Ospreys v Glasgow Warriors, 31 January

       
Ospreys v Glasgow Warriors
Sunday 31 January 2016
KO 14:30
Liberty Stadium, Swansea

Live on S4C and BBC Alba

Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (IRFU, 67th competition game):

Assistant Referees: Leighton Hodges, Wayne Davies (both WRU)
Citing Commissioner: Gwyn Bowden (WRU)
TMO: Jon Mason (WRU)

A. Head to Head

26 Played 26
12 Wins 12
12 Losses 12
2 Draws 2
579 Points 504

B. Form

Sun 1 November 2015
Glasgow Warriors 31 - 19 Ospreys

Fri 8 May 2015
Ospreys 21 - 10 Glasgow Warriors

Sat 21 February 2015
Glasgow Warriors 19 - 16 Ospreys

C. Teams

Ospreys

Dan Evans, Tom Grabham, Owen Watkin, Josh Matavesi, Eli Walker, Sam Davies, Brendon Leonard (capt); Nicky Smith, Sam Parry, Dmitri Arhip, Rynier Bernardo, Rory Thornton, Joe Bearman, Sam Underhill, Dan Baker

Replacements: Scott Otten, Gareth Thomas, Ma'afu Fia, Adam Beard, Olly Cracknell, Tom Habberfield, Ben John, JJ Engelbrecht

Glasgow Warriors

Peter Murchie; Lee Jones, Taqele Naiyaravoro, Sam Johnson, Rory Hughes, Duncan Weir, Grayson Hart; Ryan Grant, Pat MacArthur, Sila Puafisi, Greg Peterson, Leone Nakarawa, Rob Harley, Chris Fusaro, Ryan Wilson (capt)

Replacements: James Malcolm, Gordon Reid, D'arcy Rae, Josh Strauss, James Eddie, Ali Price, Gregor Hunter, Glenn Bryce

Somebody say something.....

funnyExiledScot wrote:Somebody say something.....

 OK fes, somebody on our board has selected the following team for the game on Sunday
Evans, Walker, Watkin, Matavesi, Dirksen/ Hassler/ John/ Grabham/ Engelbrecht, Davies, Leonard, Smith, Parry, Arhip, Bernardo/ Ashley, Thornton, Underhill, King, Baker with Otten, Bevington, Fia, Beard, Cracknell, Habberfield, ANOther, Dirksen/ Hassler/ John/ Grabham/ Engelbrecht
The selections for wing and 2nd row are because of injuries if Dirksen and Ashley are fit they will be selected, this poster thinks Engelbrecht will definitely play a part, which is contrary to what Gruff Rees said in our Press Conference last week, I suppose if both Dirksen and Ashley are ruled out, and Hassler is still injured, we could see Engelbrecht make an appearance, that team also indicates that James King is released by Team Wales whether that is true would be open to question.
What sort of team do you think Glasgow will bring down

A pretty sh1te one Wayne.

Tattie Scones RRN wrote:A pretty sh1te one Wayne.

Tattie if a few of ours don't recover from injuries we will have a VERY young or inexperienced pack, you'll have your 2 Fijians and the sight of your winger running at for instance either Walker or Grabham fills me with dread, will you be allowed any of your 16 back from Scotland?

wayne wrote:

Tattie Scones RRN wrote:A pretty sh1te one Wayne.

Tattie if a few of ours don't recover from injuries we will have a VERY young or inexperienced pack, you'll have your 2 Fijians and the sight of your winger running at for instance either Walker or Grabham fills me with dread, will you be allowed any of your 16 back from Scotland?

I think we will get a few back, those that need a bit of gametime and are unlikely to make the 23 for the following week. Both sides will be way off their best XV, so it should be an interesting game that will be hard to call. I thought Glasgow actually played pretty well at the begining of the season without all of the stars. When we lost it was only narrowly and those games could have gone our way in any case. Plenty of the squad players were putting up their hands back then, hope they can do so again.

Not available due to injury for the Racing game: Adam Ashe (shoulder), Mark Bennett (shoulder), Mike Blair (concussion), Fraser Brown (ankle), Kevin Bryce (shoulder), Rob Harley (thumb), Tyrone Holmes (foot), Peter Horne (foot), Pat MacArthur (calf), Henry Pyrgos (wrist), Gordon Reid (concussion), Fergus Scott (shoulder), Josh Strauss (concussion) and Richie Vernon (shoulder).

Add Dunbar, Favaro, Gray, Rusell, Seymour and Hogg to the missing ranks as well.

1) Allan
2) Malcolm
3) Puafisi
4) Peterson
5) Cummings
6) Eddie/Low
7) Blake
8) Naka/Wilson
9) Price
10) Weir
11) Jones
12) Johnson
13) Lyle
14) Big T
15) Murchie

16) Mama
17) Yana
18) Cusack/Rae
19) Low/Naka
20) Wilson/Eddie
21) Hart
22) Hunter
23) Hughes (assume he is at Glasgow during the 6 nations?/Triple H as the back replacements)

The pack is actually quite solid and this is assuming only Weir from the 6 nations players is available, Junior's at the 7's, and no injury recovery. Probably competitive, but Osprey's are probably in a slightly better place

Low has been shipped off somewhere else I think and Blake is away with the 7s.

I'd be surprised if Fusaro was kept back by Scotland

RDW_Scotland wrote:Low has been shipped off somewhere else I think and Blake is away with the 7s.

I'd be surprised if Fusaro was kept back by Scotland

Saracens remarkably enough. Those tackle bags don't hold themselves.

I completely missed that. Oh well, Eddie is my preferred starter at 6. What happened to Bordill?

Hazel Sapling wrote:I completely missed that. Oh well, Eddie is my preferred starter at 6. What happened to Bordill?

A very good question. Best to say, "That would be an ecumenical matter."

The worrying thing is that there are only two 10's listed in the Scotland squad; Dancer and Meatball. Jackson is listed as a Full Back. So either Jamesie Cotter doesn't see him as a 10 or he's having his own private joke there.

It is entirely possible that both Glasgow 10 are in the match 23 and Schiz needs to pack his kicking boots for his trip to Swansea.

Favaro should be available- told Italy he didn't want to be selected.

Yes, but he played with his usual disregard for personal safety against Racing. At one ruck he took his place in the defensive line, having just made a tackle, holding his side and looking like he'd popped a rib. Next moment the ball is in the first receiver's hands and Favaro is ploughing into him like an Exocet missile. He got up again and was straight into the defensive line.

When the ball went dead then he finally lay down and waited for treatment.

I think he may be having a rest this weekend. Normal people would.

luvtotup wrote:Favaro should be available- told Italy he didn't want to be selected.

Why? Italy don't have the depth to be missing players. I hope this is not due to Italy's struggles over the years

The Gibbon.

Life vomits on my duvet cover yet again.

jimbopip wrote:Yes, but he played with his usual disregard for personal safety against Racing. At one ruck he took his place in the defensive line, having just made a tackle, holding his side and looking like he'd popped a rib. Next moment the ball is in the first receiver's hands and Favaro is ploughing into him like an Exocet missile. He got up again and was straight into the defensive line.

When the ball went dead then he finally lay down and waited for treatment.

I think he may be having a rest this weekend. Normal people would.

He's been a cracking signing for Glasgow, and once Bob Harley returns Glasgow will be pretty competitive again. Those two in tandem with Gray at lock and Strauss at 8 give the pack a really steely core.

According to a statto on the Glasgow forum the Warriors are down to a pool comprising 24 full-time pro players and 5 EDP's. The rest are on Scotland / age group / loan or are injured.

demosthenes wrote:According to a statto on the Glasgow forum the Warriors are down to a pool comprising 24 full-time pro players and 5 EDP's.  The rest are on Scotland / age group / loan or are injured.

Just looked through it. Pretty demoralising. Why are 4 Scotland centres at 1 club? Edinburgh provide 1 and he is leaving at the end of the season! If Solomons is not going to use Chris Dean and sends him off to 7s instead of getting gametime during a weakened section of the schedule send him to Glasgow.

On a happier note, if Kiran McDonald (who is listed as available) can replace Cummings on the bench (who is listed as unavailable) and perform well it will be another 2nd row on the production line. Be good to test him with 20 minutes against a weakened Ospreys pack.

There seems to be no happy medium with the two Pro squads. We either have a glut of options with good SQ players sitting on their hands, or no players!

I do think we need to get better at "loaning" players between teams, although I suspect there are Pro12 rules and regulations around doing so.

Re: Chris Dean, it would be a shame should Edinburgh not use him. For me he's second behind Allan at 13 but Allan can also play on the wing so in theory both could play against Cardiff. Still, better he gets a run of games for Glasgow than playing in the 7s.

You mean such as when Glasgow had plenty of locks and Edinburgh had no one earlier on this season?

I wonder though how much of Edinburgh's problems stem from Solomons failure to blood players before emergencies? Alex Toolis has turned out alright and Watson has come on leaps and bounds, but giving breaks to players may stop them getting broken (Gilchrist and Scott last year comes to mind).

Oh and Osprey's lost 9 players to the WRU right? How many guys are you down at the moment? Underhill seems to be a good prospect but who else is expected to be blooded over the 6 nations?

Hazel Sapling wrote:Oh and Osprey's lost 9 players to the WRU right? How many guys are you down at the moment? Underhill seems to be a good prospect but who else is expected to be blooded over the 6 nations?

Hazel, Watkin starting and Beard on the bench are young people who haven't had much game time and Engelbrecht is the Saffer who has just arrived from the selected team further up the page, let me just add a lot of those players were the ones that started in the disastrous beginning to this season, so am not at all optimistic either.

Engelbrecht seemed to be more of a bosh merchant for the Sharks if I am thinking of the right player. Decent enough player though. He may start ahead of Watkin as he played 13 and I did not think he was fast enough to be a wing (playing against some of the SA speedsters though is different to facing Lamont or Big T.

Beard is 2nd row? Is he the long haul replacement for AWJ?

Be interesting to see if Ospreys really are reliant on their stars over the 6 nation period then. Glasgow fought close, but no cigar early in the season so hoping for one better.

Hazel Sapling wrote:Engelbrecht seemed to be more of a bosh merchant for the Sharks if I am thinking of the right player. Decent enough player though. He may start ahead of Watkin as he played 13 and I did not think he was fast enough to be a wing (playing against some of the SA speedsters though is different to facing Lamont or Big T.

Beard is 2nd row? Is he the long haul replacement for AWJ?

Be interesting to see if Ospreys really are reliant on their stars over the 6 nation period then. Glasgow fought close, but no cigar early in the season so hoping for one better.

Hazel, our O/Cs are very slow even by Guinness League standards, he appears and this has been reinforced by other peoples observations of him, a lot faster than anyone else on our books. Spratt has been good defensively but even when Matavesi makes half breaks and he makes them fairly regularly, we have never had the players outside of him to take advantage, hopefully things will change with JJs arrival.
Beard, and Thornton with another in the wings Rhodri Hughes are the long term replacements for the 2nd row.
We are a bit stronger in the pack compared to the start of the season, but not extensively so, and there has been a bit of bad news out of the Welsh camp it appears only 2 players have been released to the Regions and neither is James King, so it will either be Joe Bearman or the other youngster Olly Cracknell, I presume it will be Bearman if only for experience

Hazel Sapling wrote:Oh and Osprey's lost 9 players to the WRU right? How many guys are you down at the moment? Underhill seems to be a good prospect but who else is expected to be blooded over the 6 nations?

16 to the main squad IIRC plus others to age group and 7s. someone above said Glasgow are down to 24 full time pros for these games

Yeah Glasgow is 24 pros + 5 EDPs I think from the warriors forum link. Depressing to send off Junior and Shuggy B when we could use both!

Hazel Sapling wrote:Yeah Glasgow is 24 pros + 5 EDPs I think from the warriors forum link. Depressing to send off Junior and Shuggy B when we could use both!

Hazel, what do you mean by EDPs, I presume the DP stand for Development Player, if that is true, we are not so different in numbers of Pro's and development players available for this game.

I think you guys might enjoy this:

(L to R: Lady Schiz, Jimbopip, Tom, 21st Century Schizoid, IanBru, LadyBru of the Toon)
The Sports Bar - Rugby Park, Kilmarnock, 23 January 2016

Stop ruining our impression of 21st - he looks like fine, norma,l upstanding member of the community there!

EDP = Elite Development Player

IanBru wrote:I think you guys might enjoy this:

(L to R: Lady Schiz, Jimbopip, Tom, 21st Century Schizoid, IanBru, LadyBru of the Toon)
The Sports Bar - Rugby Park, Kilmarnock, 23 January 2016

Absolutely brilliant. Confirmed many of the suspicions that I had about you all.

In the spirit of reciprocity, I feel that I should also post this picture of me relaxing casually at home yesterday:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Stop ruining our impression of 21st - he looks like fine, norma,l upstanding member of the community there!

So Schiz is normal looking!!!

Can't wait to see the photies from The Wedding Of The Year.

p.s. While at Rugby Park we saw Meatball (soon to be Boulette de Viande or something equally recherché) have his customary rush of blood and throw a ridiculously bad mis-pass which fortunately ricocheted into Hogg's arms. Am I the only one who secretly wants him to do that for an intercept try in the 6 Nations just to watch our eastern brethren tie themselves in linguistic knots?

Team to be announced soon, but will not include either Lloyd Ashley or Hanno Dirksen out for considerable periods due to ligament damage.

Glasgow Warriors team to play Ospreys:
15. Peter Murchie
14. Lee Jones
13. Taqele Naiyaravoro
12. Sam Johnson
11. Rory Hughes
10. Duncan Weir
9. Grayson Hart

1. Ryan Grant
2. Pat MacArthur
3. Sila Puafisi
4. Greg Peterson
5. Leone Nakarawa
6. Rob Harley
7. Chris Fusaro
8. Ryan Wilson (C)

Replacements

16. James Malcolm
17. Gordon Reid
18. D’arcy Rae
19. Josh Strauss
20. James Eddie
21. Ali Price
22. Gregor Hunter
23. Glenn Bryce

Ospreys team
Dan Evans
Tom Grabham
Owen Watkin
Josh Matavesi
Eli Walker
Sam Davies
Brendon Leonard (Cap)
Nicky Smith
Sam Parry
Dmitri Arhip
Rynier Bernardo
Rory Thornton
Joe Bearman
Sam Underhill
Dan Baker
with Scott Otten, Gareth Thomas, Ma'afu Fia, Adam Beard, Olly Cracknell, Tom Habberfield, Ben John and JJ Engelbrecht on the bench

The rumours on our Forum about Ryan Bevington leaving could well be true, Gareth Thomas on the bench is a surprise, really pleased the coaches are taking the gamble with Owen Watkin in the centre.

Big T at 13 will be interesting to see. Otherwise pretty much as expected.

Ryan Wilson as captain is bizarre. I'd struggle to think of a less suitable candidate for such a role, other than perhaps Dylan Hartley.

Great to see Harley back at 6.

funnyExiledScot wrote:Big T at 13 will be interesting to see. Otherwise pretty much as expected.

Ryan Wilson as captain is bizarre. I'd struggle to think of a less suitable candidate for such a role, other than perhaps Dylan Hartley.

Great to see Harley back at 6.

I concur FES. Harley or Fusaro would have been better in my mind. To be fair to Wilson, he seems to be a bit of a , but I doubt he struggles to get his opinions across to other players about what they have to do. It is how he handles the ref and he might surprise. Maybe he will get on with the Gibbon and take him to the local kebab shop after the game

RDW_Scotland wrote:Stop ruining our impression of 21st - he looks like fine, norma,l upstanding member of the community there!

I'll have you know I spent the morning getting my 'head massage' just to get ready for this. Well thats what they said when they were connecting the electrodes !

Damn that Bru and his daft camera !

IanBru wrote:I think you guys might enjoy this:

(L to R: Lady Schiz, Jimbopip, Tom, 21st Century Schizoid, IanBru, LadyBru of the Toon)
The Sports Bar - Rugby Park, Kilmarnock, 23 January 2016

I'm convinced that Jimbo and "Tom" are in fact the same person!

Lovely photo. I'm trying to dig one out of the Edinburgh fans that doesn't have us in morning suits. It'll take me a while.

The Ospreys team to play Glasgow Warriors at Liberty Stadium on Sunday 31st January 2016, KO 2.30pm, is as follows:



15 Dan Evans

14 Tom Grabham

13 Owen Watkin

12 Josh Matavesi

11 Eli Walker

10 Sam Davies

9 Brendon Leonard (Capt)



1 Nicky Smith

2 Sam Parry

3 Dmitri Arhip

4 Rynier Bernardo

5 Rory Thornton

6 Joe Bearman

7 Sam Underhill

8 Dan Baker



REPLACEMENTS

16 Scott Otten

17 Gareth Thomas

18 Ma’afu Fia

19 Adam Beard

20 Olly Cracknell

21 Tom Habberfield

22 Ben John

23 JJ Engelbrecht



JJ Engelbrecht will make his Ospreys debut if he comes off the bench

Adam Beard will make his PRO12 debut if he comes off the bench



The following players were unavailable for selection due to injury:

Tyler Ardron – Knee

Lloyd Ashley - Knee

Ashley Beck – Knee

Gareth Delve – Ankle

Hanno Dirksen - Ankle

Jeff Hassler - Thigh

Dafydd Howells – Hamstring

Rhys Webb – Foot



The following players are absent on international duty:

Paul James, Scott Baldwin, Aaron Jarvis, Alun Wyn Jones, Dan Lydiate, Justin Tipuric, James King and Dan Biggar



Ospreys Head Coach, Steve Tandy, said:

“This game marks the start of the next phase of the season for us. We’ve got a tough run of games during the Six Nations that will push us but we have to rise to the challenge if we want to get the outcome we want.

“We have a very young group of players that we are turning to during this period but they are excited about the opportunity to really push the team up the table. Some of them have already gained great experience belt in Europe and the league this season while others are really itching to pull the shirt on and show what they are about during this period.

“There’s no margin for error, we have to get the performance level where it needs to be if we’re going to get the right outcome. Youth and inexperience isn’t going to be an excuse, this is their time. We know that with Glasgow just behind us in the table they’ll target this match as one where they can push ahead of us and damage our hopes, so it has the makings of a great contest.

“It’s not about these boys keeping the shirt warm for the internationals when they are away. It’s about representing the shirt and all it stands for and ensuring that we remain in contention, so that when the internationals come back we are still involved at the sharp end. The boys here understand that they have a big job on their hands and they can’t wait to get stuck into it.

“We know what we’ve got to do between now and the end of the season, starting on Sunday, if we want to make sure we are back in the top level of European competition next season. Everybody has to pull together now, on and off the field. This is a team of young and predominantly local players so I’d like to think that the community will get behind them.

“The atmosphere we’ve had at the Liberty in recent games has been brilliant, I think the supporters understand the part they’ve got in this battle and we want to see them inspiring the team again on Sunday afternoon.”

I just noticed this, but everyone in the Glasgow team, bar Sam Johnson, is capped. Considering the amount of players Glasgow are down it says a lot about the squad and about Scotland over the past few years...

Lordy, lord, God Bless the Dragons.

All we need now is for Glasgow to pick up 4 points today as my favourite detective would oft-times, "The game is afoot".

[u]Fes, as regards your Jim/Tom clone comment; back in the 80's a Channel 4 yoof programme came up to the dear green place to film me (don't ask) and for their opening credits asked Tom and myself to turn to camera for a shot of us with the Glasgow skyline over our shoulders, told you it was an arty yoof show. Anyway we were shocked when it went out just to see how much like twins we looked. You can almost imagine our mutual horror when after moving dahn sarf and losing contact with each other for 25 years we reconnected only to find we now look even more alike. The working class Oirish kafflic Glaswegian gene pool must be shallower than previously imagined.[/u]

Good team for the Ospreys there. They should in theory be winning all their games that played during this international period if they're able to keep putting out a similar team.

mikey_dragon wrote:Good team for the Ospreys there. They should in theory be winning all their games that played during this international period if they're able to keep putting out a similar team.

Mikey, if we are going by the workings of the Lord from last week, we have no chance, we have about 6 or 7 Full Internationals starting, whereas as Hazel said above they have 14 out of 15 starters as Internationals, the only trouble with Lords pronouncements was that he classed U18s and U20s as Internationals

Really looking forward to today, can Bernardo and Rory match Nacky, can our backrow of an oldtimer, a youngster and a player trying to get back to last years form match that impressive looking Glasgow back three, and how soon will it be before we get to look at our Saffer in action.
Just to say the weather in the Ogmore valley is horrible this morning, off soon as it is my eldest's birthday and I've worked it to have a meal in the Harvesters opposite the Liberty with the rest of the family, even though none are going to the game.

These matches are typically tighter than the kevlar lock holding RDW's wallet closed so I am going to assume it will be another home win tonight.

Glasgow could be useless or with Big Tacky in the middle and a full pack of specialists in their correct positions, all of whom will have a point to prove, could be monstrous. Very, very hard to tell. Glasgow's bench is surprisingly good too. If you look hard enough.

It is true Glasgow has a fully international and young Samwise Johnson was well rated at the Queensland Reds, so I am very keen to see what he's got, other than a tan and great teeth.

Really looking forward to it if only for watching Big Tacky running at full tilt towards Eli Walker but also for the scrummaging lesson Arhip is going to give to Ryan Grant.

Good game so far. Not much in it.

Edit: spoke too soon. Great try Ospreys.

Big Peterson is having a bit of a stormer.