12,437 Reasons to be Cheerful

At last, a decent-sized crowd at the Liberty Stadium on Friday night, to watch the Ospreys take on London Irish in the Heineken Cup. What they got for their efforts was not a classic, but it was worth the money nonetheless.

In truth, the féted Aviva Premiership leaders brought precious little to the party, beyond a laudable attacking mindset. The home defence has withstood far more robust challenges, and - the irritatingly familiar interception try excepted - never looked like being breached. In attack, though, the Ospreys were again lethargic and laboured, all the more frustrating when thrown into relief by moments of brilliance. Shane Williams' roof-raising solo score was actually only his second most impressive break of the night, while James Hook's release of an angled Tommy Bowe in the opening minutes carried the whiff of sorcery.

Brief moments of inspiration perhaps, but they were more than enough to see off an oddly out-of-sorts opposition. Irish fly-half Ryan Lamb missed a succession of routine kicks at goal which could have kept his side in the hunt, and despite their relief, home fans saw a chilling echo of the failure of Dan Biggar at Toulon the previous week. For his part, Biggar had gone a long way to repairing his damaged reputation in the first half, before being forced off early in the second. Some hearteningly broad shoulders in evidence, there.

(PLUG ALERT!!! All of this was documented by the Twitter feed @ospreyslive , active for all Ospreys home games this season.)

Due to the annoyance of the bonus point system (I'll spare you that rant) the Ospreys are already behind Munster in the group table. With a parsimonious defence but a profligate attack, it's difficult to see where subsequent bonus points are going to come from. But, with the English Top Guns ably spiked, confidence shouldn't be a problem now.

Missing In Action

BBC SPORT | Rugby Union | Ospreys v Northampton (Thu)

That the Ospreys are claiming 29 absentees for tonight's Anglo-Welsh game is a dramatic illustration of the farce that the modern squad system is becoming. Some may well ask how on Earth a squad that can lose 29 players, and still field a match 22, is sustainable. I certainly wouldn't want to be paying that wage bill while barely filling 7000 seats.

Still, it's a chance to see players we've never seen before; or even heard of. I confess I don't know James King from Adam (Jones, ha-ha). The best of luck to him.

The good news is that the Northampton side will be a similar patchwork, so there are still no excuses; and given the fare that the first XV have produced thus far, this is a golden opportunity for players like Ryan Bevington and Jonathan Spratt to begin capitalizing the P in Potential. I also have high hopes of Gareth Owen, so much freer-looking at fly-half and one of the few bright spots in last weekend's soporific 9-9 draw with Glasgow.

Of course, it's all just an hors d'oeuvre for Saturday's ritual sacrifice international match. Let's hope the boys can put me in a good mood before that ordeal begins...

Failure To Launch

A few weeks ago, I opined that the Ospreys didn't look rusty. Sadly, it appears they've been left out in the Swansea rain ever since.

Saturday's game at Liberty Stadium was excruciating. Some of the rugby played was of amateur quality... but such highlights were scarce. Ulster won't and shouldn't care; they leave with a valuable scalp, entirely merited simply by virtue of their status as visitors. It wasn't their job to provide entertainment, and it's not their fault that the home side were so abject. A tiny handful of loyal travelling fans sang deliriously at the death, and it was impossible not to smile.

The Ospreys were epically clueless. At the breakdown, they flopped and floundered; behind it, they formed line abreast along the gain-line like bemused cattle, inevitably catching man-and-ball repeatedly, as they denied themselves the time and space to craft openings. When the painfully slow ball that resulted wasn't being shipped on to another statuesque "option runner", it was being shanked heavenward without even the pretense of a tactical context. Forward and backs alike seemed to treat the ball as if getting rid of the thing was an end in itself.

Ulster brought precious little to the party; but they brought enough. Ian Humphries' bald competence at fly-half easily eclipsed the ragged torpor of his counterpart James Hook, managing to ensure that what few moments of creativity appeared, favoured the men in white. A try count of 2-3 is all that need be said to illustrate their worthiness.

But as a spectacle, the game was unwatchable. It's a tragedy that around 7000 of us had nowhere else to look...

Friends... For Now.

Leeds Carnegie were the visitors for Ospreys' first pre-season friendly, in a preview of their visit "in anger" next February in the Anglo-Welsh Cup. The Ospreys will be hoping it was a full dress-rehearsal, as they eased to a 35-20 victory in an entertaining match.

Despite the farcical number of substitutions, both sides held together commendably well, and there was little of the rustiness usually associated with these affairs. While the home side always had the edge, Leeds played positively, scored three tries, and never let the Ospreys out of sight.

The big "draw" for the game was the debut of trophy signing Jerry Collins (right) at No8., and he was fully involved without ever being conspicuous. Meanwhile, veteran full-back Barry Davies looked at or near his creative best and seems a fine signing for the region as cover for Lee Byrne. Davies created the first score for Johnny Vaughton with a perfect grubber kick, then scored himself soon afterward. Replaced on 65 minutes, he'd played a blinder and should he keep that up, Byrne will be kept on his toes.

What on Earth the Ospreys were doing playing in "Newport" colours, however, is anyone's guess. It's not a bad strip per se, but it's a departure from black-and-white, and it doesn't sit well. Gold just doesn't feel Ospreylian, somehow...

Rumours of Death

A timely reversal of fortunes in the Magners League this weekend, with both the Scarlets and Dragons defying expectations with deserved victories over the Blues and Ospreys respectively... damn their eyes! :-)

So things are competitive in Wales again, and that's got to be healthy. Consolation for the Os came in the form of a losing bonus point, and also in the form of Gavin Henson. Finally able to boast two working ankles, a clear head, a clean disciplinary slate and a mostly, if not completely un-pregnant girlfriend, Gav ran in a casual brace just as a reminder that he's still a dab hand at that Rugby lark.

Mike Phillips was back, too. Things can only get better... right?

Disincentive

Magners League to provide 24th Heineken Cup qualifier

As the league stutters to a close, this drops in. The higher-placed of Connacht and the Dragons will play in the Heineken next year, guaranteed.

The Ospreys have yet to play both teams. As a result of this move, and with the Ospreys already qualified, the clear interests of Welsh Rugby lie in the Ospreys throwing the Dragons game. This situation is not the fault of anyone at either club. If the Magners League has any sanction in place against such behaviour, it had better make it known quickly. Otherwise, Connacht will have a legitimate grievance should they miss out.

Had this announcement been delayed 24 hours, the Rodney Parade game would be done and dusted and there would be no issue. Connacht surely have the right to ask why this couldn't have been done?

No More Ifs...

Where was I?

Ah well - disaster & triumph for the Ospreys, and it's still a tall order to treat those two impostors both the same. After burying Saracens in the EDF Cup semi, they contrived to fall meekly to the same opponents in the European quarter-finals. Inconsistency incarnate. Bah!

But as consolation prizes go, the EDF Cup isn't bad - and to take the trophy from the Leicester Tigers, at Twickenham, would be any Welsh team's dream. Some meaningful silverware in the Liberty Stadium cabinet - not to mention a healthy portion of sweet revenge - at long last.

Meanwhile, the Blues & Scarlets managed to serve up an eight-try thriller at the Arms Park, to give a welcome boost to the credibility of the Magners League. A corking match, made so more by attacking skills than defensive weaknesses, for a change. More, please!

Club vs Country?

RBS 6 Nations Rugby : Ospreys dominate Wales team

You've got to hand it to Warren Gatland - make a thoroughly conservative team selection, but make it look like a revolution - thirteen Ospreys players in the starting lineup.

It's throwing down a marker, allright. It's thinking the unthinkable; pick your first XV, and if they're all from the same place, so be it. A Welshman could never, in a million years, get away with it.

Whether Gatland gets away with it on the field, remains to be seen. On paper, there seems no reason why Wales can't compete a Twickenham, or even (gasp!) win. In terms of experience, the back rows are ludicrously mis-matched in Wales' favour; the half-backs look sharper; there are three lineout options; and if the back three look defensively suspect, so do England's.

But despite all that, scour the press and you won't find a single pundit predicting a Welsh victory. Not one. The reason is not a balanced assessment of the teams' relative qualities - it is, quite simply, History. Time and again Wales have gone to Twickenham with genuine hope. Time and again, they have left in shattered ignominy. In the previous decade of this fixture, they have conceded an average of 47 points, and scored an average of 16. The Welsh "Twickers Collapse" has become a tradition, and seems irrespective of the perceived quality of the side that takes the field.

So, where will it all go wrong this time? Certainly, in the front row, it looks like the same old story of Shermans vs King Tigers - the scrum will be torrid for Wales. If Gavin Henson has forgotten anything about Six Nations rugby, Toby Flood seems well set to remind him. Paul Sackey and Dave Strettle have the pace to at least match Mark Jones and Shane Williams. And if Gatland truly imagines that a bombardment of fullback Iain Balshaw can make the difference, he must know something about Lee Byrne that few others have spotted.

Still, its nothing if not intriguing. And even if the story stays the same on Saturday, in the long term, the new Welsh management team look to have their eyes on the ball. That in itself is worth celebrating.

Nil Is The New Three

Gone are the days, it seems, where an overwhelmed side would post a plaintive 3 points on the board just to prove they'd turned up. The new fashion - debuted by Wales in Australia, gloriously sported by England in the World Cup - is to let a doughnut tell its own story. In the weekend's Heineken Cup action, the Dragons and the Scarlets earned an ignominious double-oh that signified anything but a license to thrill; while Bristol, having enjoyed their 17-0 stuffing of Stade Francais earlier, showed the Memorial Ground faithful the sharp end of the same scoreline in a meek defeat to the Blues. Cardiff's finest, though, inexplicably recalled the hounds before the eminently achievable home quarter-final draw was secured, and now must go to Toulouse. Ouch.

The Ospreys made heavy weather of things at Bourgoin, looking superior but never comfortable thoughout. The result, however, was everything they could have hoped for in the end. Top seeds or not, Saracens don't look like the worst away draw this year. Timely displays of form from Ryan Jones, Sonny Parker and Gavin Henson added to the satisfaction of the weekend, but none so much as the blistering form of Martyn Williams for the Blues, days after being coaxed out of an international retirement that nearly everyone agreed was premature. Arguably the best openside flanker in Britain, Williams remains vital to Wales' prospects in the medium term, and his return could hardly be more welcome - provided he can keep that look out of his eye this time...

Uncharted Waters

For all our frailties, Welsh Rugby stands on the brink of a modest first; two teams in the last eight of the European Cup. Naysayers will point to the undeniable truth that we have ridden this far on the backs of a phalanx of Southern Hemisphere forward talent; Rush, Tiatia, Tito, Hola...

But that's not quite the whole story, and there has been a Welsh flavour. The emergence of Jamie Roberts as a prospect so hot that he's being touted to hold the line at Twickenham; the effervescent displays by Gareth Williams, beguiling us to believe that we might finally have found a hooker; and the treat of yet another moment of individual inspiration from Gavin "What's He Ever Done?" Henson, which broke the backs of Gloucester.

But individuals aside, fans have genuinely begun to detect a change - a hint of steely resolve, of intransigence, of cold pragmatism. Are we kidding ourselves? Or are our professional teams finally, finally getting it? Wouldn't that be great?

The Blues and the Ospreys face one more test each - in England and France respectively - before they must face the even trickier task of avoiding each other in the quarter-final draw. Well, let's be optimistic, eh?

The Derby of Death

A bumper harvest of 16,509 willing victims endured slow torture at the Liberty Stadium, as the Ospreys struggled into an arthritic second gear that was more than enough to dismiss the hapless Blues. With the arguable exception of the ever-industrious Tom Shanklin, Dai Young's men will wonder why they bothered to turn up, and most of us in the crowd will feel the same - particularly any unfortunate enough to have travelled from Cardiff in the unfulfilled expectation of watching their team play a game of rugby. There will not be a worse game in the Magners league this year.


Huw Bennett's try came from the only truly promising move of the entire match, which was otherwise dominated by second-rate defence subduing third-rate attack, and the Blues getting the rough end of Nigel Owens' whistle. James Hook's boot faultlessly punished them and the Ospreys never looked in danger, despite looking uninterested at best. The 22-3 scoreline flattered both sides.

Hensongate

The Ospreys' statement concerning Gavin Henson indicates that their PR machine is at least semi-operational. Nevertheless one can't help but think it would be better - and probably cheaper - to give star players extensive coaching on the pitfalls of celebrity, rather than constantly slamming gates behind bolted horses.

A question no-one seems to be asking is; why was Henson travelling home from a game privately with "friends", and not on the team coach? More evidence for the damaging rumours about his unpopularity with teammates? If so, then it's not just Gavin who needs a stern talking-to.

No Place Like Home

A bad weekend on the road, but a good one at home for the Welsh regions in the EDF Energy Cup. The Scarlets disposed of Leeds, playing some exhibition rugby at times as they "did it for Grav". But the Blues met the Tigers hoodoo yet again, and the Dragons were in proximity but cigarless at Newcastle.

This afternoon I watched the Ospreys dismantle a rather pathetic London Irish outfit at the Liberty Stadium. They made heavy going of it in the first half, falling foul of the referee and throwing over-ambitious passes, one of which let in the visitors for a score. But it was the only way they ever were going to score, and an eventual try tally of 7-1 speaks of a job done well enough in the end. After scoring 98 points in two games, the obvious worry is that the Os haven't been properly tested. We'll probably see against Bourgoin next week...

Chalk 47, Cheese 16

Ospreys sack Sixways - (Planet Rugby)

Presumably "Sixways" is a new nickname for Ospreys forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys? Coined because he knew six different ways of being offside, perhaps?

In a game that was a testament to the contrasting weaknesses of English & Welsh rugby, the Ospreys' pack were thoroughly bullied by the English Premiership's bottom side, while their backs shredded the Warriors' defence at will.

Mike Ruddock has clearly performed his customary set-piece surgery on the Worcester outfit. However, it apparently remains easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rugby ball to pass along their three-quarter line.

But the old adage that "forwards win matches" took a pounding here; as did an Ospreys front five containing four Welsh internationals. It speaks of the Warriors' cluelessness behind the scrum that a visiting back division continually on the back foot still outscored them by seven tries to one.

It's always fun to stuff the English, of course, but this result can't be allowed to hide the glaring deficiencies in the Ospreys' game; because better teams than Worcester can and will exploit them.