With our chances in the RCC already gone and only pride to play for, we welcome RCC champions Saracens to the Liberty Stadium of Saturday. This game sees the much awaited return of the man, the legend that is AWJ and his presence alone will surely see at least a 10% increase in performance from the whole squad - he simply will not tolerate anything less.
Here is the squad I anticipate we will put out - Not including Tips/North/S Williams
Smith Parry Fia Beard AWJ Cracknell Cross Morris
Davies Price Dirksen MacKenzie Thomas-Wheeler Morgan D Evans
Reps
Marfo Otten Gardiner BBBD Lydiate Venter C Evans Hook
They would not be in the champions cup if half their squad was gone. But No they continue recruiting. They won’t let the rfu look at their books so they are far worse than relegation.
Oh don’t get me wrong. They are cheating f@“?s, and I’m glad they have been severely punished. However “technically“ they have done nothing wrong in Europe, so how can we claim them games. To be fair they tried their hardest to give us the last game, and we still couldn’t do it......
As Saracens have now been uncovered as continuing cheats we should claim both matches by default! Strip them off all their titles. Take the stars off them. No place for cheats
TP yes you are right there was no real fault of Venters attempt as Lewington had the momentum on Venter, to edward and Fiddler, the need for field position could have been answered with fetching Cai on a lot earlier as has been shown he has far greater range than Price. As for running down the outside channels the errors of mainly the first half was the change of North and TTW actually drawing their opposition and feeding mainly Morgan into space who was electric, there was about 3 or 4 occasions in especially the first half when the ball was just passed along the line without drawing anybody, this is fundamental schoolboy trained Rugby, it shouldn't be needed to be taught at this level.
I saw the tackle in the east stand. Venter didnt challenge for sarries try. the winger took it easy. Our basic skill level is what makes us the poorest team in Europe, until we can catch a ball moving we r going nowhere.
Better effort for 60mins, but the last 20 we were poor. Lost at half back all 9 and 10s today didn’t take control. It took Dan Evans to shout for the ball to move away from traffic to score. We didn’t do it against cardiffs 13 or the Turks 13. we tried to bash it up unsuccessfully. No vision from 9. Until we can get a fast service from 9 we r in trouble. AJW saved at least 2 tries. The ref and touch judges were poor. They missed most of the calls the TMO got some of them. the red was missed by them all they only saw it on the tv replay.
It is obvious from the lack of structure to the way we play that there is no one overseeing the direction of the game off the pitch. It feels like it is game management by committee and not one person. The game management starts off well especially in one of the first attacking runs that had a really fast pace with quick passing and running lines. Has the game went on we reverted back to sweeping across the field.
There was better on field control because of AWJ and Lydiate but the only attacking ploy was to try and run around the outside of the defensive line down the touch tram lines. It was easy for the Saracens to drift from one side of the pitch to the other. We missed someone with the ability to exploit the missing fullback hence no tried to turn their defense with a chip or grubber kick.
Luke Price is not to blame because while he didn't show the skill levels for the Pro14 let alone Europe we made so many handling errors that it merely emphasised how basic his game is.
The reason the Saracens won the game was not just the timing of our sub's but also when they brought their players on after the start of the second half each of them made an impact and they stopped playing rugby, preferring box kicks, taking the ball through the centre using the forwards plus exploiting the maul tactic. All of this reduced their error count and made us play from deep which we were not able to do.
Yes TP Scott had a good game especially in the loose and his props generally held up well, how come we had as much the upper hand in the first half as they did in the 2nd, yet got no reward out of the frog, very inconsistent in my eyes as was the touch judge on our side of the pitch in the first half he managed to see all our offsides and none of theirs, that was a ridiculous interpretation of the slap back if that was what he thought. Why it took so long to take Price off is beyond reason. Ruddock in his interview spoke about having to play some of our youngsters why did it take so long to fetch Cai on? I really cannot understand how Price can kick to touch regularly from the halfway line into the 22 pre match, but can only kick it in the game about 20 yards
Around 62 minutes Aled makes a good break from a scrum but the first receiver at the next ruck is Gaijon and as we know the big fella dropped the ball and Sarries ended up with the game winning penalty kick at goal. I have looked at it a couple of times and I have to wonder why we had a TH Prop at first receiver after a line break. There was an acre of space away to the left and Price was just behind Gaijon. That to me is a coaching issue - we ain't the Crusaders or the All Blacks and all of our players are not that comfortable with ball in hand and the 10 should have taken control and demanded that ball.
Tp I thought the control from Half Back especially when we had the ball was pathetic, from kick offs we kicked far too long whereas they contested every kick off, the kicks from base of scrums rucks and mauls were basically all uncontestable whereas Wigglesworth was exemplary in nearly all contested and most won, that is why he had MOTM. The times we kicked to the wrong side of the field where people were covering, as against the other where there was no cover was embarrassing, and Price's goalkicking was awful, 2 eminently kickable shots at goal missed at crucial times. Yes you were right about the penalty try not awarded to us, can anybody enlighten me why he refused to award it? This was an eminently achievable win that was chucked away. Some very good performances and it was good to have Dan Evans back, his positioning whether in attack or defence has been sorely missed
Just back from the game. Definite red card for Carre and I think we should have had a penalty try when Lewington knocked the ball dead away from North. I thought we did really well first half and the first 10 minutes of the second half but then the nous and organisation and skill of Sarries came to the fore and we spent the rest of the game on the back foot. Pleased with the effort shown and how we finally managed to convert a 2 man advantage into a try but disappointed with how meekly we seemed to surrender the game to them.
Whats happened to McKenzie to cause him not to be included ?
Jesus wept. Shows the massive overhaul needed.
Sarries Team:-
Carre, Singleton, Lamositele, Kruis, Skelton, Iseikwe, Clark, Wray
Wigglesworth, Vunipola, Lewington, Losowski, Tomkins, Maitland, Obatoybino
Reps
Woolenscroft, Barrington, Koch, Epoku, Reffell, Whitely, Segun Crossdale
The Ospreys have named their team to face Saracens in the Heineken Champions Cup.
Alun Wyn Jones returns to the starting line-up for the first time since the Welsh skipper returned from the Rugby World Cup. Fellow international Adam Beard lines up alongside him in the second row.
Dan Lydiate takes the reigns as captain on the blindside and Sam Cross slots in at openside for the injured Justin Tipuric. Emerging favourite Morgan Morris dons the number 8 jersey once more to complete the back row. Up front, Darryl Marfo makes his first start for the Ospreys, packing down at loosehead alongside Scott Otten at hooker and Ma'afu Fia at tighthead.
Another welcome return is fullback Dan Evans, who will marshal the space behind with fellow speedsters Hanno Dirksen and Luke Morgan on the right and left wings respectively. George North moves in-field to occupy the outside centre position, partnering Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler in the midfield, both try scorers last weekend at Rodney Parade. Shaun Venter gets the nod at scrumhalf and Luke Price completes the half back pairing.
On the bench, Sam Parry, Rhys Fawcett, and Simon Gardiner offer powerful front row cover, while Ospreys stalwart Lloyd Ashley is named as replacement lock. There's another timely return with the inclusion of Dan Baker as a backrow impact player.
Aled Davies covers scrumhalf, with Cai Evans included on the bench as a replacement outside half. Lesley Klim is the final inclusion in the squad, who will be looking to replicate his last Heineken Champions Cup performance, scoring a brace of tries against Racing 92 in Paris.
Starting XV 15. Dan Evans 14. Hanno Dirksen 13. George North 12. Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler 11. Luke Morgan 10. Luke Price 9. Shaun Venter
1.Darryl Marfo 2. Scott Otten 3. Ma'afu Fia 4. Adam Beard 5. Alun Wyn Jones 6. Dan Lydiate © 7. Sam Cross 8. Morgan Morris
Replacements 16. Sam Parry 17. Rhys Fawcett 18. Simon Gardiner 19. Lloyd Ashley 20. Dan Baker 21. Aled Davies 22. Cai Evans 23. Lesley Klim
Ospreys will go head-to-head with the reigning champions on Saturday 11th January, KO 1pm at the Liberty Stadium. Tickets are still available to purchase.
The following players were unavailable for selection due to injury: Cory Allen Gareth Anscombe Tom Botha Gareth Evans Keelan Giles Ben Glynn Will Griffiths Rhys Henry Rhodri Jones James King Harri Morgan Gareth Thomas Justin Tipuric Owen Watkin Kieran Williams Scott Williams
Upcoming fixtures: Munster v Ospreys -- Sunday 19th January, Thomond Park, K.O 1pm (Heineken Champions Cup) Ospreys v Ulster -- Saturday 15th February, Liberty Stadium, K.O 5:15pm (Guinness PRO14)
Tips has strained a ligament in his foot and is likely out of action for at least 3 weeks as a minimum.
North was still lame leaving Dave Parade and it is unclear what he has done.
Scott Williams has a hamstring problem and could miss the 6 Nations depending on the severity of the injury.
Hopefully the officials will keep a close eye on Owen Farrell's tackling technique. I assume Saracens will come fully loaded as they are lying third in the group at the moment. Hopefully we can raise our game for this one. We are owed some big performances by some of our top players including George North.
That back row is appalling.