Off Topic Ospreys, Wales & BIL

The Ospreys as a region are in a mess both on and off the pitch.

There is no real fan base or identity.

The attendances are pityful as is the atmosphere. Then again, given the poor calibre of players and style of play, I'm not surprised people stay away.

The Liberty is too big. They should have invested and redeveloped the Gnoll, a proper rugby ground into a 10,000-15,000 seater stadium at the time.

 

It is time for the Club to be rebranded and called Swansea.

Give the team a proper identity so people will associate with it.

There's barely 5000 souls there tonight for a must win European match.

 

Fixed

 

Lol!

54 mins. 12-9. I shut the TV off. Utter garbage.

 

Well that was tough, will be tougher next week, but they have a chance of topping the group

 

Think there are some harsh comments here. The Sarries squad is almost twice the salary cost of ours. They have lost over £50m since turning professional.

The Ospreys slugged it out toe to toe with Sarries and if either side deserved to win it was the Os. The ref bent over backwards to help the Sarries.

As a result, the Sarries now can't win the Group and may even come 3rd

The crowd was disappointing - but 9153.

 

For Ospreys read Swans when we get relegated.

 

Agree with Taff's comments re the ref. I thought he made some strange decisions and his communication skills were distinctly lacking!

 

It was an attritional game played by a big team who doesn't know any other way than to bully and intimidate against a team finding their heart, at last, but still relatively short on confidence. In the end both teams battered each other to exhaustion and a draw was a fair result.

Getting a draw against the double European Champions wasn't a bad result. We effectively knocked them out of the tournament and got out of the game all we wanted which was a fighting chance in the final pool game.

Webbs been hammered for kicking the ball out but if we went on and won the game we'd have only been in the same situation we are now which is, we must beat Clermont. If Sarries got the ball back and scored then we'd be out of the competition completely with Saracens still in it. Webb was cool and in the heat of battle took the option which secured a cup final next week against Clermont.

Happy with the points and really excited about next weeks game, never thought I would be a month ago.

 

That's a pretty good summation!

 

The Ospreys team to play Clermont Auvergne at Stade Marcel Michelin tomorrow is as follows:


15 Dan Evans

14 Hanno Dirksen

13 Ashley Beck

12 Owen Watkin

11 Jeff Hassler

10 Dan Biggar

9 Rhys Webb


1 Nicky Smith

2 Scott Baldwin

3 Dmitri Arhip

4 Bradley Davies

5 Alun Wyn Jones (Capt)

6 Olly Cracknell

7 Justin Tipuric

8 Rob McCusker


REPLACEMENTS

16 Scott Otten

17 Gareth Thomas

18 Ma’afu Fia

19 Adam Beard

20 Will Jones

21 Tom Habberfield

22 Sam Davies

23 Kieron Fonotia



The following players were unavailable for selection due to injury

Cory Allen - Pectoral

Dan Baker – Knee

Keelan Giles – Knee

Paul James - Shoulder

Ben John – HIA

James King – Shoulder

Dan Lydiate - Bicep

Brian Mujati – Shoulder

Sam Parry – Ankle

Ifan Phillips - Shoulder

Rory Thornton – Shoulder

Eli Walker – Back

Kieran Williams – Ankle

Tom Williams - Forearm

 

At last, something to get excited about.

Thank Jebus the Ospreys have starting to click lick a pod of Orcas. Just a month ago progressing out of the pool of death wasn't even a dream. Now, after hammering one of Enlglands' beloved luvvies, Northampton and taking 10 pts off them in two games, then after kicking out of the competition the Saracens, who in the last two years have won the Eupropean Championship TWICE and hav been winners and runners up in the Aviva Premiership its winner takes all against Clermont Auvergne, the winner goes through loser goes home.

At long last we beleaguered fans of the Ospreys and the Swans have a game to get all excited about. Its been such a dirge supporting my teams over the last two years but now I'm all excited again. If the Ospreys can upset the odds and turn over Clermont Then it will be us, the Ospreys, who will be the last man standing and it will be us who will progress to the knock out stages of the European Championship.

Who'd have thought it, the team the rugby pundits, Englands entrage, expected to finish last, and badly last, in the pol of death, could be the ones who kicked he arse out of the best that England and France could throw at us.

Ospreys v Scarlets in the Euros final, a fantastic dream

 

Hi Stumpy - I think that mathematically Sarries can still qualify as one of the 3 best runners-up: if Clermont thump us and we fail to get any bonus points, whilst Sarries pick up a BP victory over Northampton.

That said, before the Group started we'd have been happy to take going into the final match with a chance of winning the Group.....

Strangely, if Toulon thump the Scarlets (unlikely I know) Bath could overtake the Scarlets and grab a runners-up spot....

Anyway all to play for.

 

Apparently, Clermont have won 31 of their last 32 home European games by an average margin of 18 points.

 

You forgot to add "Until Sat 20th January 2018" Taff

 

Good point!

 

Ospreys are out - I thought that that it was a harsh score line in the end but it was too much of an ask to win at a ground where Clermont had won 31 of their last 32 European matches by an average of 18pts. At least losing by 17pts was better than the average.

Anyway, remember 2 out of 4.......

 

Given the squad and coaching staff are very average in terms of ability and quality, the fact that they went into the last weekend with a chance should be considered a very good effort.

 

But not good enough - need to invest in better first choice XV players. Spend on a marquee first choice with one average back up, rather than a 'good' first choice with two average back ups .....

 

Fully agree mate.