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?

Scrappy New Year

The Celtic League has not, it would be fair to say, had a great Christmas. The standard of Rugby over the holidays was consistently dire, with the Welsh regions major offenders.

This week, the Ospreys' second-string once again gave fans more to cheer than the firsts have managed of late - ultimately leaving the RDS empty-handed, but having performed creditably against a full-strength Leinster outfit. The Blues, meanwhile, were outdone at water polo by Edinburgh - and you have to say that Phil Godman's 35m drop-goal, off that quagmire, was a thing of wonder and a worthy matchwinner. That it should have come to that, however, is simply unacceptable. It was left to the Dragons again to provide Welsh cheer; a valuable away win in Glasgow confirming them as our best performers of the holiday period.

Elsewhere, sad to note that superfrog Christophe Dominici has retired from international rugby. One of the game's true characters, his heady mix of the sublime (shredding the All Blacks in RWC99) and ridiculous (remember his comedy in-goal fumble against Italy?) will certainly be missed. Bon chance, boyo!

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.

Allez Les Blues

A half-decent weekend for the Welsh regions this time. Both of our teams who stood a realistic chance of European Cup qualification on Friday, still do.

The Scarlets' reputation as a cup team continued to take a pounding as they predictably slumped to P4 W0, while Treviso extracted tit-for-tat at Rodney Parade. The Ospreys' 8-16 victory at Ravenhill would look impressive in most contexts, but the failure to gain a bonus point in fact means that their already tenuous grip on their own destiny has now gone; whatever they do against Gloucester next game, Gloucester will only have to get a bonus-point win at home to Ulster to top Pool 2; it's difficult to imagine them failing. The Os look in good shape for one of the two best second place qualification spots, but they'll have to do it the hard way.

Top mark of the weekend easily goes to the Cardiff Blues - a 31-21 victory over champions Stade Français puts them up on the rubber, having gained a bonus point in the 12-6 defeat in Paris. They made it harder work than they should have following a commanding performance, but Dai Flanagan's last-minute drop-goal to deny Stade a bonus point was encouragingly parsimonious from a team so apt to present opponents with late gifts. Bristol - the surprise package of the competition so far - wait to avenge their first-day drubbing in what looks likely to be the pool decider.

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.