Ospreys vs. Leinster, The Gnoll, Friday 21st January, 19.35 (eir Sport 1, TG4)

Dave_The_Sheep

Ospreys

|

Leinster

|

15. Cai Evans | Hugo Keenan
14. Hanno Dirksen | Cian Kelleher
13. Owen Watkin | Jimmy O'Brien
12. Kieran Williams | Conor O'Brien
11. Luke Morgan | James Lowe
10. Luke Price | Ciarán Frawley
9. Aled Davies | Jamison Gibson-Park
1. Nicky Smith | Peter Dooley
2. Scott Otten | James Tracy
3. Simon Gardiner | Michael Bent
4. Adam Beard | Ross Molony
5. Bradley Davies | Scott Fardy
6. Dan Lydiate | Josh Murphy
7. Olly Cracknell | Scott Penny
8. Dan Baker | Rhys Ruddock

16. Sam Parry | Seán Cronin
17. Gareth Thomas | Michael Milne
18. Gheorghe Gajion | Jack Aungier
19. Lloyd Ashley | Jack Dunne
20. Sam Cross | Ryan Baird
21. Shaun Venter | Rowan Osborne
22. Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler | Harry Byrne
23. James Hook | Tommy O’Brien


Referee: Stuart Berry (SARU)
Assistants: Aled Evans (WRU), Ben Breakspear (WRU)
TMO: Tim Hayes (WRU)

Light on Byrnes, heavy on O'Briens.

If we manage it, a Leinster win would be a new record for the best start to a league season and would tie Munster’s record for the most successive PRO14 matches won from 2011, according to the Pro 14 website. But we'll see, since apparently being last in your conference means you're a top side these days.

ionadnapokot

Light on February heavy on January

Dave_The_Sheep

ionadnapokot wrote: »

Light on February heavy on January

Ah the never-ending case of the copy and paste error. ****'s sake, Dave.

Unsure if mods are able to fix titles, if you can, please do.

errlloyd

I don't go into match threads often anymore.

But for a 6 nations pro14 game that is a mighty fine table.

sydthebeat

Leinsters first loss??

That's a pretty experienced spreys team who will be buoyed by last week's ulster result.

Lots of young guns in blue.

Podge_irl

sydthebeat wrote: »

Leinsters first loss??

That's a pretty experienced spreys team who will be buoyed by last week's ulster result.

Lots of young guns in blue.

A team probably shouldn't be buoyed that much by a 2 point win at home after 4 months of losses.

Don't expect it to be close. Our first loss will come in SA I imagine.

jacothelad

sydthebeat wrote: »

Leinsters first loss??

That's a pretty experienced spreys team who will be buoyed by last week's ulster result.

Lots of young guns in blue.

You also have a ref who isn't q complete homer like Mitrea. His reffing was very poor. Ulster were crap but in reality he handed the game to the O's with a number of really wrong decisions. Berry is usually a pretty accurate ref.

Some Yoke

Who gnows what will happen in the gnoll

Buer

If our set piece delivers, I can see us winning. We've enough up front to grind out a win here but it's going to be a tight game. Weather has a strong chance of rain which might suit us given I'd back our handling up front to be better than theirs and Frawley looks to have hit his stride in terms of his kicking game.

We'd be in a much stronger position if we had availability of guys who aren't in the Irish 23 i.e. McGrath, Deegan etc. That's probably the most callow bench we've had for a match in a long time.

arsebiscuits1

sydthebeat wrote: »

Leinsters first loss??

That's a pretty experienced spreys team who will be buoyed by last week's ulster result.

Lots of young guns in blue.

Leinster 14 point favourites in the bookies eyes here which is about accurate I reckon.

There are some young guns out there but we've a pretty grizzled pack lining out which will be more than enough to stifle them.

sydthebeat

arsebiscuits1 wrote: »

Leinster 14 point favourites in the bookies eyes here which is about accurate I reckon.

There are some young guns out there but we've a pretty grizzled pack lining out which will be more than enough to stifle them.

10 points with PP, and of course id never bet against leinster not exceeding the spread, they've done that more often than not this year.

I do think it could be a banana skin though

Can't believe Hook is still playing rugby, feels like he has been around forever. I remember him starting against Fiji in the 2007 World Cup.

Pretty sure I read he is retiring at the end of the season to become an author?

Buer

Only 2 weeks older than Sexton. It's weird to think that someone who has 81 test caps, a Lions tour and was starting outhalf in a Grand Slam campaign has a career that is quite unfulfilled.

He could have been one of the all time greats but it really just fizzled out for him. The departure to France seems to have coincided with his overall standard sliding dramatically and never recovering. With that said, I'm not sure if he'll look back with much regret.

Scottmactom

Des Berry picked ospreys to win.

Be nice if COB showed some form.

thomond2006

Leinster aren't losing this.

arsebiscuits1

thomond2006 wrote: »

Leinster aren't losing this.

Nope. Obviously professional sport and anything can happen etc etc etc.

But Leinsters pack should get them through this fairly comfortably.

Former Former

It's a decent Ospreys team on paper. If they get a boost from last week's win, it could be tricky.

Still, should be a Leinster win.

This would be Leinster's 20th win in a row, going back to the Pro14 playoffs last year. That would beat the record of 19 set by Crusaders in 2018-19. Leicester won 17 in a row in England.

Source: https://lastwordonrugby.com/2019/04/27/every-rugby-winning-streak-has-to-come-to-an-end/

So that would be something. Have I just jinxed us? Yeah.

Buer

I'd broadly agree. I reckon Leinster should win but it's not a foregone conclusion. Games aren't won on paper etc. etc. but that Ospreys team has some talent in it.

Put them in red shirts and they'd be transformed. They've 5 capped players up front in there including a few guys who were regulars for the Welsh 23 for periods of their career. Hopefully they'll do the usual going through the motions for their region though as we've seen for much of this season.

Bookies calling it for Leinster by 10 which is probably slightly more than I'd anticipate but it wouldn't surprise me either if the Ospreys didn't turn up and it was a BP win either.

antietam1

jacothelad wrote: »

You also have a ref who isn't q complete homer like Mitrea. His reffing was very poor. Ulster were crap but in reality he handed the game to the O's with a number of really wrong decisions. Berry is usually a pretty accurate ref.

He any relation to Des Berry who said Leinster would lose.

Clegg

Too much smoke being blown about this unbeaten run. We're in trouble I tells us.

ray jay

Trying to watch this online with TG4 Player but it's geoblocked even though I'm in Ireland. Anyone else seeing this?

Edit: nevermind, started working.

Buer

Very poor judgement from JGP there.

Buer

Brilliant turnover from Tracy saving our bacon there. Looks like the first half is going to be damage limitation with this wind.

Buer

Horrible pass from Frawley. That's something we've seen on more than one occasion in the past. His execution on passing can be very inaccurate.

And another one misses his man and goes to deck.

Clegg

Very hard to build pressure when both halves are having a mare passing wise.

Buer

Referee is letting everyone go to town at the breakdown. Would like to think that will suit us with smart lads like Fardy and Ruddock talking out there.

Burkie1203

Fardy ðŸ˜

Buer

That's a lovely try. TOB has made a very nice impact since coming on.

Great hands by Kelleher and Fardy. So simple and effective. Was like a passing drill.

Squidgy Black

That was beautiful, lovely hands from Fardy

Clegg

Good try. Nice hands from everyone.

Does anyone know what happened to COB? Regular injury as opposed to a HIA?

vienne86

Cracking try!

Synode

That was beautiful. Lovely hands

Buer

Got outta jail there. Great tackle from Kelleher attacking the ball in contact.

Squidgy Black

Got lucky there. JGP just fell off the tackle completely

Buer

Frawley cannot be an outhalf if he can't pass in open play with any consistency. That's three poor passes. Maybe the runner got too flat there but he still needs to hit the runner instead of where he wants the runner to be.

vienne86

Ah that was a great opportunity......blown.

Squidgy Black

Lowe is extremely frustrating sometimes.

Buer

Happy enough to go in ahead even if Leinster will be disappointed they didn't score again after the try.

Leinster have been better but with two missed pens and spilling the ball on the 5m line, Ospreys could well be ahead.

vienne86

That's dreadful to give that try away just before half time. Dreadful pass.

Buer

Spoke too soon. Another Frawley disaster pass.

There's a case for hauling him at half time but that would be damaging for him. Keep it tight and Byrne on if there isn't a big improvement.

Squidgy Black

Buer wrote: »

Happy enough to go in ahead even if Leinster will be disappointed they didn't score again after the try.

Leinster have been better but with two missed pens and spilling the ball on the 5m line, Ospreys could well be ahead.

Spoke too soon Buer.

Frawley's had a bit of a mare so far.

Clegg

Leinster deserved that. Been poor enough since the 15th minute.

Unless there's a big change in the second half the unbeaten record is going down the drain.

Synode

Frawley has thrown a couple of awful passes

vienne86

What on earth is up with Frawley tonight?

vienne86

Clegg wrote: »

Leinster deserved that. Been poor enough since the 15th minute.

Unless there's a big change in the second half the unbeaten record is going down the drain.

We've been playing into a fairly strong wind, so hopefully we'll do better in the second half. Some awful passes being thrown.

Squidgy Black

vienne86 wrote: »

What on earth is up with Frawley tonight?

Conditions mixed with a pack that isn't entirely dominating their opposition. He really needs to clean up the mistakes though.

stephen_n

They need to get Frawley off the pitch, he’s having a mare. His passing has always been a weakness but it’s been ridiculously bad tonight. I know it’s windy, but that’s just not good enough at all.

sydthebeat

Leinster not playing the conditions very cleverly.

Ospreys have been piss poor yet still go in ahead at half time.

The pressure game with the wind behind them might get us over the line here

Buer

vienne86 wrote: »

What on earth is up with Frawley tonight?

This isn't anything new. He has thrown a lot of passes to ground in the past. It just doesn't get much attention because we're in cruise control usually.

That's 4 bad passes tonight. Two completely missing the man and going to ground, one behind a man leading to a knock on and the try which was to someone's toes and may as well have been an intercept try.

Buer

Clegg wrote: »

Leinster deserved that. Been poor enough since the 15th minute.

Unless there's a big change in the second half the unbeaten record is going down the drain.

I wouldn't say we've been that poorly. Some errors but generally good play. Some great passages that brought us right up near their line before an error. The exit where we tried the short 22 and worked 40m upfield was excellent too.

Need to sharpen up and tighten up. Frawley and Lowe have cost us possession a half dozen times between them.

Frawley doing plenty right and making good decisions, just letting too much innacuracy into his game and needs to tidy up before he's subbed.

Bit of a job on our hands now, Ospreys just need to focus on one half of rugby and they've a big scalp.