The second festive Welsh Derby sees the Ospreys make the short trip across the Loughor Bridge to take on local rivals the Scarlets. Neither side fared particularly well in their last outing, so both teams will be desperate for a much needed win. There is a lot of conjecture about AWJ and whether or not he will play on Thursday but I hope he does and will include him in my starting team that looks something like
Nicky Smith, Scott Otten, Ma'afu Fia, Adam Beard, AWJ, Dan Lydiate, Justin Tipuric (c), Morgan Morris, Aled Davies, Marty McKenzie, Luke Morgan, Scott Williams, Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler, Hanno Dirksen, Cai Evans.
Bench
D. Lake, S Gardiner, R Fawcett, BBBD, O Cracknell, S Venter, K Williams, L Price.
Discuss.....
Our set piece is relatively good it’s our back play that continues to let us down, there’s no flow or intensity in our game . We have no speed until we reach the wings even with our first choice players fit and either lack flair or it is being coached out of us.
The longer that this is allowed to continue we will become even less of a viable entity. More and more regulars are telling me that they have had enough.
Our forwards are competitive but from the moment the 9 gets his hands on the ball we are utterly clueless. I sat in their East stand with Turk family members totally embarrassed.
@Fiddler something has to be done and heads need to roll.
It’s our lack of intent to play attacking rugby even with our better players available. We just want to grind out wins by playing boring phase rugby at the expense of flair and skill and select and buy players to suit that system. We are so boring and our fans are beginning to desert a sinking ship.
TBH, I'm surprised that the money men are waiting this long, I'm told they are shrewd businessmen and I fully understand this is a long game. However, the longer this malaise goes on (and let's face it, its not just been this season), the more permanent the damage will be. The commercial guy should be out the door tomorrow morning, how on earth can they defend PR that was asked to be removed by the actual players .... it clear that what the region should be about isn't in his DNA.
We can make excuses about injuries and unavailability but that display was embarrassing we offered absolute nothing Our recruitment policy when compared to the Scarlets is dismal.Once again our attack is completely disjointed and ineffectual. Worst day in Osprey history.
Only watched 25 mins of the second half, appalling, truly appalling, not unexpected of course .. Scarlets should be over 60 tbh
Some Ospreys players are not good enough and have cost us at least two of the Scarlets countless tries. SHOCKING!!!!! 44-0 and still 6 minutes left. I am sitting here devastated, absolutely devastated.
What a shower of shit. This is dreadfully poor from the Ospreys.
We should have taken the 3 points on offer instead of going to the corner. Scarlets go up the pitch and score again, f*ck this shit!!!!!
Bonus Point for the Scarlets on the hour mark. Hang your heads in shame Ospreys. 30-0.
We cannot blame the ref or the weather or anything else....
WE CANNOT TACKLE! CANNOT PASS! CANNOT ATTACK! CANNOT DEFEND. 25-0
Clear foul play FFS!! Penalty and a yellow card - seriously?
Otten and Fia off for Lake and Gardiner.
Price on for the ineffective MacKenzie to start the second half. I have to sit through another 40 minutes of this....
It is half time at PYS and we are already down by 20 points. I don't know what the answer is but a decent bloody coach would not go amiss. You can see the influence that Mooar has had on the Scarlets and you can see that they can play an exciting brand of rugby that we can only dream of.
This is so painful, we are so poor going forward. Scarlets penalty 13-0. Scott Williams looks to have failed his HIA and Hook is on in his stead.
Bollocks Scarlets score a try to go with an earlier penalty 10-0. Gonna be a long day.....
We have NO attack whatsoever
Just noticed on WOL that Kieran Williams and Klim are out with injuries. TTW and Tom Williams replace them. Neither of the original two were involved last week, so what the hell is happening during training? Unless they have over-indulged of course!
Game on, come on Ospreys
Why on earth is Cracknell continually picked. He has no idea how to carry and is used as our main carrier. Much like Bearman held the record for most sideways gained yards he must have the record for most ineffective carries.
Well I was wrong!!!
The Ospreys team to play the Scarlets in round nine of the Guinness PRO14 at Parc y Scarlets on Thursday 26th December, K.O 5:15pm has been named:
Justin Tipuric leads the side for the West Wales derby against our local rivals, the Scarlets. Young Morgan Morris returns to the starting lineup, wearing the number 8 shirt, with Olly Cracknell shifting to the blindside. An unchanged front five from last weekend sees Nicky Smith, Scott Otten and Ma’afu Fia form the front row and Adam Beard and Bradley Davies partnering in the second. Dewi Lake, Rhys Fawcett and Simon Gardiner provide the front row cover and Marvin Orie and Dan Lydiate reinforce the pack off the bench.
Marty McKenzie starts at fly-half, partnering Aled Davies in the number 9 jersey, with Scott Williams and Kieran Williams forming the centre partnership. Cai Evans and Luke Morgan are joined by Lesley Klim in the back three to complete the starting 15 with Shaun Venter, Luke Price and Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler all named on the bench.
Starting XV:
15. Cai Evans
14. Lesley Klim
13. Kieran Williams
12. Scott Williams
11. Luke Morgan
10. Marty McKenzie
9. Aled Davies
1.Nicky Smith
2. Scott Otten
3. Ma’afu Fia
4. Adam Beard
5. Bradley Davies
6. Olly Cracknell
7. Justin Tipuric ©
8. Morgan Morris
16. Dewi Lake
17. Rhys Fawcett
18. Simon Gardiner
19. Marvin Orie
20. Dan Lydiate
21. Shaun Venter
22. Luke Price
23. Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler
The following players were unavailable for selection due to injury:
Gareth Anscombe
Harri Morgan
Cory Allen
James King
Rhys Henry
Ben Glynn
Keelan Giles
Gareth Evans
Tom Botha
Dan Baker
Owen Watkin
Gareth Thomas
Rhodri Jones
George North
Alun Wyn Jones
Forthcoming Fixtures:
Saturday 4th January – 3pm – Dragons v Ospreys, Rodney Parade.
Saturday 11th January – 1pm – Ospreys v Saracens, Liberty Stadium.
Sunday 19th January – 1pm – Munster v Ospreys, Thomond Park.
I have a feeling in my water that AWJ was in the photo of the lads on Twitter and that he will be involved on Thursday. Here is the photo, I think he is next to Beard
but you can make up your own minds.