Ospreys Away, 21st of Feb
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- Leo Cullen
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Ospreys Away, 21st of Feb
Assuming Deegan and Doris are unavailable due to Irish commitments it will be interesting to see who plays 8..
Re: Ospreys Away, 21st of Feb
Ruddock is probably the choice although it's a few seasons since he played there.
Look out Itchy, he's Irish
Re: Ospreys Away, 21st of Feb
This game is being played at The Gnoll in Neath rather than Liberty Stadium in Swansea. Given recent weather in Wales and the forecast for the week this could be an old-school game of winter rugby on a heavy pitch.
Look out Itchy, he's Irish
- LeRouxIsPHat
- Jamie Heaslip
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Re: Ospreys Away, 21st of Feb
Could be a good chance for our props to improve on the Cheetahs game so.cormac wrote:This game is being played at The Gnoll in Neath rather than Liberty Stadium in Swansea. Given recent weather in Wales and the forecast for the week this could be an old-school game of winter rugby on a heavy pitch.
The Ospreys were much improved against Ulster, Mike Ruddock must be having an impact. It wasn't a high quality game but they were well organised and had more grit about them.
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- Leo Cullen
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Re: Ospreys Away, 21st of Feb
Ruddock make sense.. I thought Josh Murphy at 8 maybe?
Played there recently for Leinster A.
Played there recently for Leinster A.
Re: Ospreys Away, 21st of Feb
What's the word on Conan?
Ruddock's tackle stats consistently too low for me to be taken seriously as a Six Nations blindside..... Ruddock's defensive stats don't stack up. - All Blacks Nil, Jan 15th, 2014
England A 8 - 14 Ireland A, 25th Jan 2014
Ruddock(c) 19/2 Tackles
England A 8 - 14 Ireland A, 25th Jan 2014
Ruddock(c) 19/2 Tackles
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Re: Ospreys Away, 21st of Feb
Lancaster said he'd probably be back for our trip to SA.paddyor wrote:What's the word on Conan?
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- Leo Cullen
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Re: Ospreys Away, 21st of Feb
Conan pictured back in training today.
Re: Ospreys Away, 21st of Feb
Might take him a while to get up to speed as a foot injury makes it hard to do aerobic exercise. (Although they probably have some mad scientist way round that nowadays)mildlyinterested wrote:Conan pictured back in training today.
Re: Ospreys Away, 21st of Feb
Moonboot, crossed with non impact work for the legs (pool work etc)johng wrote:Might take him a while to get up to speed as a foot injury makes it hard to do aerobic exercise. (Although they probably have some mad scientist way round that nowadays)mildlyinterested wrote:Conan pictured back in training today.
Anyone But New Zealand
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Re: Ospreys Away, 21st of Feb
The 42 mentioned last week that it was his ankle that was injured. I'm guessing that was just an error but I did wonder if there was more to the injury than we heard at the time, hence there being a longer recovery period than they said initially.
Re: Ospreys Away, 21st of Feb
Assuming we get a few back who aren't in Irish plans, I'd go for something like:
Dooley, Tracy, Bent, Fardy, Molony, Murphy, Connors, Ruddock, JGP, Frawley, Lowe, Tomane, JOB, DK, RK
Milne, Cronin, Aungier/Salanoa, Baird, Penny, McGrath, HB, Ferg
Dooley, Tracy, Bent, Fardy, Molony, Murphy, Connors, Ruddock, JGP, Frawley, Lowe, Tomane, JOB, DK, RK
Milne, Cronin, Aungier/Salanoa, Baird, Penny, McGrath, HB, Ferg
- outcast eddie
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Re: Ospreys Away, 21st of Feb
I'd be interested to know the reason for this location, Ruddock directive, cost of turning on the lights in the Liberty, bringing the Ospreys to the masses?cormac wrote:This game is being played at The Gnoll in Neath rather than Liberty Stadium in Swansea. Given recent weather in Wales and the forecast for the week this could be an old-school game of winter rugby on a heavy pitch.
I've never been there but I suspect it will rival Rodney Parade as a bleak outpost in the Pro 14 fixture list; combine that with a weak scrum, abusive, lubed up valley commandos on a wet Friday night and our standing in the league, this may well be our first loss of the season.
The odds are good but the goods are odd.
Re: Ospreys Away, 21st of Feb
No conspiracy, it's just that Swansea City are at the Liberty the following day with not enough time to prepare the pitch.outcast eddie wrote:I'd be interested to know the reason for this location, Ruddock directive, cost of turning on the lights in the Liberty, bringing the Ospreys to the masses?cormac wrote:This game is being played at The Gnoll in Neath rather than Liberty Stadium in Swansea. Given recent weather in Wales and the forecast for the week this could be an old-school game of winter rugby on a heavy pitch.
I've never been there but I suspect it will rival Rodney Parade as a bleak outpost in the Pro 14 fixture list; combine that with a weak scrum, abusive, lubed up valley commandos on a wet Friday night and our standing in the league, this may well be our first loss of the season.
It looks delightful:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gnoll
Re: Ospreys Away, 21st of Feb
We've played there once before. On the 29th November 2003 the following team recorded a 36-25 win away against the Ospreys.
Dempsey; McWeeney, O'Driscoll, Quinlan, D'Arcy; Contepomi, O'Meara; Corrigan, Byrne, Coyle; O'Kelly, Gissing; Dillon, Gleeson, Costello.
Bench: Hickie, Molloy, Kearney, Breslin, O'Riordan, Warner, Brown
Tries: O'Driscoll x2, D'Arcy x2, McWeeney, Warner
Convs: O'Meara x3
Dempsey; McWeeney, O'Driscoll, Quinlan, D'Arcy; Contepomi, O'Meara; Corrigan, Byrne, Coyle; O'Kelly, Gissing; Dillon, Gleeson, Costello.
Bench: Hickie, Molloy, Kearney, Breslin, O'Riordan, Warner, Brown
Tries: O'Driscoll x2, D'Arcy x2, McWeeney, Warner
Convs: O'Meara x3
Look out Itchy, he's Irish
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- Leo Cullen
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Re: Ospreys Away, 21st of Feb
There will be more rotation than that.wixfjord wrote:Assuming we get a few back who aren't in Irish plans, I'd go for something like:
Dooley, Tracy, Bent, Fardy, Molony, Murphy, Connors, Ruddock, JGP, Frawley, Lowe, Tomane, JOB, DK, RK
Milne, Cronin, Aungier/Salanoa, Baird, Penny, McGrath, HB, Ferg
Re: Ospreys Away, 21st of Feb
I've been to the Liberty Stadium (for this fixture in 2007) and it is already a "bleak outpost" of Swansea, which is hardly a sprawling metropolis...the idea that there is a bleaker, further outpost is at the same time amusing and depressing.outcast eddie wrote:I'd be interested to know the reason for this location, Ruddock directive, cost of turning on the lights in the Liberty, bringing the Ospreys to the masses?cormac wrote:This game is being played at The Gnoll in Neath rather than Liberty Stadium in Swansea. Given recent weather in Wales and the forecast for the week this could be an old-school game of winter rugby on a heavy pitch.
I've never been there but I suspect it will rival Rodney Parade as a bleak outpost in the Pro 14 fixture list; combine that with a weak scrum, abusive, lubed up valley commandos on a wet Friday night and our standing in the league, this may well be our first loss of the season.
Interestingly, on the train from Bristol to that game I got talking to a man from Neath who is rugby-mad but said he would never go to an Ospreys match as the "region" was formed by merging the professional parts of the Swansea and Neath rugby clubs, who were - up to that point - sworn rivals. The Welsh made such a mess of creating their regions; a quick look at a map shows that about 90% of the country (land, not population) doesn't fall into one of the "regions".
Last edited by joooooe on February 19th, 2020, 3:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Ospreys Away, 21st of Feb
This is going to be a tough game. Nobody wants to, or has ever wanted to, play at the Gnoll.mildlyinterested wrote:There will be more rotation than that.wixfjord wrote:Assuming we get a few back who aren't in Irish plans, I'd go for something like:
Dooley, Tracy, Bent, Fardy, Molony, Murphy, Connors, Ruddock, JGP, Frawley, Lowe, Tomane, JOB, DK, RK
Milne, Cronin, Aungier/Salanoa, Baird, Penny, McGrath, HB, Ferg
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Re: Ospreys Away, 21st of Feb
There is an apocyrphal tale/joke about the Neath father who would bring his children up into the hills so they could watch the Germans bomb Swanseajoooooe wrote:
Interestingly, on the train from Bristol to that game I got talking to a man from Neath who is rugby-mad but said he would never go to an Ospreys match as the "region" was formed by merging the professional parts of the Swansea and Neath rugby clubs, who were - up to that point - sworn rivals.
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- Leo Cullen
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Re: Ospreys Away, 21st of Feb
I don't doubt it but still think there'll be more rotation than that.hugonaut wrote:This is going to be a tough game. Nobody wants to, or has ever wanted to, play at the Gnoll.mildlyinterested wrote:There will be more rotation than that.wixfjord wrote:Assuming we get a few back who aren't in Irish plans, I'd go for something like:
Dooley, Tracy, Bent, Fardy, Molony, Murphy, Connors, Ruddock, JGP, Frawley, Lowe, Tomane, JOB, DK, RK
Milne, Cronin, Aungier/Salanoa, Baird, Penny, McGrath, HB, Ferg