Ospreys 2015/16 Season

First topic message reminder :

Never done one of these here before, yet cannot do any worse than last years idiot.
Head Coach Steve Tandy
Backs Coach Gruff Rees
Forwards Coach Chris Gibbes
Squad Alphabetically
TYLER ARDRON 24 Back Row                  Rhodri Hughes 20 Lock
Dimitri Arhip 26 Prop                              PAUL JAMES 33 Prop
Lloyd Ashley (Peers) 24 Lock                   AARON JARVIS 29 Prop
Dan Baker 23 Back Row                          Ben John 24 Centre
SCOTT BALDWIN 27 Hooker                    ALUN WYN JONES 29 Lock
Adam Beard 19 Lock                              JAMES KING 25 Back Row  
Joe Bearman 36 Back Row                      Brendon Leonard 30 S/H
Ashley Beck 25 Centre                            DAN LYDIATE 27 Back Row
Rynier Bernardo 24 Lock                         JOSH MATAVESI 24 Centre
Ryan Bevington 26 Prop                          Scott Otten 21 Hooker
DAN BIGGAR 25 OH                               Sam Parry 23 Hooker
Andrew Bishop 30 Centre                        Kristian Phillips 24 Wing
Jordan Collier 20 Back Row                     Martin Roberts 29 S/H
Olly Cracknell 21 Back Row                     Nicky Smith 21 Prop
Sam Davies 21 O/H                                Johnathon Spratt 29 Centre
Gareth Delve 32 Back Row                      De Kock Steenkamp 28 Lock
Hanno Dirksen 24 Wing                          Dan Suter 23 Prop
Mathew Dwyer 30 Hooker                       Gareth Thomas 23 Prop
Dan Evans 26 F/B                                  Marc Thomas 25 Prop
Lloyd Evans 24 Back Row                       Rory Thornton 20 Lock
Richard Fussell 31 F/B                            JUSTIN TIPURIC 26 Back Row  
Tom Grabham 24 Wing                           Eli Walker 23 Wing
Cai Griffiths 31 Prop                               RHYS WEBB 26 S/H
Tom Habberfield 23 S/H                         The following 2 are either temporary
JEFF HASSLER 24 Wing                          or with feeder clubs
Dafydd Howells 20 Wing                         Sam Underhill 19 Back Row
                                                           Oliver Tomaszczyk 28 Prop
The players in CAPITALS will not be available until after the first 3 games of the Guinness League due to WC call ups
The past 5 seasons we have finished 3, 5, 3, 3 and 4 at the end of the regular season, I envision us finishing around the same position this season.
We will also be without Bernardo and Suter for a while early season, we have recruited Tomaszczyk to cover Suter, Underhill came on as a substitute in the Saracens friendly and there were favourable reports about him. If we have injuries in a few key positions especially early season, that prophecy above could be out the window. There has been talk we have signed a T/H from NZ, who had a serious ankle ligament injury, we are still waiting on his rehab. It needs to be soon or we will have to rely on Jarvis, which is not a good thought.
Just to add we won our first 7 matches last season, against most peoples and my expectations, and it will be more of a shock to me if we win either of our first 2 matches this season. Too many missing through injury and International call ups.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Hore is doing a good job of making noise

No he isn't, or have you forgotten the last bitter war we had in Welsh rugby and how stupid we looked to the rest of the world ? Hore is just going to stir up all those bad vibes again, and before we know it we will be at WW2. Welsh War 2.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Ah yeah, Rhodri Jones is apparently just awaiting public announcement now.  From what I can gather Pivac was meant to have told him that he does not feature to prominently in our plans going forward, and that it would be in his best interest to find another side where he would be utilised more.  Where as Rhodri Williams has been offered a renewal, but is meant to be looking for somewhere where he will get more game time to try and push back into the welsh setup.

Your right, the original participation agreement limited the regions to (I believe) six non-welsh qualified players in the match day squads.  Where as now it is a case of only six capped non-welsh qualified and two time serving, which need to be in a certain age bracket (I think under 26 for a forward, and under 24 for a back), in the full squad.  However there are some loopholes around that regarding players playing on permit, or being in academies etc.  So theoretically the regions could utilise more NWQ players if they are crafty and register them to the prem sides.

Hore is doing a good job of making noise, which whilst it may annoy most of us, seems to be making a difference.  A bit like a good captain on the field that bleats in the refs ear all game long.  And seeing as it is his job to try and get the best possible deal for the Ospreys fair play to him, the other three regions could do with doing the same (I guess Pies does a bit too really).

Fingers crossed what ever the Union/Regions have been talking about will turn out to be good new for all of them and not some silly PR stunt that doesn't really gain anything (like rotating games around different stadia etc).

Cheers SS, I think the thing with Rhodri Williams is exactly the same as happened with Sam Davies, both the parents were stalwarts with the team as against where they were living, the only difference being Sam is getting regular game time, according to that poster I mentioned the time servers also came in the match day squad, as against total squad, and yes you are right AH spoke about us, but obviously it applies to al 4 Regions, and again yes you cannot take any of the matches of at least 3 of the Regions main matches away from the main venues, LV or B&I matches yes, but definitely not Guinness League games.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

Stone Motif wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:With all these NDCs, at this rate the Os'll be 50% owned by the WRU!

Absurd isn't it? They'll have to rename Ospreys RFC the Gatamites

Love to see someone argue the case for NDCs after this latest fiasco.

Andrew Hore shouts the loudest about being done over for providing international players and struggling because of it.

Also an interesting side note, well maybe, I read elsewhere a list of NWQs registered to each region.  And as it stands the Ospreys have the most NWQ players.

Yet the Ospreys seem to be the only team able to compete with Europe's top teams.... coincidence?

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Lord, to be honest it is business.  We are all competing for the same trophies, and the same NDCs etc.  The Ospreys have done some very smart business really.  The 'offer' for Scott Williams ensured that he would not be on an NDC, which freed up around £200k NDC money which meant there was a better chance of a deal being offered to retain the likes of AWJ.  And with the NWQs I think the Ospreys have a good mix really.

Also I have heard that Rhodri is all signed up to be at the Liberty next season.

The Ospreys offered a deal to Scott Williams becasue they have a need at centre and Scott Williams was coming to the end of his contract. Hence they now have signed JJ Engelbrecht Scarlets have a glaring need at lock and could have made a play for AWJ, the difference being AWJ doesn't want to leave the Ospreys for more money, Scott Williams clearly isnt in the same ilk There's nothing more to it than that.

True Raven wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Lord, to be honest it is business.  We are all competing for the same trophies, and the same NDCs etc.  The Ospreys have done some very smart business really.  The 'offer' for Scott Williams ensured that he would not be on an NDC, which freed up around £200k NDC money which meant there was a better chance of a deal being offered to retain the likes of AWJ.  And with the NWQs I think the Ospreys have a good mix really.

Also I have heard that Rhodri is all signed up to be at the Liberty next season.

The Ospreys offered a deal to Scott Williams becasue they have a need at centre and Scott Williams was coming to the end of his contract.  Hence they now have signed JJ Engelbrecht  Scarlets have a glaring need at lock and could have made a play for AWJ, the difference being AWJ doesn't want to leave the Ospreys for more money, Scott Williams clearly isnt in the same ilk  There's nothing more to it than that.

Mmmm, not too sure about any of that to be honest boss. But the long story short, the bid for Scott Williams did free up £200k NDC money, which is good business if you can then get that same money used for your side as opposed to an opponent. I mean that genuinely, and not in a sulky or grumpy way.

There was also £300k available in the pot because Faletau didn't sign up which easily would have topped up AWJ current NDC. Scott Williams is a top player who would have improved the first team which is the only reason they went after him.

The daft thing is though, money spent on Thornton, Baker, Rhodri Jones, Gareth Anscombe, Tyler Morgan et al should have been used or saved to give Faletau the extra 25k or Scott Williams the extra £80k as these are the key players in Wales

True Raven wrote:There was also £300k available in the pot because Faletau didn't sign up which easily would have topped up AWJ current NDC.  Scott Williams is a top player who would have improved the first team which is the only reason they went after him.

The daft thing is though, money spent on Thornton, Baker, Rhodri Jones, Gareth Anscombe, Tyler Morgan et al should have been used or saved to give Faletau the extra 25k or Scott Williams the extra £80k as these are the key players in Wales

I guess realistically Scott is not a XV player, so I can understand him not being on an NDC, and I am not too sure Toby would have stayed, after all it is easy to say that you would have stayed if the offer was better after you have gone as it makes you seem less of a bad guy for leaving.

But we should really be looking at having the first XV nailed to NDCs, then the regular bench, then the squad and only after that worry about nailing down the 'potential' type players like Amos, Morgan and Thornton etc.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

True Raven wrote:There was also £300k available in the pot because Faletau didn't sign up which easily would have topped up AWJ current NDC.  Scott Williams is a top player who would have improved the first team which is the only reason they went after him.

The daft thing is though, money spent on Thornton, Baker, Rhodri Jones, Gareth Anscombe, Tyler Morgan et al should have been used or saved to give Faletau the extra 25k or Scott Williams the extra £80k as these are the key players in Wales

I guess realistically Scott is not a XV player, so I can understand him not being on an NDC, and I am not too sure Toby would have stayed, after all it is easy to say that you would have stayed if the offer was better after you have gone as it makes you seem less of a bad guy for leaving.

But we should really be looking at having the first XV nailed to NDCs, then the regular bench, then the squad and only after that worry about nailing down the 'potential' type players like Amos, Morgan and Thornton etc.

I don't know if I totally agree with your last sentence SS, I wouldn't have anybody that would in my estimation be around by the time of the next WC cycle, James and Jenkins in particular spring to mind, I would also add Baker and King to your list, if only to show I'm not Osprey biased.

Wayne, I agree about the RWC cycle. Your right there is no need to put players who will not make the RWC on NDCs. Although, King is developing into a regular, and I would not be surprised to see him on the bench as lock/backrow cover for Wales. As for Baker, I really don't know what is going on there. He is a really good number 8, and would be a starter if he were at the Blues or Scarlets. I don't know what is going on with him, unless there are some behind the scenes or personal issues holding him back.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Wayne, I agree about the RWC cycle.  Your right there is no need to put players who will not make the RWC on NDCs.  Although, King is developing into a regular, and I would not be surprised to see him on the bench as lock/backrow cover for Wales.  As for Baker, I really don't know what is going on there.  He is a really good number 8, and would be a starter if he were at the Blues or Scarlets.  I don't know what is going on with him, unless there are some behind the scenes or personal issues holding him back.

SS Baker was really flying last season, and there were many saying at last we have somebody to challenge Toby, then he was very poor against Ireland in the first warm up game, which resulted in him being dropped out of the WC squad, and after a couple of poor games at the start of the season, we decided to put King in there and he has done a decent job, even though Baker had a decent game against Leinster and I thought a good game last weekend, I would have King in first next weekend, I noticed with Dan last year after receiving the ball, he would put in a bit of a step before contact, it's gone now, as for King he would not be in my Welsh 23 ATM, we have enough proper 2nd rows and Tipuric in the back row to cover players failing or injured so no I wouldn't have either of those on a DC, there are far more deserving players for that honour for me.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Ah yeah, Rhodri Jones is apparently just awaiting public announcement now.  From what I can gather Pivac was meant to have told him that he does not feature to prominently in our plans going forward, and that it would be in his best interest to find another side where he would be utilised more.  Where as Rhodri Williams has been offered a renewal, but is meant to be looking for somewhere where he will get more game time to try and push back into the welsh setup.

Your right, the original participation agreement limited the regions to (I believe) six non-welsh qualified players in the match day squads.  Where as now it is a case of only six capped non-welsh qualified and two time serving, which need to be in a certain age bracket (I think under 26 for a forward, and under 24 for a back), in the full squad.  However there are some loopholes around that regarding players playing on permit, or being in academies etc.  So theoretically the regions could utilise more NWQ players if they are crafty and register them to the prem sides.

Hore is doing a good job of making noise, which whilst it may annoy most of us, seems to be making a difference.  A bit like a good captain on the field that bleats in the refs ear all game long.  And seeing as it is his job to try and get the best possible deal for the Ospreys fair play to him, the other three regions could do with doing the same (I guess Pies does a bit too really).

Fingers crossed what ever the Union/Regions have been talking about will turn out to be good new for all of them and not some silly PR stunt that doesn't really gain anything (like rotating games around different stadia etc).

Whats your beef with that idea. Granted in Turkland there are probably no other options. But in Ospreys and Dragons there are stadia that could accomodate LV games and maybe one of the italian fixtures.

Gav, to be honest I like LV= being shared but not pro12. The region bases are easier to get to for non-local fans due to being larger population centres.

Wayne, I just think if Taulupe or Lydiate need taking off King could cover, whereas Tips is a specialist that we can't go without. And personally I don't rate Davies or Day to much, so would consider King as a reasonable risk to cover lock.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

Stone Motif wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:With all these NDCs, at this rate the Os'll be 50% owned by the WRU!

Absurd isn't it? They'll have to rename Ospreys RFC the Gatamites

Love to see someone argue the case for NDCs after this latest fiasco.

Andrew Hore shouts the loudest about being done over for providing international players and struggling because of it.

Also an interesting side note, well maybe, I read elsewhere a list of NWQs registered to each region.  And as it stands the Ospreys have the most NWQ players.

Initially, I was under the impression that DC cash would be shared equally between the 4. Made sense I spose. Maybe there are more strings attached that the Os are happier to accept. Don't know. Does all seem a bit bonkers though without knowing the nitty gritty.

Cardiff Dave wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

Stone Motif wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:With all these NDCs, at this rate the Os'll be 50% owned by the WRU!

Absurd isn't it? They'll have to rename Ospreys RFC the Gatamites

Love to see someone argue the case for NDCs after this latest fiasco.

Andrew Hore shouts the loudest about being done over for providing international players and struggling because of it.

Also an interesting side note, well maybe, I read elsewhere a list of NWQs registered to each region.  And as it stands the Ospreys have the most NWQ players.

Initially, I was under the impression that DC cash would be shared equally between the 4. Made sense I spose. Maybe there are more strings attached that the Os are happier to accept. Don't know. Does all seem a bit bonkers though without knowing the nitty gritty.

I don't think the WRU money can be split 4 ways because the Dragons have so few international quality players.

Shifty wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

Stone Motif wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:With all these NDCs, at this rate the Os'll be 50% owned by the WRU!

Absurd isn't it? They'll have to rename Ospreys RFC the Gatamites

Love to see someone argue the case for NDCs after this latest fiasco.

Andrew Hore shouts the loudest about being done over for providing international players and struggling because of it.

Also an interesting side note, well maybe, I read elsewhere a list of NWQs registered to each region.  And as it stands the Ospreys have the most NWQ players.

Initially, I was under the impression that DC cash would be shared equally between the 4. Made sense I spose. Maybe there are more strings attached that the Os are happier to accept. Don't know. Does all seem a bit bonkers though without knowing the nitty gritty.

I don't think the WRU money can be split 4 ways because the Dragons have so few international quality players.  

I wrongly assumed that each of the 4 would be limited to a quarter of the DC cash available. Anything left over they'd receive a cheque for the remainder or something like that. Also aren't there fit and able DC players not included in the Wales squad? Looking for a rhyme or reason here.

According to the BBC, Dan Lydiate is extremely doubtful for this weekends game against Exeter, yet from todays training session in a photo gallery he can be seen, Scott Baldwin is seen, so I would have thought he has recovered from his dead leg, the only other worry is Dan Biggar but knowing Dan's recovery process he will be there, we just need Dmitri there, it is crucial that he is.

Underhill showed he's capable of filling in for Dan, so I'm not too concerned. I respect Exeter but don't fear them as i don't feel they have players of the quality of AWJ, tipuric and biggar, so if our top players perform I'm confident of a result

True Raven wrote:Underhill showed he's capable of filling in for Dan, so I'm not too concerned.  I respect Exeter but don't fear them as i don't feel they have players of the quality of AWJ, tipuric and biggar, so if our top players perform I'm confident of a result

Yes he did Raven and Sam could also be seen, the crucial one for me as I already said is Dmitri, if Jarvis is selected I'm not as confident as you

Exeter have quite the home record this season, so beating them there would be a great achievement. I imagine they'll also be throwing the kitchen sink at you.

mikey_dragon wrote:Exeter have quite the home record this season, so beating them there would be a great achievement. I imagine they'll also be throwing the kitchen sink at you.

You could be right Mikey, their record is impressive, the only thing that mystifies me is, IMO they have absolutely no chance of qualifying CA beat BB quite easily in the postponed away game a few weeks ago, I envisage them getting 5 points in this game, so even if Exeter win with a BP, they will not get anywhere near qualifying even as a runners up

Shifty wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

Stone Motif wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:With all these NDCs, at this rate the Os'll be 50% owned by the WRU!

Absurd isn't it? They'll have to rename Ospreys RFC the Gatamites

Love to see someone argue the case for NDCs after this latest fiasco.

Andrew Hore shouts the loudest about being done over for providing international players and struggling because of it.

Also an interesting side note, well maybe, I read elsewhere a list of NWQs registered to each region.  And as it stands the Ospreys have the most NWQ players.

Initially, I was under the impression that DC cash would be shared equally between the 4. Made sense I spose. Maybe there are more strings attached that the Os are happier to accept. Don't know. Does all seem a bit bonkers though without knowing the nitty gritty.

I don't think the WRU money can be split 4 ways because the Dragons have so few international quality players.  

That's guff. Players like Dee, Griffiths and Jack Dixon are just as much international quality as players like Thornton. There is no international quality unless you're a player like AWJ or Faletau, the rest are promise and thus whilst you're NDC'ing promising players, there should be a better split.

I don't understand why any promising players are on NDC. The pot was created to help regions keep their best players in Wales. The Ospreys can easily afford the whole contract of Thornton and Baker but needed help to ward off interest on Biggar, Webb and AWJ. Yet we've wasted a proportion of the funds on potential and as such a key player in Faletau is going to be playing in the second tier European competition with Bath instead of in Wales with the Dragons

Wasn't it the WRU that wasted those NDCs, not the Ospreys?

mikey_dragon wrote:Wasn't it the WRU that wasted those NDCs, not the Ospreys?

That is spot on Mikey, what organisation would refuse an offer to have their players wages cut by 60% and still have more or less full control, of the 3 that IMO did not warrant an NDC, 2 have had less rugby than normal (Baker and Thornton), it's only King that has virtually played all games.
Good Business Sense IMO.

Don't normally commend on the standard of reporting in the Fail, but a really good article there this morning from Simon Thomas about us, especially punching above our weight.

I know we only have a few hours to the team announcement, but I'm hoping for the following team
Evans, Dirksen, Spratt, Matavesi, Hassler, Biggar, Leonard, James, Baldwin, Arhip, AWJ, Thornton, Lydiate, Tipuric, King, with Otten, Smith, Fia, Ashley, Baker, Habberfield, Davies and Watkin or Walker on the bench, I wouldn't be too unhappy if Underhill and Habberfield were in instead of Lydiate and Leonard, and Engelbrecht is due to arrive in the middle of next week and according to Gruff Rees he is very unlikely to be in contention for next weeks game against Glasgow, it is a real pity he couldn't have come when he signed for us and would have been fully integrated for this weekends match.

I'd like to go back to the earlier comment about the Fail article, the reporter said how well the midfield trio of Sam Davies, Josh Matavesi and Jonathon Spratt, nullified the Clermont trio of Camille Lopez, Wesley Fofana and Jonathon Davies last week and I have to admit it is a very potent point, well done to that trio.

So just one change from last weeks team against Clermont, Dmitri Arhip replacing Jarvis who drops to the bench instead of Fia, Lydiate still out injured so an able deputy in Underhill, will be intriguing to find out who the Chiefs select.

According to EPCR - http://www.epcrugby.com/matchcentre/32365.php

Exeter Chiefs
15 Phil Dollman
14 Olly Woodburn
13 Michele Campagnaro
12 Ian Whitten
11 James Short
10 Gareth Steenson
9 Dave Lewis
1 Alec Hepburn
2 Jack Yeandle (capt)
3 Alex Brown
4 Jonny Hill
5 Geoff Parling
6 Kai Horstmann
7 Don Armand
8 Tom Waldrom

16 Elvis Taione
17 Ben Moon
18 Harry Williams
19 Ollie Atkins
20 Tom Johnson
21 Haydn Thomas
22 Will Hooley
23 Max Bodilly


Ospreys
15 Daniel Evans
14 Hanno Dirksen
13 Jonathan Spratt
12 Josh Matavesi
11 Eli Walker
10 Dan Biggar
9 Brendon Leonard
1 Paul James
2 Scott Baldwin
3 Dmitri Arhip
4 Lloyd Ashley
5 Alun-Wyn Jones (capt)
6 Sam Underhill
7 Justin Tipuric
8 James King

16 Sam Parry
17 Nicky Smith
18 Aaron Jarvis
19 Rory Thornton
20 Dan Baker
21 Thomas Habberfield
22 Sam Davies
23 Owen Watkin

So we have to win with a bonus point, to be home to Wasps, just a win sends us to Coventry, very tough ask either way.

Gutted to find this game is not on Skysports today
Anyone know how I can watch this?

How can they not show this game on TV!

To the 2 above it is on BT Sports, luckily I can get access to this, not through normal channels.

Wayne, any hints on how I can get a stream to this?

Valleyboy wrote:Wayne, any hints on how I can get a stream to this?

Not really Valleyboy, I'm going to watch it at my brother in laws who has one of those black boxes that can get many channels through streaming, if you go on our Forum somebody has given a way of watching this game, that's all I can offer

OK, thanks anyway Wayne.
My son has just found an on-line stream for me, kids do come in useful sometimes!
Looking forward to the game now, come on the Ospreys!!

Already 2 times Exeter players have been off their feet at the breakdown, totally ignored by the ref.

Best of luck Osprey's fans, hope you get through.

This time they get pinged for it.

King is really coming into his own as a player.

Play expansive, high tempo rugby and you can score tries against the Ospreys - but you also risk letting in tries too. If Exeter want to win they should keep it tight from now on and hope that the Ospreys don't score more points.

In the other group game it is 17-14 (2 tries each) at HT for Bordeaux despite ASM leading 14-0 after 3 minutes! (Choking again)

Exeter intensity has dropped significantly, if Ospreys can hang in this, they might just about sneak it and save the competition.

Good news is they will play with the wind in the 2nd half.

Whocares how did JD2 manage to score in the opening seconds of the game?

mikey_dragon wrote:Whocares how did JD2 manage to score in the opening seconds of the game?

Will tell you when I see the highlights as I missed the 1st try!

I watched it it was from a Clermont kick deep into BB 22, BB wing cooked that up. JD2 didn't have to do anything to score.

hahaha what a joke of a competition, yellow card for that?

Baldwin is a thicko. No bloody point in doing that.

VinceWLB wrote:hahaha what a joke of a competition, yellow card for that?

Appeasing their French and English masters aren't they.

Baldwin goes off, they pull Evans off to put Parry in the scrum. No one at home. . .

mikey_dragon wrote:

VinceWLB wrote:hahaha what a joke of a competition, yellow card for that?

Appeasing their French and English masters aren't they.

When Lawes does it this is called being an enforcer and no penalty is given. What a joke.

mikey_dragon wrote:

VinceWLB wrote:hahaha what a joke of a competition, yellow card for that?

Appeasing their French and English masters aren't they.

We got one in our game too, silly comment.