Ospreys v Scarlets (Euro play off) official match thread

[RugbyFan100]

This should please Leinsterfan.


Ospreys v Scarlets
May 18th 7.45pm

Rumour is that Scarlets will be missing their first and second choice looseheads (Rob Evans and Wyn Jones) and their first choice tighthead (Lee). That's a huge advantage to Ospreys in the scrum.

James Davies also struggling with an injury. Advantage Ospreys.

[RugbyFan100]

Great to see such huge interest in this fixture on this forum.

Scarlets
15. Leigh Halfpenny
14. Johnny McNicholl
13. Jonathan Davies
12. Hadleigh Parkes
11. Ioan Nicholas
10. Dan Jones
9. Gareth Davies
1. Phil Price
2. Ken Owens (capt)
3. Werner Kruger
4. Jake Ball
5. Steve Cummins
6. Josh MacLeod
7. Will Boyde
8. Blade Thomson
Replacements
16. Ryan Elias
17. Wyn Jones
18. Simon Gardiner
19. David Bulbring
20. Uzair Cassiem
21. Kieran Hardy
22. Rhys Patchell
23. Paul Asquith

[Pot Hale]

Scarlets season has been on a downward slops ever since Pivac mentally packed his bags some months ago.

Allen Clarke & his team should be the victors.

[RiscaGame]

15. Dan Evans
14. George North
13. Cory Allen
12. Owen Watkin
11. Keelan Giles
10. Sam Davies
9. Aled Davies
1. Nicky Smith
2. Scott Baldwin
3. Tom Botha
4. Adam Beard
5. Alun Wyn Jones
6. Olly Cracknell
7. Justin Tipuric (Capt)
8. Dan Lydiate

REPLACEMENTS
16. Sam Parry
17. Rhodri Jones
18. Ma'afu Fia
19. Bradley Davies
20. Sam Cross
21. Matthew Aubrey
22. Luke Price
23. Hanno Dirksen

[RiscaGame]

I would expect Ospreys to win, especially at home. Good to see that only Lee is unfit, given the rumour about Evans and Wyn Jones.

[Guest]

I'm going for a Scarlets win.

[maestegmafia]

I fear scarlets might be the better side. Should be s great game let’s hope the rain holds off.

[Brendan]

I think going on the run Ospreys went on at the end of the season they must be favourites to win at home.

Will the Scarlets pack be able to get parity with Ospreys up front.

[mikey_dragon]

Good to see Blade Thomson in there, I totally forgot about him. Great player. It should be a close game, but I'd prefer Scarlets to win as I see them doing better in the champions cup next season than the Ospreys would. Allen Clarke would throw all the games in the Europe because he believes in rotation.

[maestegmafia]

Exciting start to the match. Really end for end stuff, nice breaks from Owen Watkin and a fantastic cover tackle by Halfpenny on Giles

[maestegmafia]

Great opening the Ospreys get first score

[mikey_dragon]

Watkin always plays well. He should be ahead of Parkes in the Wales team.

[mikey_dragon]

Another score for Ospreys. The scarlets look very sloppy. What on earth has happened to them?

[maestegmafia]

Watkin always plays well. He should be ahead of Parkes in the Wales team.

May well take the shirt soon eh..!

Nice try by Cracknell, it’s a scrappy game but fun to watch..!

[mikey_dragon]

Interesting that Lydiate is wearing 8, and packing back down at 6 on attacking scrums whilst Tipuric is at 8.

[LondonTiger]

Interesting that Lydiate is wearing 8, and packing back down at 6 on attacking scrums whilst Tipuric is at 8.

Exeter have done that a lot in recent seasons. Armand wearing 8 but first Salvi then Kvesic packing there.

Looking at the Osprey's lineup how are they only in a playoff for Europe. That team is far too talented for that.

[RiscaGame]

Interesting that Lydiate is wearing 8, and packing back down at 6 on attacking scrums whilst Tipuric is at 8.

Not that interesting. Who would you choose to break off your scrum?

[Scarpia]

21 -10 to Ospreys now

[Scarpia]

And that's the final score

[maestegmafia]

Interesting that Lydiate is wearing 8, and packing back down at 6 on attacking scrums whilst Tipuric is at 8.

Exeter have done that a lot in recent seasons. Armand wearing 8 but first Salvi then Kvesic packing there.

Looking at the Osprey's lineup how are they only in a playoff for Europe. That team is far too talented for that.

We’ve not had a great season.

[mikey_dragon]

Interesting that Lydiate is wearing 8, and packing back down at 6 on attacking scrums whilst Tipuric is at 8.

Not that interesting. Who would you choose to break off your scrum?

Ospreys have wasted time with King at 8 this season. I would have swapped him around with Cracknell. Now that Lydiate is back I guess I would continue playing him there, because I’d back him over Tipuric to make it over the line on say, a 5 metre attacking scrum for example. Tips was there to babysit Aled Davies it seemed.

[maestegmafia]

I thought Lydiate looked quite useful at eight

I don’t think he’s played there much. There was one break where he took on their defence made a few yards and tried to slip it to Adam beard who fumbled the ball, looked quite handy if he could do that a bit more. He’s a big old unit of a lad

[mikey_dragon]

Interesting that Lydiate is wearing 8, and packing back down at 6 on attacking scrums whilst Tipuric is at 8.

Exeter have done that a lot in recent seasons. Armand wearing 8 but first Salvi then Kvesic packing there.

Looking at the Osprey's lineup how are they only in a playoff for Europe. That team is far too talented for that.

We’ve not had a great season.

Poor coaching, and poor selections in particular games - poor selection at 9 and 10 for most games actually although that’ll be relieved to an extent with Anscombe incoming. It’s criminal how a coach can’t really do anything with that forward pack. Fair play to Ospreys for winning today, they actually looked like a team. It doesn’t look like they’re changing coaches so I can only hope that Clarkey isn’t set on continuing to throw games and play kick tactics. Also sad to see how Scarlets have regressed but challenge cup rugby next season means a good chance to pick up silverware.

[RiscaGame]

I watched the Welsh news at half six, literally before BBC Wales showed Llanelli v Pontypool. Guess which game they spoke about. Not the one the same night, but the one the next day (Os v Scarlets). Why did they do that?

[mikey_dragon]

AWJ last game for Ospreys. He’s signed for Merthyr...

[Scarpia]

Interesting that Lydiate is wearing 8, and packing back down at 6 on attacking scrums whilst Tipuric is at 8.

Exeter have done that a lot in recent seasons. Armand wearing 8 but first Salvi then Kvesic packing there.

Looking at the Osprey's lineup how are they only in a playoff for Europe. That team is far too talented for that.

We lose a lot of players during 6N and Autumn internationals. We don't have the depth of squad to cope.

[Scarpia]

I'm going for a Scarlets win.

The Oracle need a monocle!

[Guest]

I'm going for a Scarlets win.

The Oracle need a monocle!

Are you suggesting I’m one eyed?! I’m a Dragons fan!

[wayne]

Interesting that Lydiate is wearing 8, and packing back down at 6 on attacking scrums whilst Tipuric is at 8.

Exeter have done that a lot in recent seasons. Armand wearing 8 but first Salvi then Kvesic packing there.

Looking at the Osprey's lineup how are they only in a playoff for Europe. That team is far too talented for that.

We lose a lot of players during 6N and Autumn internationals. We don't have the depth of squad to cope.

Scarpia you are so right, for the AI and 6N we only had 1 player returned to us for 1 game and that was Lydiate for the home game against Connacht, and he was absolutely superb, he basically shut down Aki at source, incidentally basically all the Ireland squad members for Connacht were returned for this match in which we won at the Brewery Field.
We played 14 games in this competition with our first choice squad of which we won 12, that I would say is pretty good, there was 1 game that we could have played our first choice team and we decided not to, in order to help TW and stop player burn out that was against Munster and we took a drubbing. The 2 teams we lost against was Scarlets and Dragons away, the 2nd of which was a terrible mix up between Dan Evans and Luke Morgan, when they allowed a ball to bounce and it popped into Jared Rosser's hand and fair play he took full advantage and they won by 1 point. If either of our boys had taken that ball we would have finished 3rd ahead of Connacht.
AWJ only played 10 games for us this season, 1 of which was yesterday, we could have played him in a few other matches, but in order to lessen his workload in this very important year for both him and Team Wales we refrained, some even on our Forum were not entirely happy with the stance we took, but as it turned out so well for us (qualifying for next seasons Champions Cup) and TW
(winning all games in the AI and the 6N) the vast majority are entirely happy with how things have panned out, that includes me.
The problem for us has been our Team when we have none of those players available, this has absolutely nothing to do with Allen Clarke as even the excellent players we signed they were signed under Tandy's time in control, as I've said on another occasion the first change Clarke made was to change the ill fated experiment started by Gatland and assisted by the Scarlets of trying to make Rhodri Jones into a tight head, this was also carried on by Tandy, thankfully that has ended.
It now comes down to what Clarkie does with getting players in for these important International periods, but being back as the top Welsh Region is good enough for me for now.

[Scarpia]

I'm going for a Scarlets win.

The Oracle need a monocle!

Are you suggesting I’m one eyed?! I’m a Dragons fan!

[mikey_dragon]

How come Leinster, Munster and Glasgow deal with their international call-ups pretty well?

[Scarpia]

Bigger and better (ie more expensive) squad

[VinceWLB]

Bigger and better (ie more expensive) squad

What about Benetton? I doubt they have a more expensive squad than the Ospreys..

[RugbyFan100]

How come Leinster, Munster and Glasgow deal with their international call-ups pretty well?

How do you think?

If you had to have an educated guess at how Leinster do better than the Ospreys. Why do you reckon it is?

Is it because the Ospreys 'can't be arsed' ?

[Breadvan]

How come Leinster, Munster and Glasgow deal with their international call-ups pretty well?

You may spout some guff on these boards mikey lad but you're spot on about the Ospreys. King is wasted at 8 and Dan baker cannot come back soon enough. Aled Davies needs to improve while his namesake Sam just cannot cut it this level at fly half. I don't think AC is the right coach for us but maybe Anscombe coming in, Sherratt can finally get our backs going. I wont hold my breath tho and the Os will probably finish bottom of their Euro group.

[mikey_dragon]

How come Leinster, Munster and Glasgow deal with their international call-ups pretty well?

How do you think?

If you had to have an educated guess at how Leinster do better than the Ospreys. Why do you reckon it is?

Is it because the Ospreys 'can't be arsed' ?

Leinster? I would imagine it’s because they have their house in order and don’t look at blaming others. Why would fans of Ospreys now blame call-ups for how bad they’ve been when these teams lose more players to international call-ups?

[mikey_dragon]

How come Leinster, Munster and Glasgow deal with their international call-ups pretty well?

You may spout some guff on these boards mikey lad but you're spot on about the Ospreys. King is wasted at 8 and Dan baker cannot come back soon enough. Aled Davies needs to improve while his namesake Sam just cannot cut it this level at fly half. I don't think AC is the right coach for us but maybe Anscombe coming in, Sherratt can finally get our backs going. I wont hold my breath tho and the Os will probably finish bottom of their Euro group.

King is a 2nd/3rd choice blindside for me. Thanks for not being in denial about Davies though. I can’t believe some people are desperate for him to join Dragons... Clarkie seems to be getting the chance to stay on. He seems like a good bloke but the team hasn’t been good at all this year. Sherratt I’m not so sure about either. If they finish bottom of the group it’s not through lack of trying, it’ll probably be from throwing games...

[Scarpia]

How come Leinster, Munster and Glasgow deal with their international call-ups pretty well?

How do you think?

If you had to have an educated guess at how Leinster do better than the Ospreys. Why do you reckon it is?

Is it because the Ospreys 'can't be arsed' ?

Leinster? I would imagine it’s because they have their house in order and don’t look at blaming others. Why would fans of Ospreys now blame call-ups for how bad they’ve been when these teams lose more players to international call-ups?

I'll try again. Let us call the players who play when the internationals are on "the reserves". Ospreys' reserves are not as good as, for example, Leinster's reserves. Our best 15/23 can perform well against anybody (see a previous comment which showed the stats for our record when our squad is not depleted) but once we lose our best players we cannot compete with other teams' depleted sides because they have stronger reserves.

[geoff999rugby]

Leinster I agree with you but Glasgow, Munster, Ulster, Treviso - I don't think so

[RugbyFan100]

How come Leinster, Munster and Glasgow deal with their international call-ups pretty well?

How do you think?

If you had to have an educated guess at how Leinster do better than the Ospreys. Why do you reckon it is?

Is it because the Ospreys 'can't be arsed' ?

Leinster? I would imagine it’s because they have their house in order and don’t look at blaming others.?

Exactly. They have their house in order. Which costs around £8m a season.

[Brendan]

How come Leinster, Munster and Glasgow deal with their international call-ups pretty well?

How do you think?

If you had to have an educated guess at how Leinster do better than the Ospreys. Why do you reckon it is?

Is it because the Ospreys 'can't be arsed' ?

Leinster? I would imagine it’s because they have their house in order and don’t look at blaming others.?

Exactly. They have their house in order. Which costs around £8m a season.

And what about Ulster, Benetton, Connacht, Glasgow. How much a season does it cost to have got their houses in order.

[LordDowlais]

Well look at this.

I have been ripped apart on here, and that is putting it lightly, for saying that the regions are under achieving and have nothing or nobody to answer for, now, more and more people are starting to see my point.

[geoff999rugby]

Strange response

The non Welsh posters have, consistently, been posting that the issue with welsh rugby is Welsh rugby and blaming outside factors is
dodging the issue.

You have consistently rubbish the regions and blamed outside factors - for which a number of the other Welsh posters have been less than impressed

[LordDowlais]

Strange response

The non Welsh posters have, consistently, been posting that the issue with welsh rugby is Welsh rugby and blaming outside factors is
dodging the issue.

You have consistently rubbish the regions and blamed outside factors - for which a number of the other Welsh posters have been less than impressed  

Nope, I have not, I have never blamed outside factors for the regions failings.

[geoff999rugby]

Referees, tournament run for the benefit of the Irish, TV deals done for the benefit of the Irish come to mind

[LordDowlais]

Referees, tournament run for the benefit of the Irish, TV deals done for the benefit of the Irish come to mind

Your getting confused, that is down to the Pro14 issues, how could any of that be to blame for some of the limp efforts in Europe ?

Here you go, this is a thread I started myself a few months ago:-

https://www.606v2.com/t63059-what-an-absolutely-pathetic-end-to-the-welsh-regional-season

[geoff999rugby]

What doesn't make sense is how you split performances in the Pro14 and Europe.
They are the same teams playing.
Cardiff have been successful in Europe, Scarlets recently made a European Championship SF
Also the above the talk was cover during Internationals - that only happens during Pro14 fixture.

You are being disingenuous

[LordDowlais]

OK.

No point talking to you no more. Good bye.

[Guest]

Referees, tournament run for the benefit of the Irish, TV deals done for the benefit of the Irish come to mind

Your getting confused, that is down to the Pro14 issues, how could any of that be to blame for some of the limp efforts in Europe ?

Here you go, this is a thread I started myself a few months ago:-

https://www.606v2.com/t63059-what-an-absolutely-pathetic-end-to-the-welsh-regional-season

A few months ago? That thread is from 2016

[mikey_dragon]

How come Leinster, Munster and Glasgow deal with their international call-ups pretty well?

How do you think?

If you had to have an educated guess at how Leinster do better than the Ospreys. Why do you reckon it is?

Is it because the Ospreys 'can't be arsed' ?

Leinster? I would imagine it’s because they have their house in order and don’t look at blaming others. Why would fans of Ospreys now blame call-ups for how bad they’ve been when these teams lose more players to international call-ups?

I'll try again. Let us call the players who play when the internationals are on "the reserves". Ospreys' reserves are not as good as, for example, Leinster's reserves. Our best 15/23 can perform well against anybody (see a previous comment which showed the stats for our record when our squad is not depleted) but once we lose our best players we cannot compete with other teams' depleted sides because they have stronger reserves.

You and RugbyFan seem to keep missing the point, or you're both just stuck in your ways and won't listen to reason. I know it's easy for you to keep using just Leinster as an example with them consistently being one of the best teams in Europe. It's not like they've done a Toulon though right? Nearly all their players come from Leinster, through their academy, because like all the other Irish and Scottish teams they have their house in order. They aren't being run by amateurs who hire other amateurs through their pigheaded laziness.
I understand Leinster have good strength in depth, but looking at the Ospreys squad it seems they do too (not as good as Leinster's but nobody else in the league has as good depth). They've been crap with their internationals and worse without them. Interesting though, both Ospreys and Leinster can put 15 internationals on the field at any given time. Why do I just hear poor excuses and truth-avoidance from one set of fans?

As others have said there are a handful of other teams who have done better, including Benetton. So if we forgot Leinster just for a moment why don't we analyze and compare to the others?

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