Edinburgh V Ospreys

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Edinburgh V Ospreys

Friday 28th February
Meggetland   
7:35pm KO

Live on BBC Alba


Edinburgh Team   

15 Carl Bezuidenhout

14 Dougie Fife

13 Sam Beard

12 Andries Strauss

11 Jack Cuthbert

10 Harry Leonard

9 Grayson Hart


1 Wicus Blaauw

2 Ross Ford

3 Geoff Cross

4 Grant Gilchrist

5 Izak van der Westhuizen

6 Mike Coman CAPTAIN

7 Roddy Grant

8 Cornell Du Preez


Substitutes

16 James Hilterbrand

17 Alex Allan

18 Willem Nel

19 Ollie Atkins

20 Tomas Leonardi

21 Sean Kennedy

22 Ben Atiga

23 Joaquin Dominguez


Ospreys Team   

15 Richard Fussell
14 Jeff Hassler
13 Jonathan Spratt (Capt)
12 Ashley Beck
11 Hanno Dirksen
10 Dan Biggar
9 Tito Tebaldi

1 Duncan Jones
2 Scott Baldwin
3 Dan Suter
4 Tyler Ardron
5 James King
6 Sam Lewis
7 Justin Tipuric
8 Joe Bearman

REPLACEMENTS

16 Matthew Dwyer
17 Marc Thomas
18 Joe Rees
19 Dan Baker
20 Ryan Jones
21 Tom Habberfield
22 Sam Davies
23 Aisea Natoga

George Carlin wrote:

RDSguru wrote:

George Carlin wrote:Oh my god, I cannot believe that they gave that. Not convinced there was any control at all.

I agree, but I'll take it...
Seriously tho, was it benefit of doubt to attacking team that swung it?

Think it was just a strange call, to be honest, but similarly it's fair reward for recent Os pressure.

Just seen a zoomed freeze frame on BBC2 Wales, looks like the right call by TMO.

GLove39 wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:

21st Century Schizoid Man wrote:

Nematode wrote:The Edinburgh Glasgow game in a month or two could be very interesting indeed with Edinburgh's rising form.

Ehh ?   Not much evidence of that in the 2nd 40 tbh   

Abd Glasgow's loss to the dragons shows form yeah?  

*shots fired!*

  

Nematode wrote:

GLove39 wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:

21st Century Schizoid Man wrote:

Nematode wrote:The Edinburgh Glasgow game in a month or two could be very interesting indeed with Edinburgh's rising form.

Ehh ?   Not much evidence of that in the 2nd 40 tbh   

Abd Glasgow's loss to the dragons shows form yeah?  

*shots fired!*

  

As a Glasgow fan I have to say I am Poopie it. Glasgow are woeful just now, and Edinburgh are building some momentum.

So, someone gonna tell me how the new boys did?? Coman and bezzy get good write ups

The new boys did pretty well, bezzy has got a fair boot on him when kicking from the tee.

Cuthbert was playing almost at FB at times and it was a very good performance from him. I know he's not new but worth calling out.

Hart's passing from the ground is rapid and he looks to make breaks, should probably hold onto the 9 jersey post 6nations.

Not exactly an in depth review, but I don't think any Edinburgh player let the side down, everyone played pretty well.

Fitzgibbon is a clown though.

What about Strauss and Coman?

RDW you can see some clips here

https://www.youtube.com/user/RaboDirectPRO12/videos?view=0&flow=grid

George Carlin wrote:Oh my god, I cannot believe that they gave that. Not convinced there was any control at all.

doesn''t need control. All he needs is to be in contact with the ball when the ball is in contact with the ground. Final replay shot looked good enough

I enjoyed the game - entertainment is the key. Two teams whos attacks are better than their defenses. Fitzgibbon made a couple of duff calls both ways early on but overall not bad.

Cuthbert - do we need to apologise to him? - another decent game. Shame he makes Shlong look fast.
hart was good. Kennedy OK when he came on. Forwards as a unit looked fine. Solomans does seem to be a decent coach.

I really think it is about time everybody laid off Cuthbert, I would have had him as MoM tonight, he made no mistakes and really gave Edinburgh some go forward momentum. He may not be the fastest winger but he uses his size well and breaks tackles, then puts someone else away. Tonight was not the only time he has done that this season. He is also a rock in defence.

He has turned out to be a very good signing and is playing his heart out for his club! He got a second bite at professional rugby moving north and has grabbed it with both hands.

Waiting for the game on iPlayer but it isn't coming    By any chance does anyone else watch 24hrs in A & E? Decided to watch it while waiting. Really good.

From a home perspective:

1. The forwards as a collective were just very, very good. They strangled the Os pack in the first half and were excellent in the second although the Os clawed their way back. VdW was man of the match and a giant at the set piece. Du Preez loomed around like a dark shadow smashing people. Grant wasn't always visible but our phase to phase recycling was very smooth and Tipuric was very quiet by his standards so Grant must have played well. Ford hit his jumpers every time. Oh, the irony.

2. Backs also got the job done. Hart looked like a suitably bossy little ferret and he has a good range of passes - he took his tries well and was the most influential back on the field. Bezzy looked like what he is - a high quality product of the Bokke production line. He took all kicks at goal and his 16 points was the difference.  Beard and Strauss looked absolutely solid in the midfield and Edinburgh should have secured their TBP off the back of Strauss stepping his way past 3 defenders.

3. Coman was interesting in that he kept up what was clearly a jovial and constant stream of chat with Shovelface. And that's why he's the captain.

4. We should probably stop making fun of Cuthbert soon. He has hands like dinner plates and is starting to look like Rob Kearney under any high ball. He knows how to use his size and never coughs up the ball in contact - take note, Tim Visser. Fife tried hard to get involved and his pace caused lots of problems on the kick chase.

5. Short of a humdinging performance against Leinster, I don't have any real confidence Glasgow would beat Edinburgh at the moment.

Good update GC - gonna watch the game when it appears on iPlayer or YouTube.

I'm delighted to get the win, and give this team more time together and 3 try wins will quickly become 4 try wins.

When was the last time an Edinburgh pack dominated anyone, never mind the Ospreys??
Bring on Ulster!  

Also worth saying that the TMO, Ian ramage, is Scottish...

A really good all round performance from Edinburgh, who have potentially done Glasgow a great service. It was particularly pleasing to see that they rallied and closed out the game when the Spreys were kicking their way back into it during the later part of the second half. Plenty of times in the past we would have seen them fold, but not this time and some of that is due to the 'imported steel' that Soloman's has introduced into the team. You can't fault his logic really, winning is a habit and unfortunately a lot of Scottish players need to be taught how to win!

Someone else who deserves a mention is Harry Leonard who I felt had a pretty good game as well. Considering his inexperience and his recent lack of game time he stepped up really well. He varied it nicely, kicked well when he had to and defended well. A good solid performance that bodes well for the future if he wants to stay in the mix of Scottish FH's. He definitely deserves another season and I hope his contract gets renewed.

From an Ospreys perspective, I said before the game how inexperienced the front five were, to pick 2 6s in the 2nd row and then have 2 open side flankers in the back row was suicidal, to further take Bearman and King off and fetch Ryan and Baker on, when we needed all the muscle we could generate was ludicrous, Lewis should have gone off this match was lost for us in the selection room on Friday, Tebaldi was brought to us by Rees our attack coach, he must be the worst signing we have had since I've been supporting the Os. Nothing against Edinburgh, but that has to be the worst tackling performance I've ever seen from the Os as well as the defence of the maul. If it wasn't for the sheer class of Tipuric and the efforts of a few others, that could have been truly embarrassing on the scoreboard. Well done Edinburgh, but you didn't have a lot to beat last night.

BigGee wrote:A really good all round performance from Edinburgh, who have potentially done Glasgow a great service. It was particularly pleasing to see that they rallied and closed out the game when the Spreys were kicking their way back into it during the later part of the second half. Plenty of times in the past we would have seen them fold, but not this time and some of that is due to the 'imported steel' that Soloman's has introduced into the team. You can't fault his logic really, winning is a habit and unfortunately a lot of Scottish players need to be taught how to win!

Someone else who deserves a mention is Harry Leonard who I felt had a pretty good game as well. Considering his inexperience and his recent lack of game time he stepped up really well. He varied it nicely, kicked well when he had to and defended well. A good solid performance that bodes well for the future if he wants to stay in the mix of Scottish FH's. He definitely deserves another season and I hope his contract gets renewed.

Leonard is certain to be Scotland's next 10. And that is a direct quote*.

(*From FES).

Cuthbert will be in the team of the year for sure

On Cuthbert, he's definitely been working on his speed and footwork. When he made his Scotland debut he literally was an oil tanker - now he's got reasonable speed as a back 3 player.

Just watched the game - real good string performance but with the failings you should expect from a developing team

We should have pulled away with that game, we should gave denied them a lbp and we also should have got the 4 tries, abd the fact we didn't just shows there's more work to do.

So very encouraging, and also worth noting that Solomon's signings were a big part in that win.

Strauss looks a good squad played to have, Coman is a very assured presence to have on the field, bezzy has a brilliant boot on him and Du Preez is just an animal (should be in rabbo team of the year if he keeps this up).

Sam beard looks a good player in the centre.

Bring on Ulster - if we can win that we'll have real momentum going into the 'easier' games coming up.

I only managed to watch the 1st half whilst Mrs fES was slapping on the war paint ahead of dinner, but it was a really good 1st half performance. The rolling maul ahead of Hart's 1st try was absolutely text book, and Cuthbert's break before offloading to Beard was top notch.

What also really impressed me is that we won the collisions around the park with some thumping hits. VDW had his best game in an Edinburgh jersey, and Du Preez and Coman put in a real shift (although I think Coman is still a few games away from being fully match fit).

Strauss is rock solid at 12, and Leonard had a really bright game outside Hart, who looks a clever operator at 9. Loved his second try, purely because Edinburgh usually make a meal of just about every opportunity, so to score so easily was hugely refreshing. Annoying we couldn't get the bonus point in the second half, but an encouraging performance nonetheless, and great to see Ford nailing his jumper at each an every lineout. It does make you wonder what happens to these guys once Scott Johnson gets his claws into them!