has signed, yet he will not be ready for a while, as for Steenkamp it is still early days, hopefully he'll come good.

So I have my pal's season ticket if anyone want to borrow it for tonight's game? I've also printed off the vouchers for a free pint.

I'll be arriving at the east gate fairly close to kick off so if this suits anyone let me know.

des wrote:So I have my pal's season ticket if anyone want to borrow it for tonight's game?  I've also printed off the vouchers for a free pint.

I'll be arriving at the east gate fairly close to kick off so if this suits anyone let me know.

I’d normally jump at the chance (my reputation for free tickets is well known) but the 6pm kick off has ruined any chances of me going to the game.

Plus, as FES can tell you, I can’t be trusted with other people’s season tickets…

RDW_Scotland wrote:

des wrote:So I have my pal's season ticket if anyone want to borrow it for tonight's game?  I've also printed off the vouchers for a free pint.

I'll be arriving at the east gate fairly close to kick off so if this suits anyone let me know.

I’d normally jump at the chance (my reputation for free tickets is well known) but the 6pm kick off has ruined any chances of me going to the game.

Plus, as FES can tell you, I can’t be trusted with other people’s season tickets…

RDW is turning down a free ticket AND a free pint. The apocalypse is nigh.

Yes, I can confirm that if you lend RDW your ticket you'll probably receive it back via Airmail from Nepal.

Just noticed this ref has only ref'd 2 Pro 12 games before - can only go well!

wayne wrote:

VinceWLB wrote:Bad news for Edinburgh as Coman and Strauss return to action...

O's fans: what was the point of signing Tomaszczyk if they aren't going to sign him? Surely can't be worse than Griffiths.
Also Steenkamp has to be one of the worst signing in recent times, injured for 8 months after the 1st training, dropped to the bench after his 1st appearance and crooked again after only 2 appearances, that's what i call money well spend, not.

Vince, due to Tomahawks condition and injuries, he was released in a very short time, he would not have been ready for at least 8 weeks, you are right about Griffiths, but our youngster Suter shouldn't be too long, and it was reported a couple of days ago Fia who plays in NZ, has signed, yet he will not be ready for a while, as for Steenkamp it is still early days, hopefully he'll come good.

Thanks Wayne.

Should have kept Cavubati instead of Steenkamp, had a very good game yesterday and would have added some much needed bulk to your pack. Steenkamp doesn't look like an enforcer at all which for a saffa lock is unheard of.

Anyway good game and good luck

If ever a game needed a small club venue it was this one - 6pm kick off and Scotland game tomorrow has left an even tinier crowd than normal!

Wow big crowd

Hope the fans don't show up at 7:35

2 minutes into the game we have had an Edinburgh player taken out in the air by grabbing the collar and a late hit, neither picked up the ref.

Wow, did I fall asleep and wake up in 2009? This kick tennis gameplan has been outdated for 6 years! I just dont get what Edinburgh are trying to achieve by kicking away every scrap of possession they get...

How can professionals make so many needless mistakes?

Penalty try coming

Still no penalty try??

Thank goodness for Phil Burleigh, saving us all from watching any more of that dirge.

Is that 10 penalties against Edinburgh in the first half alone?

How in god's name was that not a penalty try and a second yellow?

Shambles of a kick off - all we had to do was catch it.

Edinburgh need a rocket up their arses!