The last 5 weeks have been incredibly challenging for the Ospreys. They have faced the English champions, Leicester Tigers (L), French champions, Montpelier (W), the Scarlets (W), Cardiff (W) and Irish powerhouses, Leinster (L) with the two losses being close ones. Now the URC takes a short break as we welcome Montpelier to the Swansea.com stadium for a mouth watering RCC fixture on Saturday night. In his post match presser, Booth said that he thinks most of the players will be good to go but he will be sweating on knocks to Roots and Morris but I expect them both to be available for selection so I anticipate the squad looking like this....
N Smith G Thomas D Lake S Baldwin T Francis T Botha A Beard R Davies AWJ J Morgan J Tipuric M Morris E Roots/H Sutton
R Webb RMW O Williams K Giles K Williams M Collins A Cuthbert J Walsh J Hawkins M Nagy/C Evans
Does Booth rotate the front 3 again? Does he start Beard and Rhys? Does he stick with RMW at 9?
I think the likely starting team will be
G Thomas S Baldwin T Botha A Beard R Davies J Morgan J Tipuric M Morris
R Webb O Williams K Giles K Williams M Collins A Cuthbert J Walsh
Happy to admit I was worried about Cai at 15 pre match, I thought he was a disaster waiting to happen, his positioning is rapidly improving, I was also worried about the 5 2nd rows selected, and in a way I was vindicated because Sutton didn't need to come on, I know they scored 5 tries but still the defence was awesome, have to commend Booth on the rotational plans of the front row, it is totally working, the 6 were excellent. I know I'm biased but I have to give a special mention to my home village boy, the Scarlets have the Sheriff but he takes prisoners but Dewi Lake doesn't take them he scatters them, as he did with the Leinster boy last week and his last 5 or 10 minutes last night was superb, he was our go to boy at the death last night, he has to start for Wales in a fortnight that performance demands it. I'm sorry but the comments about Collins is so wide of the mark IMO, yes he got skinned on one occasion but still had enough to get back to make the tackle, his common sense when he had the ball to take the right option over the last few weeks has been spot on for me, especially not handing on hospital passes to players outside on a couple of occasions he took the ball into contact and laid the ball back perfectly.
Finally also have to say what improvements in general play by RMW is showing at the moment, well done Reuben.
Outstanding effort from the boys fair play. A proper gutsy performance. We will probably know later tonight what we need for qualification to stay in the champions cup.
Tips outstanding, absolutely everywhere and the way he led the defence was relentless. Ruben looked sharp - we are a better team with him at 9. Credit to Cai Evans for his performances (and kicking) over the past two weeks, it shows what regular rugby can do for your game. Hawkins is the real deal and should be our 1st choice 12 going forward, still got so much more to his game that he can bring. And how about the impact from the bench?!
13 channel is an issue. Lack of footspeed in the channel meant we were getting caught out in the outside channels, forcing wingers to bite in. Teams get a lot of joy in the wider channels against us. North comes straight in at 13 week.
Leicester may rest a few next week as they have already qualified for the knockouts. Regardless, we should be confident we can go there and pick up some points.
Can anyone explain what we need to qualify for the champions cup knockouts? Lauren Jenkins said that we’ve qualified but it’s not decided whether that’s for the champions or challenge cup.
Phenomenal effort from the 23. Simply superb!
OUTSTANDING EFFORT TONIGHT. BLOODY GREAT WIN.
Cai Evans kicking was sublime and that final conversion was definitely over.
Bloody good win, da iawn bois.
Gareth Thomas Scott Baldwin Tom Botha A Beard AWJ R Davies J Tipuric J Morgan R Webb O Williams K Giles J Hawkins M Collins A Cuthbert C Evans
Reps
Lake Smith Francis BBBD Sutton Morris
RMW North
George North is fit so I would expect him to slot straight in at 13 so Collins will either drop out completely or move to the bench.
Sorry for the random change of subject. I didn't want to start a new thread and didn't think the 'News' thread was the right one...does the Riverside/East Stand sell Guinness? TIA
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Cai picked at 15. His kicking game against Leinster was excellent. I’m still a little bit unsure about his defence and as he played most of the last game on the wing this wasn’t really tested.
If Parry is fit Baldwin should be nowhere near the 23. You cannot rely on his concentration. If it can possibly be avoided you don't want Collins in it either. He just has not got the foot speed to not be exposed at this level. Having North available at the expense of collins would be a huge bonus if he is fit