Ospreys 2015/16 Season

First topic message reminder :

True Raven wrote:I'm sure King said he's happy to play anywhere in the back row he just won't play anymore in the 2nd row so hopefully that experiment has come and gone.

It looks like Fia will be starting tomorrow if the training session was anything to go by as he was doing reps with the first team so Jarvis should be planted on the bench

So much for what King wants then TR, ridiculous selection, as for your second sentence correct hope we don't see Jarvis until at least the 70th minute.

Connacht 17 Ospreys 15 at half time after being 14-3 down within 10 minutes

Lost 30 - 22

Connacht certainly are the real deal this year. Connacht for the Pro12 title?

I watched a really good game tonight but feel the Ospreys have been cheated out of a clear try by and Irish ref (and a bad ref) and the Irish TMO there was no way S Davies was held even the commentry knew it was a try. Clancy was consistant but bad as usual.

Ospreys did not help themselves at times but they must feel hard done by and deserved far more than 0 points they deserved at least two points.

glamorganalun wrote:I watched a really good game tonight but feel the Ospreys have been cheated out of a clear try by and Irish ref (and a bad ref) and the Irish TMO there was no way S Davies was held even the commentry knew it was a try. Clancy was consistant but bad as usual.

Ospreys did not help themselves at times but they must feel hard done by and deserved far more than 0 points they deserved at least two points.

Alun that is the feeling on our boards, from some who watched this game, they reckoned Clancy and the TMO were trying all ways to find to stop the try, not making a proper evaluation of whether it was a try or not.

wayne wrote:

glamorganalun wrote:I watched a really good game tonight but feel the Ospreys have been cheated out of a clear try by and Irish ref (and a bad ref) and the Irish TMO there was no way S Davies was held even the commentry knew it was a try. Clancy was consistant but bad as usual.

Ospreys did not help themselves at times but they must feel hard done by and deserved far more than 0 points they deserved at least two points.

Alun that is the feeling on our boards, from some who watched this game, they reckoned Clancy and the TMO were trying all ways to find to stop the try, not making a proper evaluation of whether it was a try or not.

There was no way Davies was held, yes he went to ground but not held, it did appear Clancy and the Irish TMO tried to justfy not letting the Ospreys take the lead. The clearance lead to the home team kicking a penalty which made a huge difference had the Ospreys try was given. This should be investigated the Welsh teams have Irish refs both home and away for this fixture.

Bad decision by the ref, but to say it was intentional is tinfoil hat thinking. Assume ignorance rather than malice. Connacht last season were robbed by a welsh ref on Cardiff, so if one is in question then so are the others.

Hardluck to ospreys fans, we have been lucky to face ye with your players on international duty. Good luck for rest of the season

I doubt Clancy would be doing much to assist Connacht but denying the O's 2 bonus points makes a big difference to Munster.

There's no way a TMO decision could possibly get the Sam Davies try wrong.  It goes back to the basically corrupt, biased, and incompotent refereeing of the Irish.  Irish referees should not be allowed to referee Irish teams, they show so much bias towards them it's sickening.  I've left the Liberty stadium over the years in games with Irish teams and felt there was close to a near riot because of the way it's been refereed, when Irish teams bring the ref with them, I have even seen people asked to leave the stadium because of issues.  
At best their clueless and incompotent, at worst their corrupt.

The worst game I ever saw there was about 4 years ago when Leinster took a weakened team to the Ospreys.  We scored 3 fast tries early on, with the bald one refereeing Peter Fitzgibbon?  He did everything he could to make sure Leinster were not smashed out of sight it was sickening.  I've seen the Ospreys  scrum smash Irish teams on the 5 meter line with an total refusal to consider a penalty try under any circumstances, only to award a penalty try at the other end for bringing a maul down.  

With four countries in our league, there is no good reason why there should not be a neutral referee in charge of every game to elimimate any hint of bias.  It's insane to think that a coach could turn up at a rugby ground and the referee walks off that same coach with the players, how can he possibly be neutral in those circumstances? Think about it, that same referee has to get on that coach and travel back with the players! Would you want an entire coach load of people angry at you knowing you have many hours of travel ahead of you?

Only just watched the disallowed try, for me the rule isn't clear sometimes we hear the player after a completed tackle has to release the ball, get up on his feet and then he can play the ball again. It could be another case of the rule rarely being applied or in this case applied at a convenient moment for the home side.

Anyway, Ospreys should make a case of this and make an official complain.

Clancy isn't biased he's just incompetent as matshes said. Has been for years and should be reprimanded for his mistakes.

What I don't get is why Nigel Owens the best ref in the game is running the lines as a touch judge or reffing semi pro games

Yeah, can't remember the last time Owens was in the middle instead of running the lines. Looks like he has been on the naughty step lately. Presumably for missing a lot of offenses which got cited later.

wayne wrote:

exile jack wrote:Tandy,Tandy,give me your answer,do;
I'm going crazy;
I want to play lock for you;
I'm almost four feet eleven;
Weigh in at six stone seven;
But you'll agree;
When you see me;
Your best second row i'll be.

Exile the talk on the Forum, from a normally well informed poster, is that both King and Jarvis were asked to be given game time by Gatland, obviously Jarvis was only going to be named as a tight head, so we have small blessings there in hopefully he will not have to come on till late, the inexcusable thing to me is the selection of King at 4, why not play King in his best position of 6, start Bernardo in the boiler house, and why let Beard go back to the U20s. Cracknell last week took over from Underhill as a 7 and was excellent, why have a player Collier as a replacement 7 when he hasn't played a minute in a first class game this season. We have a really good backline selected and on the bench IMO, but will they get much ball with the selected pack, this match will be lost through selection and sorry to say it Vince but by the Officials nominated.

Wayne.sorry not to have replied sooner but travelling to and from Cardiff and Galway got in the way.I can accept that JK is an international class flanker and possibly even a mobile 8.But if he is thought of as an international standard lock by Gats(?) then he's about 6th or 7th in that pecking order but apparently a first choice at the O's.That's bonkers on any analysis.Not to pick Bernardo as the lock and JK as a flanker just perverse.

The game last night was my 9th away game of the season.The O's performances away have ranged from the excellent(Munster) to the gutsy(Scarlets) to the disappointing(the rest bar UBB and Connacht which were missed opportunities).To concede 2 tries in eleven minutes was frustrating.The try that Clancy and the Irish TMO disallowed shouldn't disguise the real source of the defeat.Missed tackles,key turnovers conceded,key lineouts lost,lack of composure,poor passing were the cause of the defeat.Connacht blew 2 further tries.

In and around Dublin this week before Leinster at the RDS.That with the Scarlets and Judgement Day will be my last matches of this season because reaching top 6 seems to be slipping away unless quite a few other results go our way.

VinceWLB wrote:Yeah, can't remember the last time Owens was in the middle instead of running the lines. Looks like he has been on the naughty step lately. Presumably for missing a lot of offenses which got cited later.

Vince I'm sure I heard that they wanted to develop other referees, however that might be an excuse to save face

exile jack wrote:

wayne wrote:

exile jack wrote:Tandy,Tandy,give me your answer,do;
I'm going crazy;
I want to play lock for you;
I'm almost four feet eleven;
Weigh in at six stone seven;
But you'll agree;
When you see me;
Your best second row i'll be.

Exile the talk on the Forum, from a normally well informed poster, is that both King and Jarvis were asked to be given game time by Gatland, obviously Jarvis was only going to be named as a tight head, so we have small blessings there in hopefully he will not have to come on till late, the inexcusable thing to me is the selection of King at 4, why not play King in his best position of 6, start Bernardo in the boiler house, and why let Beard go back to the U20s. Cracknell last week took over from Underhill as a 7 and was excellent, why have a player Collier as a replacement 7 when he hasn't played a minute in a first class game this season. We have a really good backline selected and on the bench IMO, but will they get much ball with the selected pack, this match will be lost through selection and sorry to say it Vince but by the Officials nominated.

Wayne.sorry not to have replied sooner but travelling to and from Cardiff and Galway got in the way.I can accept that JK is an international class flanker and possibly even a mobile 8.But if he is thought of as an international standard lock by Gats(?) then he's about 6th or 7th in that pecking order but apparently a first choice at the O's.That's bonkers on any analysis.Not to pick Bernardo as the lock and JK as a flanker just perverse.

The game last night was my 9th away game of the season.The O's performances away have ranged from the excellent(Munster) to the gutsy(Scarlets) to the disappointing(the rest bar UBB and Connacht which were missed opportunities).To concede 2 tries in eleven minutes was frustrating.The try that Clancy and the Irish TMO disallowed shouldn't disguise the real source of the defeat.Missed tackles,key turnovers conceded,key lineouts lost,lack of composure,poor passing were the cause of the defeat.Connacht blew 2 further tries.

In and around Dublin this week before Leinster at the RDS.That with the Scarlets and Judgement Day will be my last matches of this season because reaching top 6 seems to be slipping away unless quite a few other results go our way.

Jack, that synopsis is basically what Gibbes said, according to a couple on our forum they reckoned Matavesi is carrying an injury and that is another selection mistake as his defence was abysmal, but then again he would have been on early for JJ. You are spot on as far as King is concerned. Bernardo should be starting with Rory.
I said BEFORE this game that Clancy would be an issue and he was, I'm with the few who thinks he's incompetent, NOT biased, still haven't seen it back, but if it is as some have said the Irish commentators on TG4 saw nothing wrong with the try, that is conclusive enough for me, (now if they said it wasn't I wouldn't accept it ).

True Raven wrote:

VinceWLB wrote:Yeah, can't remember the last time Owens was in the middle instead of running the lines. Looks like he has been on the naughty step lately. Presumably for missing a lot of offenses which got cited later.

Vince I'm sure I heard that they wanted to develop other referees, however that might be an excuse to save face

TR, they said that about Owens as he only has 1 game in the 6N, nothing about not officiating in the Guinness, there should have been a Welsh official there and Clancy could have done the Leinster game. It does stink a bit.

wayne wrote:

exile jack wrote:

wayne wrote:

exile jack wrote:Tandy,Tandy,give me your answer,do;
I'm going crazy;
I want to play lock for you;
I'm almost four feet eleven;
Weigh in at six stone seven;
But you'll agree;
When you see me;
Your best second row i'll be.

Exile the talk on the Forum, from a normally well informed poster, is that both King and Jarvis were asked to be given game time by Gatland, obviously Jarvis was only going to be named as a tight head, so we have small blessings there in hopefully he will not have to come on till late, the inexcusable thing to me is the selection of King at 4, why not play King in his best position of 6, start Bernardo in the boiler house, and why let Beard go back to the U20s. Cracknell last week took over from Underhill as a 7 and was excellent, why have a player Collier as a replacement 7 when he hasn't played a minute in a first class game this season. We have a really good backline selected and on the bench IMO, but will they get much ball with the selected pack, this match will be lost through selection and sorry to say it Vince but by the Officials nominated.

Wayne.sorry not to have replied sooner but travelling to and from Cardiff and Galway got in the way.I can accept that JK is an international class flanker and possibly even a mobile 8.But if he is thought of as an international standard lock by Gats(?) then he's about 6th or 7th in that pecking order but apparently a first choice at the O's.That's bonkers on any analysis.Not to pick Bernardo as the lock and JK as a flanker just perverse.

The game last night was my 9th away game of the season.The O's performances away have ranged from the excellent(Munster) to the gutsy(Scarlets) to the disappointing(the rest bar UBB and Connacht which were missed opportunities).To concede 2 tries in eleven minutes was frustrating.The try that Clancy and the Irish TMO disallowed shouldn't disguise the real source of the defeat.Missed tackles,key turnovers conceded,key lineouts lost,lack of composure,poor passing were the cause of the defeat.Connacht blew 2 further tries.

In and around Dublin this week before Leinster at the RDS.That with the Scarlets and Judgement Day will be my last matches of this season because reaching top 6 seems to be slipping away unless quite a few other results go our way.

Jack, that synopsis is basically what Gibbes said, according to a couple on our forum they reckoned Matavesi is carrying an injury and that is another selection mistake as his defence was abysmal, but then again he would have been on early for JJ. You are spot on as far as King is concerned. Bernardo should be starting with Rory.
I said BEFORE this game that Clancy would be an issue and he was, I'm with the few who thinks he's incompetent, NOT biased, still haven't seen it back, but if it is as some have said the Irish commentators on TG4 saw nothing wrong with the try, that is conclusive enough for me, (now if they said it wasn't I wouldn't accept it ).

The Connacht supporters around me thought it a try but given some of the rough end of the pineapple decisions they've had over the years I could see why they weren't unhappy it was disallowed.To be fair to Gibbes many of the errors on the pitch weren't down to coaching.Defense at times seemed optional.I could perhaps understand why teams have inconsistent periods or even game to game but the O's seem able to generate it in game at will.Also why does Tandy never seem to give post match interviews when the O's lose? Today's results not helpful.Will need the points at Leinster.

exile jack wrote:

wayne wrote:

exile jack wrote:

wayne wrote:

exile jack wrote:Tandy,Tandy,give me your answer,do;
I'm going crazy;
I want to play lock for you;
I'm almost four feet eleven;
Weigh in at six stone seven;
But you'll agree;
When you see me;
Your best second row i'll be.

Exile the talk on the Forum, from a normally well informed poster, is that both King and Jarvis were asked to be given game time by Gatland, obviously Jarvis was only going to be named as a tight head, so we have small blessings there in hopefully he will not have to come on till late, the inexcusable thing to me is the selection of King at 4, why not play King in his best position of 6, start Bernardo in the boiler house, and why let Beard go back to the U20s. Cracknell last week took over from Underhill as a 7 and was excellent, why have a player Collier as a replacement 7 when he hasn't played a minute in a first class game this season. We have a really good backline selected and on the bench IMO, but will they get much ball with the selected pack, this match will be lost through selection and sorry to say it Vince but by the Officials nominated.

Wayne.sorry not to have replied sooner but travelling to and from Cardiff and Galway got in the way.I can accept that JK is an international class flanker and possibly even a mobile 8.But if he is thought of as an international standard lock by Gats(?) then he's about 6th or 7th in that pecking order but apparently a first choice at the O's.That's bonkers on any analysis.Not to pick Bernardo as the lock and JK as a flanker just perverse.

The game last night was my 9th away game of the season.The O's performances away have ranged from the excellent(Munster) to the gutsy(Scarlets) to the disappointing(the rest bar UBB and Connacht which were missed opportunities).To concede 2 tries in eleven minutes was frustrating.The try that Clancy and the Irish TMO disallowed shouldn't disguise the real source of the defeat.Missed tackles,key turnovers conceded,key lineouts lost,lack of composure,poor passing were the cause of the defeat.Connacht blew 2 further tries.

In and around Dublin this week before Leinster at the RDS.That with the Scarlets and Judgement Day will be my last matches of this season because reaching top 6 seems to be slipping away unless quite a few other results go our way.

Jack, that synopsis is basically what Gibbes said, according to a couple on our forum they reckoned Matavesi is carrying an injury and that is another selection mistake as his defence was abysmal, but then again he would have been on early for JJ. You are spot on as far as King is concerned. Bernardo should be starting with Rory.
I said BEFORE this game that Clancy would be an issue and he was, I'm with the few who thinks he's incompetent, NOT biased, still haven't seen it back, but if it is as some have said the Irish commentators on TG4 saw nothing wrong with the try, that is conclusive enough for me, (now if they said it wasn't I wouldn't accept it ).

The Connacht supporters around me thought it a try but given some of the rough end of the pineapple decisions they've had over the years I could see why they weren't unhappy it was disallowed.To be fair to Gibbes many of the errors on the pitch weren't down to coaching.Defense at times seemed optional.I could perhaps understand why teams have inconsistent periods or even game to game but the O's seem able to generate it in game at will.Also why does Tandy never seem to give post match interviews when the O's lose? Today's results not helpful.Will need the points at Leinster.

Yes I know Connacht have issues with Hodges, but today both him and Ian Davies were reffing Irish teams in Italy, why couldn't one of those have reffed our game and Clownshoes gone on an Italian safari, this swapping of Irish and Welsh with the officials has been going on all season, why change the procedure this weekend?
Whoever does the Press Conference prematch meets up with them after, they take it in turn to do them, I think it is Tandy's turn this week, if you are saying that Tandy only does them when we win, I hope he does do this weeks game .

Just seen the try. I'm not sure how they thought that was double movement, clear as day try on my first view of it. Pathetic. I hope you pursue this and action is taken. Also Sam Davies is playing well right now, and has been getting slightly better each week.

mikey_dragon wrote:Just seen the try. I'm not sure how they thought that was double movement, clear as day try on my first view of it. Pathetic. I hope you pursue this and action is taken. Also Sam Davies is playing well right now, and has been getting slightly better each week.

Mikey you are correct, seen it back on the highlights section and then again on ScrumV, how they disallowed that I just don't understand, and yes something needs to be pursued.

Just to add we are very soon (by morning) announcing a new signing, and by all accounts in a position we really need someone, I just hope it is NOT one of your DC players, as that is one of the players rumoured to be coming.

wayne wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:Just seen the try. I'm not sure how they thought that was double movement, clear as day try on my first view of it. Pathetic. I hope you pursue this and action is taken. Also Sam Davies is playing well right now, and has been getting slightly better each week.

Mikey you are correct, seen it back on the highlights section and then again on ScrumV, how they disallowed that I just don't understand, and yes something needs to be pursued.

Just to add we are very soon (by morning) announcing a new signing, and by all accounts in a position we really need someone, I just hope it is NOT one of your DC players, as that is one of the players rumoured to be coming.

The Os poaching Drags players again?

Kieron fonotia has signed from the crusaders on a two year deal. Todd blackadder has this to say about him "Uncompromising players are needed in the midfield and that is something that Kieron brings. He is a hard-running back that takes a lot of stopping with the ball in hand and is very good from a defensive point of view too, stopping the opposition when they are going down his channel."

I guess jj isn't staying then

I would hope it isn't one of our DC players either. It seems the union wouldn't mind running Dragons into the ground, which is a shame for the future internationals coming through in the next year or so.

If it's Fonotia I take it it isn't going to be one of our players, or could it be both?

True Raven wrote:Kieron fonotia has signed from the crusaders on a two year deal.  Todd blackadder has this to say about him "Uncompromising players are needed in the midfield and that is something that Kieron brings. He is a hard-running back that takes a lot of stopping with the ball in hand and is very good from a defensive point of view too, stopping the opposition when they are going down his channel."

I guess jj isn't staying then

I guess your last sentence is correct TR, needs a work permit allegedly, and later this year, I hope it is NOT at the end of the S 15 season.

Happy Days.....

"THE Ospreys have turned to Canterbury Crusaders to further add to their backline firepower, signing former Super Rugby finalist Kieron Fonotia.

The wing or centre has put pen to paper on a two-year contract and will arrive at the Liberty later this year.

Known as Fonzie, the 6ft 1in, 17st ex-team-mate of Dan Carter and Richie McCaw has been a regular for the Crusaders since making his debut two years ago and started on the wing when they were defeated by the Waratahs in the 2014 Super Rugby final.

Read more: http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/Ospreys-sign-Canterbury-Crusaders-centre-Kieron/story-28824214-detail/story.html#ixzz41VHjtIhn
Follow us: @SWEveningPost on Twitter | SWEveningPost on Facebook

mikey_dragon wrote:I would hope it isn't one of our DC players either. It seems the union wouldn't mind running Dragons into the ground, which is a shame for the future internationals coming through in the next year or so.

If it's Fonotia I take it it isn't going to be one of our players, or could it be both?

The WRU pay equally to all four. In turn, the NGD don't even spend up to the salary floor.

There's only one party running the NGD into the ground and it isn't the WRU.

It's the 50% owners WRU.

mikey_dragon wrote:It's the 50% owners WRU.

How can you justify that?

They are putting in what they are contractually obliged to do. Meanwhile, Hazell and Godfrey bed block, refuse to take over the WRU share and refuse (or are unable to) run a business that will allow an adequate squad spend.

Because we're talking about a NDC player, apparently. Thought that would be obvious.

mikey_dragon wrote:Because we're talking about a NDC player, apparently. Thought that would be obvious.

"It seems the union wouldn't mind running Dragons into the ground" (your words) seemed to indicate more than one player moving on. No?

Thinking of previous players as well, it wouldn't surprise me if there's more to come. That was all discussed weeks ago anyway so I feel it's irrelevant to this thread.

According to the Rugby Paper, both Aaron Jarvis and Ryan Bevington are leaving us, both pretty good around the field, but neither any good where it matters, with both having their last contracts after they were Welsh Internationals it should take a decent slice off the wage bill.

With loosehead covered by Assey, Smith, G Thomas and M Thomas, it should be enough, I would prefer if Rhodri Jones and the Osprey training staff would come to their senses and decide to cover the same position, with Dmitri, Fia and hopefully another signing, reinforced with Suter would be a really good squad of props to cover for all eventualities, it is all down to how long it takes for the Jones experiment to be shown to be wrong.

A bit of discontentment in the one true region?

Wayne, any idea where Bevington is meant to be headed?

[quote="ScarletSpiderman"]Wayne, any idea where Bevington is meant to be-headed? [/quote]
 


Cardiff Castle is a front runner.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Wayne, any idea where Bevington is meant to be headed?

No SS, the only rumours are concerning Jarvis going to you, and those have been rumoured for a long time

wayne wrote:

exile jack wrote:

wayne wrote:

exile jack wrote:

wayne wrote:

exile jack wrote:Tandy,Tandy,give me your answer,do;
I'm going crazy;
I want to play lock for you;
I'm almost four feet eleven;
Weigh in at six stone seven;
But you'll agree;
When you see me;
Your best second row i'll be.

Exile the talk on the Forum, from a normally well informed poster, is that both King and Jarvis were asked to be given game time by Gatland, obviously Jarvis was only going to be named as a tight head, so we have small blessings there in hopefully he will not have to come on till late, the inexcusable thing to me is the selection of King at 4, why not play King in his best position of 6, start Bernardo in the boiler house, and why let Beard go back to the U20s. Cracknell last week took over from Underhill as a 7 and was excellent, why have a player Collier as a replacement 7 when he hasn't played a minute in a first class game this season. We have a really good backline selected and on the bench IMO, but will they get much ball with the selected pack, this match will be lost through selection and sorry to say it Vince but by the Officials nominated.

Wayne.sorry not to have replied sooner but travelling to and from Cardiff and Galway got in the way.I can accept that JK is an international class flanker and possibly even a mobile 8.But if he is thought of as an international standard lock by Gats(?) then he's about 6th or 7th in that pecking order but apparently a first choice at the O's.That's bonkers on any analysis.Not to pick Bernardo as the lock and JK as a flanker just perverse.

The game last night was my 9th away game of the season.The O's performances away have ranged from the excellent(Munster) to the gutsy(Scarlets) to the disappointing(the rest bar UBB and Connacht which were missed opportunities).To concede 2 tries in eleven minutes was frustrating.The try that Clancy and the Irish TMO disallowed shouldn't disguise the real source of the defeat.Missed tackles,key turnovers conceded,key lineouts lost,lack of composure,poor passing were the cause of the defeat.Connacht blew 2 further tries.

In and around Dublin this week before Leinster at the RDS.That with the Scarlets and Judgement Day will be my last matches of this season because reaching top 6 seems to be slipping away unless quite a few other results go our way.

Jack, that synopsis is basically what Gibbes said, according to a couple on our forum they reckoned Matavesi is carrying an injury and that is another selection mistake as his defence was abysmal, but then again he would have been on early for JJ. You are spot on as far as King is concerned. Bernardo should be starting with Rory.
I said BEFORE this game that Clancy would be an issue and he was, I'm with the few who thinks he's incompetent, NOT biased, still haven't seen it back, but if it is as some have said the Irish commentators on TG4 saw nothing wrong with the try, that is conclusive enough for me, (now if they said it wasn't I wouldn't accept it ).

The Connacht supporters around me thought it a try but given some of the rough end of the pineapple decisions they've had over the years I could see why they weren't unhappy it was disallowed.To be fair to Gibbes many of the errors on the pitch weren't down to coaching.Defense at times seemed optional.I could perhaps understand why teams have inconsistent periods or even game to game but the O's seem able to generate it in game at will.Also why does Tandy never seem to give post match interviews when the O's lose? Today's results not helpful.Will need the points at Leinster.

Yes I know Connacht have issues with Hodges, but today both him and Ian Davies were reffing Irish teams in Italy, why couldn't one of those have reffed our game and Clownshoes gone on an Italian safari, this swapping of Irish and Welsh with the officials has been going on all season, why change the procedure this weekend?
Whoever does the Press Conference prematch meets up with them after, they take it in turn to do them, I think it is Tandy's turn this week, if you are saying that Tandy only does them when we win, I hope he does do this weeks game .

Wayne,the main talking points over here seem to be the Mike Brown incident and disallowed Irish try from Saturday's game,Schmidt's credibility,and Pro12 officialdom.There's also a debate about Foley's and Cullen's coaching.

On officialdom,the supporters i've spoken to,like you,differentiate between bias and competence in referees.If the referee is competent he or she can come from anywhere.The bigger issues concern touch judges and TMO's.On the former it appears that their role is so peripheral any intervention comes as a shock to players and spectators alike.On the latter,the TMO has to be from a neutral country different from the referee and teams based on a clear recruitment,training and retention regime by the Pro12 organisers.

No more from me on Tandy.I've added him to my banned topics list but if you and the O's supporters club ever get the O's coaching team to a Q&A session i'd make the 10 hour round trip to the Liberty.Best wishes to the team for Saturday.

Thanks for that Jack, very informative and I totally agree regarding the TMO, our board has taken a very bad turn towards racism IMO, there are a couple that are fighting against the flow, but the line has been crossed again IMO. It is NOT a very nice site to visit if you are Irish or Catholic.

King and Jarvis released back to us from TW, anything other than King at 6 and Jarvis at best on the bench will NOT be in our best interests for this weekend.

Would be great to get a Pro12 referee into the BBC2 ScrumV studio on a Sunday evening on a regular basis, to join in discussions.

Only caught up on the Connacht game, i must say Clancy was so random, that 1st penalty for the O's should never have been a O's penalty. Why did he check for TMO for Davis try but not for Healy's is beyond me as Healy was possibly a double movement...
Arhip was extremely lucky to get away with his tip tackle, has it been during the English Champions Cup against an English team it would certainly have been a yellow, possibly even a red. Will never forget Baldwin soft yellow which basically put the O's out of the tournament.

http://www.ospreysrugby.com/News/Article/44264

•End of year accounts for 14/15 show profit before exceptional items and interest charges of £143,498
•Net figure is a profit of £128,403, compared to a loss of £123,560 in previous year
•Continued improvement in line with business plan and attributed to growth in commercial revenue and funding as well as prudent financial management
•The figure represents a not insignificant turnaround from record net losses of £1.86m in 2011/12.




(although all those NDC players being paid by the union must help )

This s great news.
Think we can expect a few more decent signings soon too.

The question is now, how do we improve on this? How do we take it to the next level?

Financially or on the field?

Theres no denying our first 15 is a match for anyone in the league but we struggle when the internationals are on. I say we break the NWQ limit by bringing in more southern hemisphere players like JJ and Fonotia to play during periods like we are in now.

Off the field, our marketing department is top notch and we sell memorabilia, we just need to find a way to get those armchair fans into the liberty on game day.

Off the field.

I think we're progressing well on the field, our younger guys are developing well, gaining experience and we're making some shrewd signings too.
Fonotia, by the way, all being well should be a very good signing. Very good indeed.

I really want to see us become a major force off the field and making some serious money.
I can't help think though, for that to happen, there needs to be a bit of a shake up of the Pro12.

wayne wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Wayne, any idea where Bevington is meant to be headed?

No SS, the only rumours are concerning Jarvis going to you, and those have been rumoured for a long time

It seems that Clermont have signed Jarvis, that's shocking.

Gatland will be like WTF?

Will really push Gatlands law now.

Although it seems to be if I like you it dosnt matter ATM.

Not sure it will push it at all. Jarvis is in the squad because Rhodri Jones has been out injured, Gats will throw Rhodri back in, and Jarvis will be forgotten about. Well unless he shines.

Do these French club even watch players before signing them? Or are they assuming that because he has 7 caps he is any good. Jarvis is a crap scrummager and he can't even last over 45 minutes either. I read comments saying he is pretty good in open play, i beg to disagree, remember former Dragons and Scarlets Rhys Thomas? That was a prop who was amazing in open play.

Scarlets must be relieved they haven't signed him.