The Ospreys have one hell of a start – away to Toulon, whilst the Blues have life a little easier at home to Edinburgh. The Dragons start away to Glasgow

Ospreys

Sat 9 Oct Toulon V Ospreys – 2.35pm – Stade Felix Mayol – Canal +
Fri 15 Oct – Ospreys V London Irish – 8.00pm – Liberty Stadium – Sky Sports
Sun 12 Dec – Munster V Ospreys -1.00pm – Thomond Park – Sky Sports
Sat 18 Dec – Ospreys V Munster – 3.45pm – Liberty Stadium – Sky Sports
14/15/16 Jan – London Irish V Ospreys – TBC – Madejski Stadium – TBC
21/22/23 Jan – Ospreys V Toulon – TBC – Liberty Stadium – TBC

Cardiff Blues

Sat Oct 9 Cardiff Blues v Edinburgh Rugby KO18:00 Cardiff City Stadium
Fri Oct 15 Castres Olympique V Cardiff Blues KO21.00 Stade Pierre Antoine
Sat Dec 11 Northampton Saints V Cardiff Blues KO17.45 Franklin’s Gardens
Sun Dec 19 Cardiff Blues V Northampton Saints KO15:00 Cardiff City Stadium
Cardiff Blues v Castres Olympique KO TBD Cardiff City Stadium
Edinburgh Rugby v Cardiff Blues KO TBD Murrayfield

Dragons

FRIDAY 8 OCTOBER, 2010 Glasgow Warriors v Newport Gwent Dragons 19.30
SATURDAY 16 OCTOBER, 2010 Newport Gwent Dragons v Toulouse 17.45 S4C*
SUNDAY 12 DECEMBER, 2010 Newport Gwent Dragons v London Wasps 13.00 S4C*
SATURDAY 18 DECEMBER, 2010 London Wasps v Newport Gwent Dragons 13.00 Sky Sports
14 / 15 / 16 JANUARY, 2011 Toulouse v Newport Gwent Dragons
21 / 22 / 23 JANUARY, 2011 Newport Gwent Dragons v Glasgow Warriors

*Highlights

Scarlets

9/10/10 15:45 Scarlets v Perpignan Parc y Scarlets
17/10/10 15:00 Leicester Tigers v Scarlets Welford Road
11/12/10 15:00 Scarlets v Benetton Treviso Parc y Scarlets
18/12/10 14:35 Benetton Treviso v Scarlets TBA
14/15/16 Jan TBC Scarlets v Leicester Tigers Parc y Scarlets
21/22/23 Jan TBC Perpignan v Scarlets TBA

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In an article about what is wrong with the Ospreys he claims

I’m certainly not saying that there are not fans who are passionate about the Ospreys, still less that the players do not care enough. And collective passion by itself will not turn a bad team into a good one. It might, though, make a good team slightly better. There is no doubt that passionate mass attachment to an identity is a huge plus for a team. Munster may be the most obvious case, but I’m equally reminded of it every time I go to Northampton. One reason I love visiting Franklin’s Gardens is that it recaptures what rugby felt like when I first watched it as a child in Wales, with large crowds whose investment in the outcome is an expression of a deeply-rooted collective identity.

Now forgive my bluntness but never have I heard so much shit in my life – not even when Stuart Barnes talks (and God knows him and his Sky cronies manage to take shit talking to a whole new level).

What the Ospreys need, more than decent replacements for John Humphries and Sean Holley, is some loud fans. If we are talking about the wage bill maybe more fans would be a wortwhile point, but when talking about underachieving? No thanks.  The set up, the coaches and the players have to take responsibility for their own actions.

What I find most amazing about rugby journalism these days is not that the standard is poor, their lack of thought or insight.  What surprises me most is that I am still occassionally surprised by it.  But then I am an Ospreys fan and, as such, part of what is wrong with the Ospreys.  I hope all you other so called fans take  along hard look at yourself, it is your fault we have an away fixture in this year’s quarters – obviously it was the fans that caused us to throw away such a promising position away at Leicester.

Oh, wait, did I say away?  Ah well, it was the fan’s fault anyway…

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Their sour grapes at losing, or more accurately their Director’s continued sour grapes. I am finding it hard to get my head around but the Director of Leicester, Pete Wheeler, is moaning now that the integrity of the Heineken Cup has been compromised because he feels the Ospreys have cheated.

Leaving aside the complete and utter irony of a Leicester man complaining about anyone going through in the Heineken cup because of cheating (hand of Back anyone?) it seems his whinging has started plumbing new lows of pathetic. His recent outburst had this to say

The European Cup has been a great competition since its inception,” he said in his programme notes from last weekend’s game against London Irish.

“The clubs and provinces of Europe have embraced it and made it what it is today.

“Their role is to provide the teams within the regulations of the competition – and the supporters to make the matches real rugby occasions of the highest level. This they have achieved.

“European Rugby Cup’s responsibilities are to ensure that, apart from the competition generating appropriate income levels for the commercial rights, all teams comply with the competition’s regulations so they can be sure that all are operating on a level paying field.

“This, crucially, applies to only properly registered players being eligible to play in matches, and that only they in the proper number are allowed on to the playing field.

“If they fail to undertake these responsibilities fully, the credibility and integrity of the competition is compromised and tarnished.

“Any breaches of the regulations in our match against the Ospreys should not have occurred, and competing clubs or other bodies should not have to make complaints to have them investigated. This is European Rugby Cup Ltd’s job.”

Now he seems to be forgetting something – that the Ospreys were cleared of any wrong doing. He can complain all he wants, he is even now complaining of teh fact he had to complain. Only he didn’t have to complain, in fact he shouldn’t have. The Ospreys were cleared of any wrong doing, as well as having to fill in the paper work before hand they have also now, thanks to Mr Wheeler bleating on about it (after he tried to get the Ospreys kicked out over the whole 16th man incident) had to prove they were right afterwards.

So what we see is that Mr Wheeler has complained about on pitch actions, complained about off pitch actions and now is complaining about complaining about off pitch actions. This surely is a new low for Leicester rugby. This is a proud club with a proud history… why Mr Wheeler is dragging it’s name through the mud to try achieve his aim of getting the Ospreys kicked out is beyond me. This vendetta is certainly not doing the Tigers any good.

And let us not forget it is not like they were the next best runners up, that was the Ospreys anyway. This was the team that came third. So please be quiet Mr Wheeler, you are only making yourself look silly and drawing attention to the fact that Leicester were 3rd best out of 4. Surely not your aim.

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After failing to get in through their rugby ability – coming third in the group in which the Ospreys qualified in 2nd they turned their attention to other matters. First was the official complaint by the Tigers board about the Lee Byrne, 16th man disaster… it was fairly obvious form the comments being made by the board they hoped to get the Ospreys kicked out and Leicester instated.

But that failed… as I said at the time I would have happily have allowed it if we also got to remove the England 03 world cup win – after all they did the same. So what did they do? Give up? Admit the better team qualified?

Well, no, not exactly. Instead they went running to the ERC about the Ospreys loan of South African scrum half Ricky Januarie not being legal. I know it was officially a PRL complaint, the umbrella organisation that manages all the GP clubs. But guess what organisation is represented by them? That’s right, Leicester Tigers. And guess who the PRL chairman supports? Got it again, Leicester Tigers.

Only that gambit has also failed. With the ERC ruling today, after reviewing all the paperwork, that there was no case to answer. Not that they had done wrong and hadn’t meant it, not that there was an honest mistake, but that there was no case to answer. Or in other words, the official complaint had no basis whatsoever.

So what is next? Maybe they could argue the Ospreys intentionally had the pitch 5mm smaller than approved guidelines? Or that the Ospreys’ socks weren’t regulation? I know, they could argue that you need to have a full front row and Cai Girffiths isn’t really a prop. Might have more legs than most of their complaints.

Mind you then we get tit for tat, should the Ospreys demand an investigation into the Tigers salary cap, for example? It could all get very messy.

Hopefully now the Tigers will admit that they failed on the pitch, maybe now they will let the Ospreys actually prepare for the quarter final without acting the sore loser, yet again. Or maybe not, I’m certainly not holding my breath.

Leicester an example of how a rugby club should be run? I bloody well hope not.

p.s. Picture and caption stolent shamelessly from http://www.nowrugby.com/mb/showthread.php?t=62502

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Are you thinking back? Remember the pain of knowing we would be without Adam Jones? There was a big debate over who would fill his sizeable boots – and the smart money seemed to be on Eiffon Roberts to step up and take on the best teams in the World.

Only it didn’t work out like that did it? To much shock and horror Warren Gatland instead chose Mr Paul James, a loosehead with barely a handful of tight head appearances, to be the man that Wales relied upon to get them out of the top spot. The right call? Not as bad a one as I thought, but I still think it was the wrong one. But it is not that I wish to bring to your attention.

Guiness Premiership

Instead I want you to remember the reasons that Mr Gatland gave for not picking Eiffon Roberts. One in particular. One he was much derided for by coaches and press alike. Struggling? Let me remind you.

The Guinness Premiership, having watched the games, is the weakest… I’ve ever seen,” said Gatland.

The outcry was tremendous – forums and press alike were livid at the suggestion. What was most telling though was the reaction of the Guiness Premiership spokesperson – who rushed to tell us that attendances were up. Says it all if you have to answer a rugby comment with a business one.

Fast forward to now. Assuming, of course, that the Ospreys stay in the Heineken cup following the whole 16 man controversy (which going by England in 03 they will), that means there are

• 4 French
• 2 Irish
• 1 Welsh
• 1 English

In the tournament. Disappointing from the Welsh, so we can hardly laud ourselves. But look at that stat for the English – the same amount, and in fact the English team to qualify were the lowest placed of all the teams.

Yes there are other things to take into account, yes the Welsh were just as bad. BUT considering the reaction at the time I think there are a wide number of people who need to go cap in hand to Mr Gatland and apologise. The Guinness Premiership is over rated by many. For my mind a more enjoyable league for the fan due to intensity (compared to the Magners League) – but the strength of their teams? That has been going downhill for awhile, and results seem to confirm this.

Of course this is just part of the build up to THE big game on Feb 6th…

Want to discuss this article? Use the comments below or discuss it on the forum at this post

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But to me this is getting silly now. Whilst there is obviously precedent in it happening with England in the 2003 World Cup there has to be levels of accountability – and surely the first stop has to be with the officials? Now I missed what Alan Lewis apparently ranted to the 4th official (I am told it was disgraceful but I was at the game so couldn’t here what he had to say) but let us be honest – a player taking the pitch should have been told by someone he is allowed back on.

I find it very unlikely Byrne ran on without being told that – meaning, as Scott Johnson said, there was a breakdown in communications somewhere. At that point is it the Ospreys or the officials fault? Personally I say officials but either way it wasn’t, imo, cheating but a simple error.

16 Men

Now Leicester officials (though to give him his dues, Richard Cockrill is saying that he isn’t interested in all this) are saying that having a 16th man on the field stopped them scoring a certain try. Possibly, though personally I doubt it – if Byrne hadn’t been on the field then Hook would still have been playing 15 and would have it covered too.

But for me there was a 16th man on that field at times – for Leicester, Alan Lewis. Now I am not talking about the breakdown reffing (I felt he was poor there, pinging the Ospreys for coming in from the side whilst ignoring Leicester. No, what I am talking about is he actually seemed to be playing as a dummy runner for them, or at least a linebacker.

Amazingly, in the move Leicester are referring to, Alan Lewis managed, if memory serves, to get in the way of our defenders TWICE, without whistling. I especially remember him blocking off one of our players as the ball bounced loose (think it was Paul James) so instead of us winning the ball they grabbed it and made significant headway to our tryline – if I am remembering when this move happened correctly it was this moment that Byrne intervened and they are complaining about.

So forgive me if I lack a care for the Ospreys having 50 seconds (not several minutes thank you BBC) of 16 players, but given the reffing standards from Alan Lewis (who, inexplicably, has been winning plaudits in the press before this game – press members who obviously don’t like to see breakdowns contested) I am inclined to say that the Ospreys should have had longer with 16 men to even things up.

I don’t like complaining about the ref soccer style but in the stands there was a general feeling that it was taking a lot of effort not to boo the ref.

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I have heard the excuses, most notably current injuries – 7 I think at last count.  And some to important players such as Regan King, Dafydd Jones and most recently Matthew Rees.  But to me they are just that, excuses.  The Ospreys, whilst admittedly having far more money than the Scarlets, have absorbed a far bigger list of injuries to their best players.  The Blues have struggled more on that front, but despite having a squad about as thin as that in Llanelli have managed to outperform them.

The Reamining Season

But the question has to be asked… where now?  Two successive defeats (and heavy ones at that) against Leinster have ruled them out of the Henieken Cup so the Magners League becomes a priority.  Remember that the bottom placed Welsh side no longer goes into a play off against an Italian one to get into the Heineken Cup, they go straight into the bottom tier competition. Considering the money spinning ties, TV deals and sponsorship monies for being in the Heineken cup that is a massive blow – and one the Scarlets can ill afford.

So with focus on the Magners League things become important, including today’s Blues vs Dragons game… the Cardiff Blues are only just above them and the Dragons have a history of falling away after a promising start. But the Scarlets will find it tough going to catch either as both are in considerably better form that the Llanelli side can claim to be.

Nigel Davies and Problems

It is important to look beyond this season though. Ask the question, is Nigel Davies the right guy for the job? When he was appointed for Wales I questioned what he has done to deserve it and still I question why he deserves to be in charge of the Llanelli Scarlets (sorry, forgot, they have dropped the Llanelli now). He was backs coach when they started to go down hill in that regard and the Welsh attack during his tenure as international attack coach was toothless.

The front 5 needs to be addressed, but, aside from signing Rhys Thomas (currently injured but far from a tight 5 expert), nothing has been done to address the lack of power from 4 of the front 5 (both Rees and Owens are quality at hooker though). They got schooled by the Ospreys scrum and dominated at the breakdown – and remember the Ospreys have struggled in those two areas against top class opposition themselves (though have been improving game on game since September).

Their attack looked little prepared to break down the Ospreys defence, again one that has struggled against top class opposition, getting into high scoring ties vs Leicester and Clermont whilst the defence was torn to shreds by Leinster – the positioning especially looked clueless.

I know this will annoy some of the Scarlet supporters but I don’t see much changing. If they get their players back then they might be able to try fight for mid table, but it would take a big, concerted effort and other regions falling off the pace. The question that first needs to be asked is – will the Scarlets see Heineken cup rugby next season?

A question I have asked here – feel free to have your say on the matter too! (includes a poll)

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Did you know that over 20,000 turned up to watch the Ospreys yesterday?  The problem?  It was in Italy, not Wales.  That’s right, the Italians get (a reported) 20,543 to watch Viadana vs the Ospreys.  Even at £5 a ticket do you think the Ospreys will get close to that?

But more worrying is what is going on down at the rubbishly named Cardiff City Stadium.  There was a reported 10k there for the biggest game of Cardiff’s season so far (and a game that really makes their season worth playing on in)… but most who were there question that.

You see the reported figures have been poor at Cardiff recently, they couldn’t manage 20k to the Australia game, one the Ospreys sold out to ahead of the game a couple of years ago.  And that is reported, most people who go along to these games regularly say how it doesn’t look that many.  The reported figure, it seems, always includes season ticketers who didn’t turn up, which gives a nice boost.

So where are they?

The Cardiff Blues are paying through the nose for rent at Cardiff City Stadium, but aren’t getting the crowds to back it up.  But they should – they had 27k to a pool game just last year, in the Millenium Stadium.  The lack of atmosphere means that any game is dead anyway, even if we get told there are 8k there, or whatever.

That rent means they must be operating at a loss, a big loss – suggestion is that rent comes in at roughly £60k a game.  Add wages, costs for policing etc on top and think about how much money a ‘home game’ is going to cost, not make.

Cardiff Arms Park got crowds in, has a center of town location, had atmosphere and earned big profits for the region.  Yes a higher capacity was needed – but couldnt the MS be used, or take one off games to the new stadium?

The crowds are down, the money is down and the costs up, isn’t it time for the Blues management to say ‘we made a mistake’?

It seems not, but the suggestion is that it is not for rugby reasons but for the hope that the lease (a 14 year one apparently) the Cardiff Blues have at CAP will be bought off, giving a massive pay out that will allow loans given by prominent figures to be paid off.  I don’t know if that’s true, or the full facts on that, but it does seem that the Blues board are less than keen for the fans to know the full information in the background.

I hope they prove me wrong, come out and show why this is a good move in terms of figures and for the region as a whole.  But I don’t see it, I really, really don’t.  As far as i am concerned it is time for Cardiff to get back to their spiritual home.  No wonder a lot of the die hards are staying away, it is hard to blame them.

Some debate about this article is going on here – Rugby Rebels thread (gets a little heated)

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For those that missed the fairly innocuous looking line it says

The match against Viadana is probably the biggest game of the season so far for the Ospreys.

Fair enough… or not. Well firstly I have my doubts. Of the season so far surely Leicester or Clermont Auvergne were more important, and bigger, games. I know we need the 5 points from each of the two Viadana games to help the cause in the Heineken Cup but surely we must consider this game smaller than some of the Magners League games.

Only it looks like we don’t. We just beat Munster when shorne of 5 British Lions, a massive win that puts us back into contention at the top of the league. But we are still in 5th whilst top 4 go into the play offs – every game counts. But that isn’t considered as important a game.

To most Welsh fans it is the derbies that matter most, but one look at the side that the Ospreys sent to Cardiff (sorry, Cardiff City stadium, what a crap name) and you’ll see that they obviously didn’t care about that game either, the points or the fans feelings about it.

So I have to ask (and indeed have done so here) do the Ospreys care about the ML at all?

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With Jamie Nutbrown also out injured for 10 weeks after picking up a knee injury in the same game the Ospreys yet again face a crisis at scrum half – the same position they found them in at this time last season.

Considering how vital Mike Phillips is to the Ospreys and Welsh game plan this is a massive blow for the Ospreys before they take on their big rivals Cardiff Blues on the weekend, but at least from the Osprey’s perspective there is hope Mike will be back before the remaining big Heineken cup games in January.

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