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Off Topic Ospreys, Wales & BIL

Discussion in 'Swansea City' started by Taffvalerowdy, Dec 9, 2016.

  1. Victor

    Victor Well-Known Member

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    Years ago Rugby Ieague played their game with unlimited number of tackles, which was quite boring . In the end seeing the way that The Union game was being played with attractive open rugby, they decided to partly copy the Union game, by reducing the number of tackles to six. ............ Now look what has happened, we have gone the other way, and adopted the old way that the league used to play, and made it bloody boring.. ..... now why don't the Union bosses swallow their pride, and take a leaf out of the Way the League play now and reduce the number of phases that can take place? If they don't want to copy six, they could make it seven or eight? I think it would improve what we have now ? ...... What do you think,? I would like to hear your ideas.
    I better not start on the scrums and the bloody time that is wasted there, ..... leave it for another time.
     
    #1741
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  2. Taffvalerowdy

    Taffvalerowdy Well-Known Member

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    It would be good if, for starters, the scrum halves had to put the ball in straight at a scrum - rather than into the second row...

    Ten phases would seem a maximum to adopt.
     
    #1742
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  3. daimungeezer

    daimungeezer Well-Known Member

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    Well I may not be quite old enough to truly appreciate what you guys are saying but, as Taff says, the scrum needs sorting. Ball in straight and if it collapses and there's no clear infringement, then why reset? Just get the bloody ball out and carry on play.

    I don't actually find the number of phases boring, unless it is just a dour game. In which case if the teams aren't good enough then they won't score exciting flowing tries anyway. Unless the defences are so bad they have no choice but to score <laugh>

    A well coached, structured, disciplined defence is a thing of beauty. There, I said it! Why shouldn't defence be as good as it can possibly be? Are you happy with the Swans ****e defence or would you rather it was bullet proof? There are teams that can score lots of tries, one thing doesn't need to negate the other. Bottom line, I don't see such a problem. And you can't go back in time, defence is a part of the game now, you can't reverse it. Personally I would not limit the number of phases.

    I would definitely limit the TMO involvement during normal play (non scoring phases) though - to foul play and not analyse every single forward pass etc.
     
    #1743
    Last edited: Feb 18, 2020
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  4. FrankfurterBlue

    FrankfurterBlue Well-Known Member

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    I don't agree to limit the number of phases. it is an intrinsic part of the game. But having watched the turgid rugby league (at that time), It wad truly boring. Possession was all and any pass was really from six foot and almost hand to hand. The tackled went down early to maintain possession and turnover was almost impossible. The bright bit (at that time) was the Monday night game that was limited to one hour (I think) and had some rules that forced more open play. It was played every Monday night as a knockout and was covered by BBC2.
     
    #1744
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  5. Taffvalerowdy

    Taffvalerowdy Well-Known Member

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    FROM GRUMPY GIT TO CAPTAIN COURTEOUS – HOW ALUN WYN JONES BECAME A GREAT LEADER


    The three men plunged gleefully into deep leather chairs and began talking. Outside the window of the building in Cardiff, less than a Dan Biggar punt away, was the Principality Stadium. This was appropriate because they were discussing rugby and captaincy in general and Alun Wyn Jones, Wales’s talismanic leader, in particular.



    “A captain needs presence” was the view of one man. “He must command his place” said the second. “He must have something about him, something that makes others keep their eyes on him, to see what he is doing, hear what he is saying. He must dominate them,” added a third.



    On most counts, Jones met the criteria. The first name on a Wales team sheet, the holder of a record 137 caps for his country and nine for the Lions, a player who is notable for his energy on the field and longevity as well as his deft touch with referees, the 34-year-old would be a prime candidate to lead the Lions were there a tour coming up in the next few months.



    “When I look at him I see a world-class player first and foremost,” Lawrence Dallaglio, the former England back-row forward who captained almost every team in which he played, said. “Martin Johnson was one of the greatest players I ever played with and I would put Alun Wyn Jones in the top two or three players in his position, ever.



    “You judge that on success, on trophies, on longevity of career. It is not about how many tackles you make, or passes you make or defenders you beat. It’s about your record as a captain and player. It’s about understanding your own strengths and playing to those and dialling up the strengths of those around you. It is about creating an environment where everyone can feel they can contribute. His record stands up to anyone’s.”





    Jones’s physical presence demands the attention of others. “That’s the first thing that strikes you about him” Gareth Davies, chairman of the Welsh Rugby Union, said. “He is probably not the biggest but he has got an athletic, god-like physique.”



    In his recent autobiography Warren Gatland, formerly Wales’s coach, recalls the emergence of Jones, first as a player and then as a captain. “Right from the start, I saw him as an incredible trainer. . . during a session he does not simply run from one station to the next,” Gatland wrote. “He sprints, flat out, each time. At first he was something of a handful. Unusually feisty even in rugby terms, he was more than capable of starting a fight on the practice field. Now I see him as one of the greats of Welsh rugby. . . his captaincy skills have matured along with every aspect of his rugby.”



    Sean Holley was coaching at Ospreys when Jones arrived as a hulking teenager. “First impressions were that we’ve got a big lump of a boy,” Holley said. “He was very, very green. He turned up wearing white boots and Lyn Jones [head coach] christened him Gwyn Togs, gwyn being Welsh for white and togs a word for boots.



    “He was brilliant to coach because he listened intently, his eyes burning into you. I always felt he was learning. If he had things to do, the forehead comes down and he gets a bit grumpy. But he was fun as well. At the start of a training session he would be jovial and bouncy and a bit of a pain in the backside but when it’s time to switch on he would switch on.”


    Adam Jones was an outstanding tight-head prop, the cornerstone of a scrum, for Ospreys, Wales and the Lions. As Alun Wyn Jones usually packed down at tight-head lock, it gave Adam a particular knowledge of him. It was Alun Wyn Jones whose right shoulder rested on his behind at scrums.



    “I always wanted him behind me in the scrums,” Adam Jones said. “He is a brilliant scrummager. His attachment to me, his shoulder up against my arse and his right arm between my legs, that always felt solid. Whenever there was pressure coming on me [at a scrum] I never felt he was going to let go of me and bail out.”



    “I remember when we played the first Test on the 2013 Lions tour. Al was on the left side of the second row [Paul O’Connell was on the right] and was taken off with ten minutes to go. He took it as a personal slight that the coaches thought he wasn’t fit enough to last 80 minutes and instead of walking off, he sprinted as hard as he could to prove he wasn’t tired. All the other boys were looking and thinking ‘What’s he up to?’ But that’s the personality he is. He always wanted to play the 80 minutes.”



    Some years ago I wrote an article in The Times about Alun Wyn Jones which carried the headline: “He’d prefer to be Alun ‘Win’ Jones” and it explained the family’s irritation at having his name hyphenated, as happened then.



    At that time Ann Jones, his mother, said: “Alun is just another Jones with a Welsh first name. He is not Wyn Jones though. That makes him sound like a politician. If his father had had his way, he’d have called him John Wayne. If we had christened him Haile Selassie Euphrates Jones I think everyone would get it. But they have difficulty with Alun Wyn Jones.”



    Jonathan Davies, the former union and league star who is now a television pundit, often sees Jones in or around Swansea. “I don’t know whether this is true or not but I was told that after Wales had won the grand slam last season he went to a restaurant in Swansea,” Davies said. “When he got up to leave everyone in the restaurant applauded him.



    “I was sat next to him in a café last week and Anwen, his wife, and his two kids were there with him. It was nice to talk to him. We don’t talk rugby at all. Then the next thing I see is him clearing up the tables next to him. He is just a normal guy, a very humble guy.” The Welsh use an English word to describe someone they like and think is acceptable. That word is tidy. “He’s tidy,” Davies said.



    Years ago, Alun Wyn Jones was regarded as the grumpiest man in Welsh rugby. He intimidated journalists who thought he was a difficult man to interview. “He makes journalists uncomfortable sometimes,” Davies said. “He makes them think and not throw out the usual bland questions. I have interviewed him a couple of times and once my first question was, ‘Are you going to be awkward today?’ ”



    Adam Jones said: “Al used to be a bit of a grumpy git but he has relaxed now. I think it’s due to getting married and having two children.” So Adam, do you have anything else to say about your namesake? “He is a good singer with a husky voice. And he loves gadgets.”



    Jones’s longevity is remarkable yet so is his energy. He is sometimes the one Welsh player to make what his team-mates consider a futile chase of a ball about to bounce over the opposition’s line. “It’s a testament to his preparation and his rehab,” Holley said. “He is a big man who is in good nick. He can still do the splits. He can put one leg over his head.”



    Captains are often given nicknames according to their success. Alun Wyn Jones has become Captain Courteous. Sam Warburton, the previous Wales captain, had success in questioning referees, cleverly timing his interventions and being polite with it. Alun Wyn Jones has picked up that trait.



    “You don’t want a captain who is in the referee’s ear all game because then the referee will shut off from the captain,” Nigel Owens, one of the world’s leading referees, said. “You also don’t want a captain who is intimidated by a referee or doesn’t challenge the referee. You need to get the balance right.



    “Alun Wyn does. He has that leadership and respect from his team but he also has the respect from the officials. You know when you referee a game in which Alun Wyn is a captain you have to be at your best because he will challenge you. He’s a great captain to work with.”



    Often, a referee is so immersed in his job that individual touches of skill are not noticed. Not so when Owens refereed a game between Ospreys and Munster a few years ago. “I remember AWJ made a big tackle and you were thinking ‘bloody hell, that was a big hit’,” he said. “Ten seconds later you thought ‘bloody hell, he’s made two tackles there’ and the next thing is he is poaching the ball. You were officiating and thinking ‘that is class’.”


    That about sums it up.
     
    #1745
  6. daimungeezer

    daimungeezer Well-Known Member

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  7. Taffvalerowdy

    Taffvalerowdy Well-Known Member

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    Flanker Dan Lydiate has agreed a new deal to stay at the Ospreys for the next two seasons.

    Lydiate, 32, is a hugely respected figure at the Ospreys and has been a standout performer during a difficult campaign at the Liberty Stadium.

    He has been Ospreys captain while Justin Tipuric has been away on Wales duty.

    Lydiate has been capped 64 times by Wales and won three British and Irish Lions Test caps. He is a Grand Slam winner and played in two World Cups.

    The backrower made his Ospreys debut in December 2014 and has played 63 times for the Ospreys.

    “Signing a new deal gives me security for my family and I am looking forward to where the Ospreys are now heading,” said Lydiate.
     
    #1747
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  8. Taffvalerowdy

    Taffvalerowdy Well-Known Member

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    I see that the Ospreys have changed their year end once again, from 29 June 2019 to 28 June 2019 - meaning that they get an automatic 3 months extension to when they have to file their accounts at Companies House ....
     
    #1748
  9. 55282

    55282 Well-Known Member

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    Does that mean they are skint?
     
    #1749
  10. Taffvalerowdy

    Taffvalerowdy Well-Known Member

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    They do this every year - I guess it’s fair to say that all the Regions are skint!
     
    #1750
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  11. azzuriswan

    azzuriswan Well-Known Member

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    Probably late getting accounts ready for filing....
     
    #1751
  12. Taffvalerowdy

    Taffvalerowdy Well-Known Member

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    No - they are done: the year end was end June 2019.

    They are simply delaying publishing the accounts / putting them into the public domain <cheers>
     
    #1752
  13. Taffvalerowdy

    Taffvalerowdy Well-Known Member

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  14. Taffvalerowdy

    Taffvalerowdy Well-Known Member

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  15. Taffvalerowdy

    Taffvalerowdy Well-Known Member

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  16. Taffvalerowdy

    Taffvalerowdy Well-Known Member

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    The accounts are posted in Companies House.

    Also announce that they’ve issued c£300k of new share capital.
     
    #1756
  17. Taffvalerowdy

    Taffvalerowdy Well-Known Member

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  18. Taffvalerowdy

    Taffvalerowdy Well-Known Member

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  19. Taffvalerowdy

    Taffvalerowdy Well-Known Member

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    #1759
  20. 55282

    55282 Well-Known Member

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    Any port in a storm
     
    #1760
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