Ospreys 16/17 season thread

by wayne Wed 13 Jul 2016, 8:36 pm

Rugby Management and Squad for 16/17
Head Coach Steve Tandy
Backs Gruff Rees
Forwards Chris Gibbes
Defence Brad Davis
Backs.
Dan Evans 3,     Jeff Hassler 2,     Dafydd Howells 2,     Ashley Beck 2,     Owen Watkin 3, Kieron Fonotia 2,    Ben John 2, Tom Habberfield 3, Rhys Webb NDC 3?,     Dan Biggar NDC 3, Eli Walker 1, Josh Matavesi 2, Tom Grabham 1,    Brendon Leonard 2, Sam Davies 1,    Hanno Dirksen 1, Keelan Giles 3
Forwards.
Olly Cracknell 2, Lloyd Ashley3, Bradley Davies NDC 3, Joe Bearman 1, Gareth Thomas 3, Hugh Gustafson 2, Adam Beard 3, Scott Otten 3, AWJ NDC 3, Dan Baker NDC 3, Rory Thornton NDC 3, Scott Baldwin NDC 3, James King NDC 2, Ma'afu Fia 2, Nicky Smith 3, Dmitri Arhip 2, Justin Tipuric 4, Sam Parry 2, Tyler Ardron 1, Paul James 2, Dan Suter 1,    Rhodri Jones 2, and Sam Underhill 2 but on permit from Bridgend RFC.
Fixture list for 16/17
2/9   Zebre                                         H                        Guinness W 59-5
10/9 Connacht                                    A                        Guinness W 32-11
17/9 Treviso                                       H                         Guinness W 64-10
23/9 Leinster                                      A                         Guinness L 19-31
1/10 Ulster    A    Guinness L 7-9
7/10 Blues                                         H    Guinness W 46-24
15/10 London I    H BIC L 14-25
14/10 Newcastle Falcons H RCC2 W 45-0
23/10 Cornish Pirates    A BIC L 5-41
22/10 Lyon Olympique A RCC2 W 31-13
29/10 NGD H W W 35-15
4/11 Munster                                    A                           Guinness L 0-33
11/11 Harlequins                               H AWC L 12-15
18/11 Blues    A AWC W 31-7
25/12 Glasgow Warriors H Guinness W 22-5
2/12 Edinburgh    H    Guinness W 31-22
9/12 Grenoble H RCC W 59-7
10/12 Connacht Eagles A BIC W 20-17
17/12 Grenoble A RCC W 71-3
18/12 Connacht Eagles H BIC W 55-14
27/12 Scarlets H    Guinness W 19-9
1/1 NGD A Guinness W 10-0
7/1 Connacht    H Guinness W 29-7
14/1 Cornish Pirates H BIC L 10-34
15/1 Lyon H RCC W 47-7
21/1 Newcastle Falcons A RCC W 26-21
21/1 London I A    BIC W 26-24
28/1 Bristol    H    AWC W 20-14
5/2 Wasps    A AWC W 31-22
10/2 Zebre    A Guinness W 40-10
18/2 Munster H Guinness L 23-25
26/2 Glasgow W H    Guinness W 26-15
3/3 Edinburgh A    Guinness W 13-9
25/3 Treviso    A    Guinness L 5-13
2/4 St. Francais H P/S RCC Q/F L 18-20
8/4 Leinster    H    Guinness L 18-20
15/4 Blues    A    Guinness L 17-35
29/4 Ulster    H    Guinness W 24-10
6/5 Scarlets A    Guinness L 17-40
20/5 Munster A Guinness S/F
Will add RCC2 matches when they've been finalised.
Contrary to popular belief some of the Guinness League games will be affected by the Autumn Internationals, our players will be with TW when we play the Dragons, Munster and Glasgow Warriors, the first 2 because of the 13 day call up period and the Warriors because of the infernal 4th game which this year is against SA, and to think some people think everything is hunkydory now that Dodger Lewis has left his legacy rolls on.
The number after each player signifies how many years they have left on their Ospreys contract, there are a few others who are on either Development Contracts or appear not to be under contract, Jonathon Spratt, Jordan Collier, and Alex Jeffries and a few others come into that category.
Our first 5 games of the season account for the 2 Italians at home and 3 Irish, Connacht, Ulster and Leinster away, so we shouldn't have as bad a start as last season, but not as good as the previous seasons start, in certain positions especially during International periods we are only 1 or 2 injuries away from disaster, and I just hope Steve has learned his selection mistakes from the last few seasons.

by wayne Wed 20 Jul 2016, 4:53 pm

Pleased that another year can be added to Paul "Assey" James tenure with us, he has signed to the end of 17/18 season. Top class loose head and Ospreylian.

by LordDowlais Thu 21 Jul 2016, 8:32 am

Wayne, I was going to PM you to do one of these threads yesterday. Laugh

All we need now is for Phil to do a Cardiff Blues one, ScarletSpiderman to do a Scarlets one, and one of the Dragons supporters on here to do a Dragons one.

by wayne Fri 22 Jul 2016, 1:26 pm

There have been rumours on our forum for a few days that Owen Watkin has ruptured Anterior Cruciate Ligaments and he will be out for quite a while. I passed him this morning in his home village (Bryncethin) and his knee and leg is very extensively strapped, so probably the rumours are true, such a pity for the boy. I couldn't get the wife to stop to have a word, (too much traffic). Our injuries are starting to creep up and the season hasn't even started yet, I just hope they don't reach last seasons levels.

by wayne Mon 01 Aug 2016, 9:29 pm

Keelan Giles who started last season 15/16, eligible for U18 Rugby, finished it as cover for Wales seniors on their trip to New Zealand has made the fantastic decision to sign his first full contract for 3 years with Ospreys Rugby, he is the 3rd U20 International after Owen Watkin and Adam Beard to sign senior forms with us in the last 6 months or so.

by mikey_dragon Tue 02 Aug 2016, 9:38 pm

RE Watkin, is that last season's injury he has aggravated? It looks like missing U20s rugby to do pre-season with Ospreys wasn't a good idea after all, well in Tandy.

Giles is a promising player. I've only seen him on a few occasions but he seems to be getting better and better. Good decision by both parties, but I hope he isn't rushed through as he'll just spend most of the season on the med table. Howells looked a good player to me so it'd be worth giving him a shot. Outside of them Adam Beard is the most promising U20 player coming through for me, but when the season begins he may still be serving some of his suspension?

All in all, it looks like Ospreys have a good squad and can compete for silverware on both fronts. I'd like to see them go for it in the challenge cup. If Dragons can make the last 4 then Ospreys certainly can, and at that point I'd rate your chances higher than ours due to having better strength-in-depth.

by wayne Wed 03 Aug 2016, 10:07 am

mikey_dragon wrote:RE Watkin, is that last season's injury he has aggravated? It looks like missing U20s rugby to do pre-season with Ospreys wasn't a good idea after all, well in Tandy.

Giles is a promising player. I've only seen him on a few occasions but he seems to be getting better and better. Good decision by both parties, but I hope he isn't rushed through as he'll just spend most of the season on the med table. Howells looked a good player to me so it'd be worth giving him a shot. Outside of them Adam Beard is the most promising U20 player coming through for me, but when the season begins he may still be serving some of his suspension?

All in all, it looks like Ospreys have a good squad and can compete for silverware on both fronts. I'd like to see them go for it in the challenge cup. If Dragons can make the last 4 then Ospreys certainly can, and at that point I'd rate your chances higher than ours due to having better strength-in-depth.

No actually it is his other knee Mikey, so Tandy was right to rest him, that stood up to the pre-season pressure, as for rushing players in it was our esteemed National Coach that rushed in the likes of Prydie, why did he send for Giles when he had better players available at home, it is only in downright emergencies that we put in these sort of kids, you're right about Beard he does miss a few games, I'm not sure if the Internationals are available straight away, is BBBD slightly injured? yet we still have AWJ and Thornton for the early games and the super sub Ashley ( Doh

), if we can stay reasonably injury free this season, and the 3 AI games when we will miss the likes of AWJ, I'm hoping for a decent season.

by mikey_dragon Wed 03 Aug 2016, 9:21 pm

I agree with you on Gatland rushing them in too Wayne, you can also add Daffydd Howells to that list given he earned his first cap whilst playing for Swansea at age 18... Though he could find himself and become a good player yet. I'm not sure why Giles was called up to the NZ tour, that was a silly idea. If Ospreys give him some game time you can bet Gatland will be wanting to call him up again. I believe it's three years too soon for him and he is actually better off taking it steady with Ospreys.

Either way, even with the injuries I think you have a bit better depth than last season and with that can perform better this season. I wouldn't rule out Matavesi getting a run at fly-half if all your other centres are fit.

by wayne Wed 03 Aug 2016, 10:13 pm

mikey_dragon wrote:I agree with you on Gatland rushing them in too Wayne, you can also add Daffydd Howells to that list given he earned his first cap whilst playing for Swansea at age 18... Though he could find himself and become a good player yet. I'm not sure why Giles was called up to the NZ tour, that was a silly idea. If Ospreys give him some game time you can bet Gatland will be wanting to call him up again. I believe it's three years too soon for him and he is actually better off taking it steady with Ospreys.

Either way, even with the injuries I think you have a bit better depth than last season and with that can perform better this season. I wouldn't rule out Matavesi getting a run at fly-half if all your other centres are fit.

Mikey, just been announced Sam Underhill has to go under the knife to his shoulder and probably is out for about 4 months, the disasters are coming thick and fast, it happened in training apparently.

by Luckless Pedestrian Thu 04 Aug 2016, 10:34 am

wayne wrote:There have been rumours on our forum for a few days that Owen Watkin has ruptured Anterior Cruciate Ligaments and he will be out for quite a while. I passed him this morning in his home village (Bryncethin) and his knee and leg is very extensively strapped, so probably the rumours are true, such a pity for the boy.

My sister used to live in Bryncethin. Just saying. Smile

by mikey_dragon Sat 06 Aug 2016, 10:55 am

Not great news for you at all Wayne - but I heard that it's look good on the Tipuric front and he's expected to be fit for the start of the season? I think back-row is where Ospreys have a lot of depth so you'll be okay, unless you start losing front 5 forwards.

by Breadvan Sat 06 Aug 2016, 11:38 am

All in all, it looks like Ospreys have a good squad and can compete for silverware on both fronts. I'd like to see them go for it in the challenge cup. If Dragons can make the last 4 then Ospreys certainly can, and at that point I'd rate your chances higher than ours due to having better strength-in-depth.

Hope springs eternal saint. So long as Tandy doesn't play Tombola with squad positions and Gruf Rees expands his backs play manual..

by mikey_dragon Sat 06 Aug 2016, 12:01 pm

Tandy is rather Tombola at times and seems to have favourites who aren't particularly good. Rees has more to work with now on top of his international half-back pairing, if that guy can't help the backline string together some good moves then he should retire.

by Stone Motif Sat 06 Aug 2016, 12:01 pm

Breadvan wrote:All in all, it looks like Ospreys have a good squad and can compete for silverware on both fronts. I'd like to see them go for it in the challenge cup. If Dragons can make the last 4 then Ospreys certainly can, and at that point I'd rate your chances higher than ours due to having better strength-in-depth.

Hope springs eternal saint. So long as Tandy doesn't play Tombola with squad positions and Gruf Rees expands his backs play manual..

That first sentence is a joke surely? Tight five depth is almost as bad as ours.

by mikey_dragon Sat 06 Aug 2016, 12:11 pm

He was quoting me Stone. At 2nd row Ospreys have AWJ, Davies, Beard and Thornton - I certainly rate the former U20 pairing very highly. There's also Lloyd Ashley...who isn't a lock but he can provide cover there and is a work-horse. The back-row depth is good. The front-row you might have a point on, but there are some good players there, who are simply in need of a good coach to help the team progress - haven't they signed ex-Wasps coach Brad Davies for that? Their depth isn't amazing but I believe they can compete well on both fronts. I expect Dragons to be competing in the ECC again too.

by Stone Motif Sat 06 Aug 2016, 12:30 pm

mikey_dragon wrote:He was quoting me Stone. At 2nd row Ospreys have AWJ, Davies, Beard and Thornton - I certainly rate the former U20 pairing very highly. There's also Lloyd Ashley...who isn't a lock but he can provide cover there and is a work-horse. The back-row depth is good. The front-row you might have a point on, but there are some good players there, who are simply in need of a good coach to help the team progress - haven't they signed ex-Wasps coach Brad Davies for that? Their depth isn't amazing but I believe they can compete well on both fronts. I expect Dragons to be competing in the ECC again too.

AWJ needs a long rest. Beard is good, the others meh. After the first two loose heads you're into comedians and there isn't a decent hooker in the squad. Back row has some good players but some very limited ones too (Baker, Lydiate) and losing Under hill is a big problem. Half backs obviously good if the first choice are fit/available but that's not a luxury they will have all season and some of their better backs can't string two games together without getting broken.

by wayne Tue 09 Aug 2016, 4:03 pm

We've signed Rob McCusker on a short term cover, because there are a number of back row players injured or are just coming back from injury, they didn't want to rush anyone back too early.

by wayne Thu 11 Aug 2016, 10:51 am

Ospreys team to play Leicester Tigers tomorrow in pre-season friendly
Evans, Hassler, John, Matavesi, Grabham, Davies, Habberfield(C), Smith, Parry, Arhip, Ardron, Thornton, Cracknell, Otten, Baker with Gustafson, Thomas, Fia, Ashley, Cole, Aubrey, Beck, Howells the numbered players on the bench.There are about half a dozen others named on the bench who will also have game time, the real big surprise in that lot is Scott Otten our young reserve hooker is picked at 7, even though he has played there in youth rugby apparently, still strange.

by Seagultaf Fri 12 Aug 2016, 9:47 am

wayne wrote:We've signed Rob McCusker on a short term cover, because there are a number of back row players injured or are just coming back from injury, they didn't want to rush anyone back too early.

He bulked up at the end of his time at the Scarlets but unfortunately that meant he lost his pace. If the Ospreys can get him fit he may be a very useful signing.

by wayne Sat 13 Aug 2016, 1:11 pm

Very enjoyable night, both teams wanted to really play Rugby, kickable penalties were all turned down, some very strong tackling were evident, Sam Davies was a very deserving MOTM, his kicking for the corners was absolutely superb, and was always trying to make things happen whether through breaks or putting others into space, probably the weakest part of our game last night was the scrum in which we were under pressure whoever was on the field, yet every one of that department was excellent in whatever they had to do, the lineout was also very good, Sam Parry's arrows only missed his mark on one occasion, and even Gustafson was good, because of the excellence of particularly Thornton, with Ardron and even Ashley performing well. Even though we let in 3 tries some of the defence was much improved from last season, we definitely won the breakdown which was surprising considering we started with Otten (hooker) Bearman and Baker starting, with a relatively very inexperienced player Josh Cole replacing Otten at half time. Habberfield was very fluid, and even though Hassler was replaced at half time he was very aggressive at the contact point whether with or without the ball, and it was very pleasing to see both Ashley Beck and Dafydd Howells making significant contributions when they came on.
Well done and thanks to the Tigers for their contribution to a very enjoyable day and evening.

by wayne Fri 19 Aug 2016, 1:40 pm

Ospreys team selected to play Belgium in pre-season friendly
15 D. Howells
14 T. Williams
13 J. Thomas
12 J. Spratt (C)
11 K. Giles
10 L. Price
9 M. Aubrey
1 G. Thomas
2 H. Gustafson
3 R. Jones
4 R. Jones
5 R. Thornton
6 J. Cole
7 J. Tipuric
8 R. McCusker
with M. Williams, A. Beck, J. Matavesi, T. Grabham, R. Jenkins, A. Dunham, M. Fia, M. Walsh, T Ardron and J. Bearman on the bench.
Great to see Tips back on the field, a very young backline starting, apart from Spratt, I hope we are not underestimating the opposition, they are apparently not much worse than Germany.

by international198 Fri 19 Aug 2016, 6:42 pm

Why is the game not on television?

by wayne Fri 19 Aug 2016, 7:08 pm

Half time Belgium 0 Ospreys 57.
Full time Belgium 0 Ospreys 71, Referee stopped game early.

by wayne Sat 20 Aug 2016, 11:08 am

Apparently a very good training week around Brussels culminating in a totally one sided match last night, 3 youngsters Tom Williams, Keelan Giles and Joe Thomas scored a hat trick of tries each, with Dafydd Howells and Hugh Gustafson adding the other 2, with 8 conversions from Luke Price, I suppose it was good to see so many of these youngsters get game time.

by Luckless Pedestrian Sat 20 Aug 2016, 12:29 pm

international198 wrote:Why is the game not on television?

Why would it be on television?

by Allty Sat 20 Aug 2016, 4:52 pm

National sport mun.........

by Stone Motif Sun 21 Aug 2016, 4:37 pm

There's more than a hint that Gatland is making use of BBBD's orifice in today's Fail.

by Luckless Pedestrian Mon 22 Aug 2016, 10:07 am

Forgive my ignorance - who's BBBD? Delme?

by **RiscaGame** Mon 22 Aug 2016, 10:39 am

Big Bad Bradley Davies

by Breadvan Mon 22 Aug 2016, 11:15 am

Delme...

In a totally unrelated matter. The Away kit this season is the best one since 09/10. So glad I paid £50 for one. A fool and his money...

by Luckless Pedestrian Mon 22 Aug 2016, 11:23 am

I hear 'Gatland' and 'Fail', I think Delme...

by Breadvan Mon 22 Aug 2016, 11:25 am

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:I hear 'Gatland' and 'Fail', I think Delme...

Also Howell and 'OMG won't somebody please think of the children' Simon Thomas.

by Luckless Pedestrian Mon 22 Aug 2016, 11:30 am

I don't mind Simon Thomas, although he can be a bit precious sometimes.

by wayne Mon 22 Aug 2016, 11:45 am

Breadvan wrote:Delme...

In a totally unrelated matter. The Away kit this season is the best one since 09/10. So glad I paid £50 for one. A fool and his money...

Yes, the away kit is really smart, that is the one I'll be asking the kids to get me for Christmas this year, last year was special because of the Dan Biggar 23 points, which gave ST holders 1 per cent for each point scored IIRC for the WC game against England plus the normal 10% discount I had 2 shirts last year, great promoting from the Ospreys.

by wayne Mon 22 Aug 2016, 2:03 pm

Very interesting front page story in yesterdays The Rugby Paper, about the 2 Americans (Kaplan and Levien) who recently bought a controlling stake in Swansea FC buying the Ospreys, they had a meeting of several hours with a 5 man Osprey delegation the previous day, this was after they had spoken to people at Celtic League HQ about adding 2 American Franchises to our League, yet in a separate piece leaders of the American League weren't very enthusiastic about the proposal.

When Kaplan and Levien bought their stake in the Swans, they spoke about the possibility of ejecting us from the Liberty, but we have around 40 years of a 50 year lease still left. Is this a back door way of ejecting us? I would be very wary of letting them in without cast iron guarantees.

by wayne Tue 23 Aug 2016, 10:26 am

Ryan Bevington has left us and signed a 2 year contract with Bristol, didn't really fulfill his potential with us because his scrummaging wasn't up to the required standard, truly exceptional about the field with one really memorable try against Ulster in 2013, suffered enough with injuries the last few seasons.

Good luck Ryan

by mikey_dragon Fri 26 Aug 2016, 9:43 pm

Am I right in thinking Ospreys are decent and are capable of scoring tries but their scrum isn't that great? I'm guessing it struggled again tonight, but it was against Leciester...

by wayne Mon 29 Aug 2016, 5:56 pm

So, overall (except for scrums) a very successful pre-season for the Ospreys, starting with a 26 -21 victory ending with a 42 -38 loss in matches against Leicester Tigers, sandwiched in between was a development game out in Belgium which was won 71 - 0, in which the main points of the exercise was commercial, and an extended squad bonding exercise, and as far as the commercial gains were considerable and the fact the whole tour was TOTALLY paid for by Belgian sponsors.
Apparently as I alluded to and Mikey said above the scrum on the weekend was abysmal, it wasn't too bad when the main starters were on, yet even then it was under pressure, but when the changes were made it was catastrophic, even on Tigers put ins they were marching us backwards, by all accounts the lineout was excellent especially when Ardron moved into the 2nd row to the exclusion of Ashley, but whether that helped in the scrum deficiencies who knows, according to somebody who was there 3 players who were hardly available last season, Ardron, Beck and Hassler were stand out performers, if those 3 are fit and raring to go, along with the returnees, last season will be seen as a momentary blip.

by mikey_dragon Mon 29 Aug 2016, 8:39 pm

I don't think Smith and James are great in the scrims, and Arhip seems a bit inconsistent. Hopefully that improves - and yes it does seem Ospreys can score a few tries and still have players to come back in.

by wayne Mon 29 Aug 2016, 9:10 pm

mikey_dragon wrote:I don't think Smith and James are great in the scrims, and Arhip seems a bit inconsistent. Hopefully that improves - and yes it does seem Ospreys can score a few tries and still have players to come back in.

Mikey, apparently the real disasters happened when either Fia or Rhodri Jones came on for Arhip, especially Jones, if this is the lesson Tandy and Gibbes has to see that Jones will NEVER make a decent T/H it will be a lesson well learned, and don't forget Ardron who is a 6 or 8 and a good one at that was moved into the 2nd row, I know Ashley has his limitations but he is over a stone heavier than the Canadian, we will have some decent bulk when AWJ, BBBD, Thornton or Beard are in the boilerhouse, the only problem being we only have one fit and raring to go ATM, not trying to rub things in here but both Parry and Gustafson had good games especially in the lineout with Thornton the main target in the first half with Ardron helping in the second. What we could really do with is a scrum doctor for a few months, I've seen films and read reports of Fia outplaying Tony Woodcock in NZ rugby a few years ago, we need him back at that level to take some of the strain off Arhip.

by wayne Wed 31 Aug 2016, 12:25 pm

Expect a squad something similar to the following for our seasons opener against Zebre on Friday
Evans, Hassler, Beck, Matavesi, Howells, Davies, Habberfield, James, Parry, Arhip, Ashley, Thornton, Cracknell, Tipuric, Ardron, with Gustafson, Smith, Fia, Bearman, Baker, Aubrey, Price and John on the bench.
I'm worried about our boilerhouse with having to put Ashley in there against a normally strong aspect of Italian rugby. Beard I think is available for either the 2nd or 3rd match, and BBBD available fairly soon.
A serious error was made when we signed Brendon Leonard as he Hassler and Ardron cannot be selected for the same matchday squad, we therefore have to pick U18 International Aubrey as deputy to Habbers, even though he's had good reviews for pre-season games.

by wayne Thu 01 Sep 2016, 12:54 pm

wayne wrote:Expect a squad something similar to the following for our seasons opener against Zebre on Friday
Evans, Hassler, Beck, Matavesi, Howells, Davies, Habberfield, James, Parry, Arhip, Ashley, Thornton, Cracknell, Tipuric, Ardron, with Gustafson, Smith, Fia, Bearman, Baker, Aubrey, Price and John on the bench.
I'm worried about our boilerhouse with having to put Ashley in there against a normally strong aspect of Italian rugby. Beard I think is available for either the 2nd or 3rd match, and BBBD available fairly soon.
A serious error was made when we signed Brendon Leonard as he Hassler and Ardron cannot be selected for the same matchday squad, we therefore have to pick U18 International Aubrey as deputy to Habbers, even though he's had good reviews for pre-season games.

Not far out with my selection, Walker in for Howells, Smith in for James, those 2 are on the bench with BBBD in for Bearman, Webby in for Aubrey and Howells replacing Price although I doubt he will cover his position. I know Zebre have recruited well, but we should have too much for them.

by munkian Thu 01 Sep 2016, 1:35 pm

Is Baker still on a NDC ? And if so, how ?

by wayne Thu 01 Sep 2016, 1:57 pm

munkian wrote:Is Baker still on a NDC ? And if so, how ?

Yes, ask Gatland

by international198 Thu 01 Sep 2016, 3:51 pm

Dan Baker is a top quality player who has much to offer to both the Ospreys and, possibly, Wales.

by LordDowlais Thu 01 Sep 2016, 3:54 pm

TBH, Dan Baker is probably the best Welsh number 8 left in Wales.

by mikey_dragon Thu 01 Sep 2016, 4:01 pm

It comes across a bit silly saying that as Baker wasn't very good last season, and you haven't seen Allen or Condy play this season yet - both seem to be highly rated No.8s.

by LordDowlais Thu 01 Sep 2016, 4:15 pm

mikey_dragon wrote:and you haven't seen Allen or Condy play this season yet - both seem to be highly rated No.8s.

Yes they are highly rated, but Baker is ahead of those two. You have to be honest, and say that out of all the Welsh one's Baker is the best. It just shows how much we relied on Taulupe Faletau, and how thankful we must be that he played so often, without getting injured. there is a big gulf between him and the rest.

Having said that, just because I think Dan Baker is the best Welsh number 8 left in Wales, I by no means think he is the best number 8 in Wales. That would be between John Barclay and Nick Williams.

by Luckless Pedestrian Thu 01 Sep 2016, 4:26 pm

LordDowlais wrote:
mikey_dragon wrote:and you haven't seen Allen or Condy play this season yet - both seem to be highly rated No.8s.

Yes they are highly rated, but Baker is ahead of those two. You have to be honest, and say that out of all the Welsh one's Baker is the best. It just shows how much we relied on Taulupe Faletau, and how thankful we must be that he played so often, without getting injured. there is a big gulf between him and the rest.

Having said that, just because I think Dan Baker is the best Welsh number 8 left in Wales, I by no means think he is the best number 8 in Wales. That would be between John Barclay and Nick Williams.

Wouldn't it be an idea to wait until he's played for the Blues before saying that?

by LordDowlais Thu 01 Sep 2016, 4:56 pm

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Wouldn't it be an idea to wait until he's played for the Blues before saying that?

It's no secret what he brings to the table when he is not being a thug. We have all seen him dismantle teams on his own in the Pro12. When he plays his A game, there are not much better than him in the whole league at number 8, never mind just Wales.

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