Ospreys v Saracens

Ospreys beat Saracens 33 - 16 in pre season warm up game, 5 tries Dafydd Howells (2), Kristian Phillips, Tom Grabham and Mathew Dwyer was driven over, 4 were converted by Sam Davies, considering we had at least 14 missing, 10 with Wales, 2 with Canada and Matavesi with Fiji and Beck still injured, that is a good scoreline, I don't know any of the Saracens (Beshocked can you let us know) team, the only try Saracens scored was a push over driving maul.
Very pleased with that performance.

Congratulations to Ospreys Wayne. That's a lot different than the previous pre-season game where Ospreys were handed quite the beating. Both teams are shy of a few internationals, but I still thought Sarries would have much greater strength in depth and be able to cope with it. Any chance you can put up both teams when you know? I'm almost certain new boys Delve and Leonard got a game?

Saracens: 15. Matt Gallagher; 14. Mike Ellery, 13. Tim Streather, 12. Nick Tompkins, 11. Nathan Earle; 10. Nils Mordt, 9. Ben Spencer; 1. Richard Barrington, 2. Jared Saunders, 3. Petrus Du Plessis, 4. Maro Itoje (c), 5. Michael Rhodes, 6. Jackson Wray, 7. Kelly Brown, 8. Ernst Joubert.
Subs: Dave Porecki, Ralph Adams-Hale, Billy Walker, Kennett O’Neill, Dean McLennan, Matt Hankin, Brian Tuilagi, Tom Whiteley, Max Malins, Dominic Morris, George Perkins, Anthony Maka.

On paper a strong starting pack for Sarries. Only excuse I can offer is that Ospreys start the Pro12 in 8 days, Sarries start the AP in 7 weeks, so the Welsh side should be much further down the pre-season preparation.

7 weeks? That's crazy. It didn't happen in 2011 did it? Is it part of some new agreement with the clubs?

I think this was Ospreys only pre-season game. So they can't be that far ahead.

mikey_dragon wrote:7 weeks? That's crazy. It didn't happen in 2011 did it? Is it part of some new agreement with the clubs?

I think this was Ospreys only pre-season game. So they can't be that far ahead.

RWC rules.

Saracens lineup with iunfo:

15 - 18 yo son of WC winner John Gallagher
14 - former england 7s player
13 - championship player of the season 13/14
12 - JWC winner in 2014
11 - Ditto
10 - former england 7s
9 - Saxon
8 - Hugely experienced but aging
7 - Former scottish captain
6 - First choice last season
5 - New signing
4 - Greatest English rugby player ever
3 - First choice last season
2 - 3rd choice
1 - Second choice.


Bench Freddy Tuilagi's son + a bunch of schoolkids

Wayne,

Any reports on how Delve went? I really wouldn't be surprised to see him regular first choice and will be huge assistance to help Baker develop.

Our starting 15 were Evans, Howells, Spratt, John, Phillips, Davies, Habberfield, M. Thomas, Parry, Arhip, Peers,Steenkamp, Evans, Cracknell, Delve, to answer some in his post match analysis Tandy said not to get too excited as we are a lot further down the Rugby route than they are, by all accounts Ben John cut them to ribbons, the line out was quite poor we lost or didn't win 60% of our own ball, both Arhip and Cracknell had injuries with the latter appearing to be more serious, according to one of our fans Delve did a lot of the unglamorous carrying and did it very well, probably one of our seriously weak areas is open side and Lloyd Evans also had an excellent game by all accounts.
Tandy was very circumspect in his opinion and said there were positives yet quite a few negatives which will be exploited by both Ulster and Munster who are our first 2 matches. The thing that pleased most was the fluency of most of our tries especially the Grabham try.

mikey_dragon wrote:7 weeks? That's crazy. It didn't happen in 2011 did it? Is it part of some new agreement with the clubs?

I think this was Ospreys only pre-season game. So they can't be that far ahead.

Sort of, except for the 'training' game they had with the Welsh squad, which certainly would have been a huge help.

Londontiger like your description of Maro Itoje.

You're right it should be a pretty strong pack on paper. Of course you want to win the pre season matches but as long as the losses don't continue in the opening games of the AP...

Lots of players missing though

On WC Duty

FB:Goode,Wyles
Wings: Fercu
Centre:Bosch,Barritt
10:Farrell
9:Wigglesworth
8: Vunisa and Billy
7: Burger
6:None
Locks:Kruis,Hamilton,Smith
Hooker:George,Brits
Props:Mako,Lamositele

17 I can think of.

Then there's some absentees like Hargreaves,De Kock,Hodgson,Taylor,Fraser,Figallo,Longbottom and Ashton.

Still sounds like a good win for Ospreys - doesn't sound like a good show from the Saracens pack.

Who was it who caused the lineout problems for Ospreys? That at least sounds like a consolation - wouldn't surprise me if it was Joubert.

Beshocked, from Ospreys supporters who were there, our lineout woes were a lot to do with our hooker Sam Parry, he started like this last season but got better as the season wore on, he has a tendency to throw very flat and can get picked off, Baldwin who is with TW loops the ball a lot more, I don't know if it was the lineout, but a few said Scott Otten who came on was quite impressive as was a few other youngsters.