LV= Cup: Ospreys 26-21 Dragons

Ospreys (14) 26
Tries: R. Jones, Dirksen, E. Walker, Watermeyer Cons: M. Morgan (3)

Newport Gwent Dragons (14) 21
Tries: Leach, L. Williams Cons: Robling Pens: S. Jones (3)
The Dragons had been level 14-14 at the interval thanks to a try from wing Pat Leach and three penalties from fly-half Steffan Jones, but replacement Luke Williams' last-gasp converted try was their only score of the second half.

Instead, it was all the Ospreys after the break. With 48 minutes gone a solid scrum on the 22 gave the hosts something to attack from, Watermeyer twice driving forward, before Walker was able to twist and turn his way over from close range with Morgan converting.

After a scrappy spell with both teams tossing away possession, the Ospreys grabbed their fourth try.

Habberfield did extremely well to secure the high ball under pressure, offloading to Sam Lewis immediately.

The openside spun a great pass out to Watermeyer and there was no stopping the South African as he charged forward 40m to mark his debut with a try.

Morgan missed the conversion, leaving the Ospreys advantage at 12 points which was enough to hold on for the win - despite being down a man after Chauncey O'Toole was pinged at the breakdown and sent to the sin-bin.


15 Ross Jones, 14 Hanno Dirksen, 13 Sonny Parker (Capt), 12 Stefan Watermeyer, 11 Eli Walker, 10 Matthew Morgan, 9 Tom Habberfield, 1 Cai Griffiths, 2 Scott Baldwin, 3 Aaron Jarvis, 4 Lloyd Peers, 5 James Goode, 6 Chauncey O'Toole, 7 Sam Lewis, 8 Morgan Allen

Replacements:16 Mefin Davies, 17 Joe Rees, 18 Jonathan Thomas, 19 Sam Williams, 20 Rory Pitman, 21 Tom Grabham, 22 Sam Davies, 23 Luke Morgan

I haven't seen much of Ross Jones. As he regularly plays for Bridgend i can see the logic in playing him, it'll be interesting to see how he goes we can use all the classy fullbacks we can get!
I'm liking Dirksen on the wing hopefully he can play in the more important games and maybe in the centre as well, Bishop has been very poor this year.
Watermayer looks like a dynamic centre, it'll be great for Beck to have the extra competition.
Why do they keep selecting Eli Walker? I really can't see any positives in his game. What does he have that Phillips or Prydie don't.
Other than that its a pretty much expected team for an LV cup game.

Just googled Sam Lewis he looks a lot like the recently retired Ben Lewis. Any chance they're brothers?

Why don't the Dragons play that young fella Hallom Amos he looked good against Wasps earlier this season.

Ive been down to watch Bridgend a couple of time this season. Ive been impressed with what ive seen from Ross Jones so far, reads the game well and has pace.

Looks like the game will be a sell out, messgaes on facebook saying that tickets are selling fast. Last few games there have been in the region of 7000, which is more than what they get at the liberty nowadays

They should definitely try and move some Pro 12 games there in the future.

Good news on the ticket sales... Great old ground at the Brewery.

Should be an enthralling match.

I'm off to London for the weekend, gutted I'm going to miss this game. Cuddy has invested in the Bridgend area, hopefully with a full ground tomorrow, with previous good showings, the Ospreys will look to play some Pro 12 games at the brewery next season

If that is true in regards to the tickets, that's a fantastic result. Lets hope the weather stays dry and the teams play some all out attacking rugby!

Time for our second win over the O's!

Impossible Standards wrote:If that is true in regards to the tickets, that's a fantastic result. Lets hope the weather stays dry and the teams play some all out attacking rugby!

Time for our second win over the O's!

Friend of mine who works down the brewery has posted on facebook, that people shouldn't rely on getting tickets at the gate tomorrow as they are selling fast and they might not get into the game. So hopefully it should be a full house

I was down there 2 weeks ago for Bridgend Vs Pontypridd and it was pretty full then.

Seeing Steffan Jones head to head with Matthew Morgan should be special. Also Tuilagi Vs Watermeyer should be a cracker too.

Iv'e seen quite a lot of these players in the Premiership this season, so am looking forward to it.

I think the Ospreys will win as they have a touch more quality in their team, and their kids have more first team experience.

Steffan Jones vs Matthew Morgan will be a a very interesting battle, front rows should be a good one in the scrum too.

Would say that the Ospreys look to have a pretty strong back row that might cause Dragons a few issues.

I think the Ospreys have having one last go to try and convert Cai Griffiths to loose head, but it looks as though he is leaving at the end of the season.

AlynDavies wrote:I think the Ospreys have having one last go to try and convert Cai Griffiths to loose head, but it looks as though he is leaving at the end of the season.

Are they finally going to let him go back to the farm?

never really stood out for the Ospreys, infact was quite a poor player until last season where he upped his game. With Jarvis and Rees on the tight ahead of him and Bevington and Duncan Jones on the loosehead in front of him, as well as Paul James and Adam Jones as first choice, the Ospreys would be silly to keep him on.

maestegmafia wrote:Are they finally going to let him go back to the farm?

never really stood out for the Ospreys, infact was quite a poor player until last season where he upped his game. With Jarvis and Rees on the tight ahead of him and Bevington and Duncan Jones on the loosehead in front of him, as well as Paul James and Adam Jones as first choice, the Ospreys would be silly to keep him on.

Apparently he is on a big contract, though most tight heads are!

But rumour has it he is close to signing for the Scarlets and the Dragons have also made contact.

Though according to twitter:

https://twitter.com/#!/CaiGriffiths

CaiGriffiths Cai Griffiths
I haven't signed anything at any club yet. RT @owainwg: @CaiGriffiths good luck tomorrow Cai -what's this about a move to the Scarlets then?

How the flying you know what does Bedford get the captaincy, shouldn't even be playing when we have Evans on the bench.

Good to see Ellis get a run out, very young sides on both accounts which is good and what I feel this tournamnet should be used for.

God only knows Beds mate...!

I take it he is no relation then...?

Enjoy the match lads... Ill be there, got the night off as my wife's sister is staying and her husband wants to enjoy a match, he's Irish, i am currently surrounded by Langers. So I am taking him to the fine town of Bridgend for a few points and a bit of culture, with the local cape boys in our rented minibus....!

Would offer lifts to those on the way but she is full to the brim.

Any modern recommendations for a good pint near the Brewery Field? I don't think I have been there for a few years.

Oh and any ideas on Parking?

UP THE O's!!!! 7 - 0 so far. wooop!

Sam Davies used to be in my school. Nice guy, good to see him doing well

Balls, it's 7 - 6 now. Come on Ospreys! I'd love it if they played more matches at the Brewery Field. Seems like a better atmosphere all round.

Tidy try from Dirksen, complete with full on bellyflop dive at the end Morgs just about converts 14 - 6.

14 - 11 after a Dragons try, but the conversion went wide.

Game on! After a Dragons penalty it's 14 all.

Hanno Dirksen should have been yellow-carded for that high tackle, even though the try was scored. Boo the ref.

Evening, Cari

Scrums are a fecking mess!

Hello Lucky. You mean he should've been carded for that stupid bellyflop...for a second I thought he wasn't going to ground it.

HT and it's still 14 all.

Ha, the bellyflop had a touch of the Chris Ashton's about it, didn't it? But his tackle around the neck was shocking. He got away with it because the try was scored anyway, which is poor refereeing. An offence is an offence whatever else happens.

The referee sounds Aussie, or am I way off with accents? Yes I did think of Ashton. i don't like it when anyone does it.

Should be more. Morgan's missed 2 penalties,
Hes also missed 2 kicks to touch and is having a mixed game overall.
Both teams are trying to play but this ref is so pants its unreal.

He sounds English to me, Cari.

As long as he scores and plays well i couldn't give a damn. If he dives

Ah he probably is...I haven't heard him much (not really paying attention to him) I just thought he had an Aussie twang...

Aside from his two conversions Morgan has been erratic and sloppy. This is exactly why, in Wales, I never trust hype in a youngster any more. Clearly Morgan has a long way to go yet despite all the talk about him.

Was Leach's try even over the line? If it was I couldn't see it on the video but even if it wasn't the neck tackle will have probably resulted in a penalty try.

Going to revert back to the Welsh commentary in a sec, O'Shea could hardly sound more like a pub commentator. Are we really that short on staff of the slightest quality?

I really don't like Rick O'Shea.

Knowsit17 wrote:Aside from his two conversions Morgan has been erratic and sloppy. This is exactly why, in Wales, I never trust hype in a youngster any more. Clearly Morgan has a long way to go yet despite all the talk about him.

Was Leach's try even over the line? If it was I couldn't see it on the video but even if it wasn't the neck tackle will have probably resulted in a penalty try.

Going to revert back to the Welsh commentary in a sec, O'Shea could hardly sound more like a pub commentator. Are we really that short on staff of the slightest quality?

I agree i don't understand where all those hype is coming from. I actually haven't seen anything impressive from him apart from a few breaks here and there.
I remember Biggar was touted as the next big thing when he was around the same age and look how hes turned out.

Oh dear. Poor Morgs just can't get his kicking boots on. A third missed penalty there.

Lucky - I'm watching yng Gymraeg. The trouble with ROS is that he goes off on a ridiculous tangent sometimes and you lose track of what's going on.

And now Steffan Jones has missed a kick to touch. I blame Bridgend.

Lucky - my ex boyf was from Bridgend. He used to miss too

To be fair both Steffan and Matthew have been pants tonight. Along with the scrum and reffing they've managed to ruin this game.

Another bellyflop try for the O's... from Eli Walker.

Morgs nails it this time. 21 - 14.

Watermeyer's in the corner! 26 - 14. No conversion.

Good vision from Sam Lewis to throw the pass

Steffan Jones off so Lewis Robling moves to 10.
Getting width on the ball straight away.

Chauncey O'Toole in the bin. Good opportunity for the Dragons to get something now.

Why would you look at your new-born son and think, 'yep, I'm going to name him Chauncey?'

Cos he's Canadian and that's what they do!

Finally they've taken off Matthew Morgan and brought Sam Davies on.

Those crazy Canucks...

I don't understand why Ospreys brought Chauncey O'Toole in in the first place. It's not like Chauncey O'Toole adds a large amount that a Welsh player couldn't. Stil, it does give us the opportunity to excessively use the name Chauncey O'Toole. That's the positive part of this signing of Chauncey O'Toole.

Lucky that's nothing. I saw in the paper the other day a BBC newsreader named her newborn daughter "Clemency" WTF?!! That's legal terminology not a name!

That's a shocker, Cari. But at least it's taken my mind off the rugby.

Oh, consolation try for the Dragons.