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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His ball carrying should be useful, as will Bradley Davies’, still in the team after his superb game last time out against france. Charteris gets yet another chance to prove his worth at international level, joining him in the backrow. JT will also be looking for a big game after being anonymous for much of the French game.

Matthew Rees makes a come back despite next to no game time, hopefully his lineout accuracy will be a plus. huw Bennett drops to the bench but to be honest Owens must be wondering what he has to do to deserve a spot in the 22, never mind the team. Bennett being there at all is going to be very unpopular with a number of Welsh rugby fans.

Martyn Williams captains in the absence of Ryan Jones. A worthy captain certainly.

In the backs it is much ‘as you were’, with Rees starting at scrum half, although Peel takes Phillips’ spot on the bench, Gatland presumably noticing that actually Spikey Mike really hasn’t played much rugby after all…

Wales Team

WALES: L Byrne; L Halfpenny, J Hook, J Roberts, S Williams; S Jones, R Rees; P James, M Rees, A Jones, B Davies, L Charteris, J Thomas, G Delve, M Williams (capt).
Reps: H Bennett, R Gill, I Gough, S Warburton, D Peel, A Bishop, T Shanklin.

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The next in crap reality shows will be called 71 Degrees North and will feature our Gav, Shane Ritchie and someone called Susie Amy, which a quick Google Image search tells me is fairly cute but not enough to actually make me care about the show – or less annoyed that Henson has decided he is more of a TV Star than a rugby player these days.

Tango

The only thing I can think is that Henson has decided it is time to step up his media image, after all he is yet to land that endorsement he truly wants – a Tango advert. Now before I have defended Gavin Henson, even his time off. But this one takes the biscuit, he has gone from telling us he wishes he didn’t make such a fuss in the media when he was younger to taking part in a reality TV show.

The reality show seems up his street, it is a trek through Norway undergoing a series of endurance challenges. But I am afraid this is the start…

Think about what could happen. A ‘living with the Osbournes’ style ‘At Home with the Henson’s (or even the Church’s) perhaps?

Or worse – we know Charolette is about to go onto a show called ‘Over the Rainbow’ as a singing judge, could we be seeing the ramp up to Gavin the pop star? Woner what he would sing.

Or maybe I called it right before – and he is going to be starring in the West End. After all his other half is on the judging panel for the reality show to get stars for musicals. What part could he play?

My prediction suggested Danny in Grease – and it is looking more and more likely. Excuse me, I shall end this hear – I’m off down the bookies to place a bet on Gavin being in a musical in the next few years.

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Fans are invited to go along (no having to book in advance) and ask questions of Jonathon Davies, Ciaran Fitzgerald and Mike Galway. Would be interesting to hear their views on what is happening to both Welsh and Irish rugby at the moment. Though sometimes it is harder to avoid Jiffy’s views on the game than it is to hear them.

So if you are in Ireland and want a chance to hear some legends speak, no doubt through either a layer of beer or a stinking hangover, then pop along.

Johnathan Davies heads up a list of rugby legends speaking at the Arlington Hotel, Dublin, ahead of Wales’ game with Ireland at Croke Park on March 13th.

Welsh fans will get the chance to question three rugby legends about their experiences and predictions for the game at a free event held in the heart of Dublin before the RBS Six Nations fixture.

The Arlington Hotel on O’Connell Bridge will turn into the Welsh fans headquarters during the build up to the game at the event which will also include Irish and British Lions legends Mick Galway and Ciaran Fitzgerald.

As well as serious questions, the legends will join in with the banter and discuss some of their other memorable moments on the pitch.

The forum kick’s off from 11:00am on match day, allowing fans enough time to take part in the event well in advance of the kick off time.

Louis Fitzgerald, Owner of the hotel, says: “The Arlington O’Connell is normally a hive of activity before the big Six Nation’s games and we wanted to give something back to the fans who visit us year on year by creating this event.

“Although I’ll be supporting the green jersey, it’s always a fantastic atmosphere in Dublin on match days with both sets of fans enjoying the craic.”

The panel:

Jonathan Davies was an inspirational fly-half for Wales in an international career that spanned eleven years either side of his switch to rugby league. Now a BBC commentator, Davies is respected for his technical knowledge of both rugby codes.

Mick Galway was capped 41 times at lock for Ireland and featured amongst the British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand – memorably scoring the winning try in Ireland’s 1993 victory over England.

Hooker Ciaran Fitzgerald captained Ireland to the Five Nations in 1983 and to two other triple crowns as well as featuring for the British Lions.

The Venue

The Arlington Hotel is centrally located; a minute’s walk from the famous Temple Bar district where many Irish fans without tickets to the match will be watching the game.

The three star hotel offers traditional Irish hospitality to its guests and visitors to its bar and restaurant.

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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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Friends are making jokes about it. Because that is what this has become, a joke. On the one hand we have shown we have the talent to dominate periods of matches, to take the game to them. On the other hand it takes 60 minutes for us to remember how… as an Ospreys fan I am used to that but I was hoping Wales would be better, seems they have caught the O’s disease.

What frustrated me most wasn’t that France deserved to win it – they didn’t do much, but then they didn’t have to. What was frustrating was we deserved to lose it. France played it simple because all they had to do was make tackles and wait for us to give it to them. We just made too many mistakes

Mistakes

There were plenty of these, Gatland and co certainly are left with questions to be answered – why our tactics have been the same constantly when it is obvious teams have worked us out (2 weeks running we have been confused by a blitz defence until at least half time).

But to be honest this time the players have to take more of the blame. There were elementary mistakes galore. I didn’t see the final tally but the BBC said 21 unforced errors with 10 minutes to go. You can’t make that many and hope to win a test match against average opposition – never mind against a team as good as France.

The lineout was a mess…. I think we have seen that Huw Bennett is not up to international rugby. He may add grunt around the park but we can not afford to consistently lose lineout ball as soon as we get ourselves into an attacking position. Matthew Rees is ahead of him in the pecking order but I think it is time to put Hibbard and Owens there as well.

Handling errors were shocking. Passes thrown blindly (Martyn Williams directly into touch), poorly (Hook to Charteris) or on automatic (Hook’s interception). 3 Interception tries this tournament is not good enough, we are giving teams games on a plate. But not just that the basic hands are letting us down, knock ons for no reason, dropped passes with no pressure, passes lobbed forwards or even when flat miles in front of the player (I’m looking at you again Hook).

The breakdown was at times improved, thanks in part to a magnificent effort by Bradley Davies even if you discount the emotional circumstances. But too often the runner was isolated, partly the fault of the runners for not taking support with them and partly the fault of the support. Jonathan Thomas was our hope for helping the breakdown and he was hit and miss… for periods of the game he did what we wanted, securing us quick ball, but for others he seemed to be missing.

The scrum was interesting. Going from hammered to winning and back to hammered on a regular basis. This is the same front row that destroyed Leicester in the Heineken cup so there should be no excuses.

Our backline lacked invention in the first half – it was simply the blind, blind, wide game we always play. I was texting a friend towards the end asking when Stephen Jones stopped being world class and just started going through the motions. How wrong he proved me in the 2nd half but it shouldn’t take a half time talk to change tactics. I don’t know how rigid Gatland has them playing but experienced players like Wellies should be able to alter a game plan far earlier if it isn’t working.

Players

A lot of negatives and not a lot of positives. As has been said Bradley Davies was superb… our best carrier by a long shot, a safe lineout option and a great rucker. If Evans comes back into form there is going to be one hell of a battle between Bradley Davies, Ian Evans and Alun Wyn Jones.

But there were a lot of negatives. Paul James’ work rate was again lacking – we know he is not Gethin but I would have thought he could have reproduced the work rate he has shown for the Ospreys this season. Apparently not.

Ryan was again a mixed bag, but to be honest the whole backrow misfired again and what really worried me is Martyn Williams. Hr is not the same player of even a year ago. I had hoped this was because Andy Powell was being used as a wide runner so he didn’t have the support. Whilst he didn’t play especially badly nothing about his game rose above average for me – and that game may well have suited the faster paced, harder running of Warburton. I don’t think it’s time to throw him out but I would like to see Warburton finish the Championship now to give him the experience ahead of a World Cup season.

Richie Rees didn’t let anyone down. Felt he drifted out of the game at times but in the 2nd half he injected some pace when needed, not just with the tap but also moving the ball much faster. It was as he has done when he has come on for Wales and I think the tactics of playing slower was not suiting his game. Very impressed considering I once wrote him off even as a regional player.

Jamie Roberts – butchered one chance, ran hard but I was hoping for more finesse from him now he has become more experienced as a 12. I know he is never going to be giving Henson like touches but a better awareness of what is around him would be useful But since James Hook was outside him maybe I can’t blame him for not passing.

I’m a stated James Hook fan but that was a woeful performance today. The interception try is becoming a trademark of his – running a move even when it is not on. But his defence was interesting positionally (in my opinion, posters on this thread on rugby rebels disagree with me so I am interested in looking again). His awareness was poor, his kicking average and all in all that was not a performance worthy of more caps. I am really not convinced by him at 13. Yes we need creativity but I question him being an outside centre. For me he is a 10/12 who can, when desperate, play 13/15. But I know many disagree.

Shane, pass aside, is finding his form again, which is great news. And Halfpenny is starting to get his groove back after a poor start to the season – I was especially impressed by his work under the high ball.

Lee Byrne was one hell of a mixed bag. Certainly not back to his best form he still kicked well, defended well and hit the line well (most of the time). But those kicks to touch, or more accurately not to touch, were wasteful and potentially cost us.

Misc

On the note of kicking – how much better was the kicking when we played the touchlines, both kicking in and the tramlines. We started gaining position, territtory. I know Warren gatland and Sean prefer the middle field kick and press – but it doesn’t work these days, time to change things.

Our defence needs changing as well. It held well enough, the tries were interceptions after all. But it used to be a weapon, a blitz in their face causing mistakes. Not any more. I know we changed it last season but time to say it’s not working and change back.

What is most frustrating about all this is that we are good enough to be winning these games, we show it in the game. But simple mistakes, tactically and by players, loses us position, ball and the game – yet again. The players need to take a long hard look at themselves. These are basic, unforced errors… and we are losing because they are playing like amateurs at times.

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The elbow injury he sustained vs Scotland has ruled him out of the 6 Nations, with a likely lay off time of 12 weeks (disappointingly also missing the Osreys’ Heineken Cup quarter final in France). This is a big blow to Wales who have, in my opinion, been suffering at ruck time.

Whilst Alun is not the dog of someone like Gough (beng more of a ‘flyer’) he still puts in some vital work at the breakdown, and was one of the few to show up with some decent carrying and workrate vs Scotland. Given that Jonathon Thomas is likely to move across from 2nd row to 6 (and rightly so, he is too lightweight to be an international 2nd row) in the absence of Andy Powell this is going to mean all change at 2nd row.

Ian Gough, Bradley Davies, Deniol Jones and Luke Charteris are the current locks in the squad and smart money is on Bradley taking one of the roles after an impressive showing from the bench. Luke Charteris has long been a favourite of Gatland’s and has been played a fair amount of international rugby recently, whilst Gough has found himself more in international wilderness and Jones has barely been mentioned.

My preference would be for Gough and Davies. We saw vs Scotland how having lightweight 2nd rows was an issue when it come to clearing rucks, and JT is best served on the flank anyway (the other option is him continuing at 2nd row with Dan Lydiate playing blindside). Both Gough and Bradley Davies have a huge amount of ‘dog’ about them, are quality clearers of rucks and will give our tight 5 more ‘oomph’, something it was severely lacking vs Scotland.

But however we look at it the loss of Alun Wyn Jones is a big blow. We need the incoming players to step up to the plate – not something that has happened all that often in the last couple of years.

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What do I mean by this? Gatland has traditionally made substitutions almost by numbers – always making the same substitutions at the same point in the game, with little effect in general. However vs Scotland he realised things needed changing and, for a change, wasn’t afraid to change them.

The Problem Was Balance

There were a number of issues, so I don’t want to make it sound like I am saying it was just one issue. BUT a big part of what went wrong was, in my opinion, balance.

As the commentary rightly said we found that our breakdown and contact area were being hammered by the more enthusiastic Scots. This is a worry, we should be more focussed, more aggressive – and Gats and co need to get on top of that.

What was especially clear to me though was that with Andy Powell on the pitch (not something we have to worry about now thanks to his golf buggy stealing antics) we lacked the blindside presence to properly compete at the breakdown. Our support was slow and our clearing poor – roles the blindside will often be involved in.

People argue that Powell brings with him a carrying game worthy of inclusion, but without quick ball there is no point in him being there – and with him at blindside we struggle to win quick ball. More than that though, we saw how effective the Scottish backrow were at slowing and spoiling our ball, but again our blindside was unable to even try it with them.

What Gatland did, in making his substitutions, was to change the balance. Bradley Davies looked good as a powerful ball carrier, and cleared well. Jonathon Thomas, so often a peripheral figure earlier in the game, came into his own when moved to blindside, effective at the breakdown as a carrier and spoiler. For anyone who thought maybe the Ospreys have found his natural position at 2nd row just take a look at this game.

The change was dramatic, helped initially be the introduction of Gethin Jenkins who plays just like another flanker. Whilst he did go off injured he brought impetus – but to be fair to Paul James it should not be the prop’s responsibility and Paul James still played very well at both scrum time and around the pitch.

Gareth Cooper was ponderous in the first half and whilst God knows I am no Richie Rees fan he was swift to the breakdown to get the ball away – another vital part of the breakdown. His service was pretty good and his decision making better than Cooper’s. We drastically miss Mike Phillips but fair play to Rees, he did well.

What we lacked most though was that balance at backrow. Ryan Jones may well be a 6 but when he is playing 8 he also has his own responsibilities – and he can’t be expected to do 2 jobs. I also felt Ryan improved his game when JT moved to 6 as he was freed of having to perform two roles.

Powell’s antics with the golf buggy now mean we have a backrow that all but selects itself (though Warburton should be played against Italy imo), and one with balance. I honestly think this could help save some face in the remaining games as it will allow us to compete at the breakdown, getting quick ball for ourselves and slowing down opposition ball.

There are plenty fo other problems, but this is a good start.

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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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