Ospreys V Cardiff Blues

[Ozzay]

Ospreys: Lee Byrne; Tommy Bowe, Sonny Parker, Andrew Bishop, Nikki Walker; Dan Biggar, Ricky Januarie; Paul James, Richard Hibbard, Adam Jones, Ian Gough, Jonathan Thomas, Jerry Collins, Marty Holah, Ryan Jones (capt).
Replacements: Huw Bennett, Cai Griffiths, Ian Evans, Filo Tiatia, Jamie Nutbrown, Jonathan Spratt, Gareth Owen.

Blues: Ben Blair; Richard Mustoe, Casey Laulala, Tom Shanklin, Tom James; Sam Norton-Knight, Richie Rees; Gethin Jenkins (capt), Rhys Thomas, Gary Powell, Bradley Davies, Scott Morgan, Robin Sowden Taylor, Xavier Rush.
Replacements: Gareth Williams, Taufa'au Filise, Paul ***o, Ben White, Gareth Cooper, Ceri Sweeney, Gareth Thomas.


Everytime i see SNK picked, i'm gutted. I'm not sure if Sweeney is any better though.

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

Both strong teams I'm looking forward to it. Great to see Byrne and Adam starting! Just a shame that Doctor Who overruns with the match...

 

[cyRil]

NO WAAAAAYY!!!!

 

[cyRil]

... Well, I thought it was good anyway. We won 26-0, Biggar was amazing and Cardiff were absolutely awful. I don't think we've ever had an easier set of Christmas derbies.
Oh, and just when you thought Norton-Knight couldn't get any worse...

 

[MunsterMan]

I'm not watching another Cardiff match until they sign a decent 10 (Parks doesn't count). Appalling stuff, found myself enjoying the GP match more.

 

[Olyy]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MunsterMan @ Jan 1 2010, 07:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I'm not watching another Cardiff match until they sign a decent 10 (Parks doesn't count). Appalling stuff, found myself enjoying the GP match more.[/b]

That's because Gaskell, Seymour and Briggs are amazing

 

[welshgazza1992]

Really good game for the Ospreys... we looked like we could have defended our line all day.
Dan Biggar looked superb... goal kicking was okay (missed the two harder conversions)... but place kicking was flawless.



Roll on the Heineken...

 

[RC]

I only caught this game a couple of hours ago (thank you sky plus) but that was a raping!
Ospreys didn't look that dangerous, but we took the points when we needed to and although our defence was good, Cardiff let themselves down greatly by so many unforced errors.
And by god, did any see a miracle happen on that field?
Sweeny came on, SNK went to full back and...holy crap...Sam Norton Knight had a positive effect on the game. He broke the gain line, he offloaded well, he was positionally aware and all this happened in the last 10 mins of the game when dai young decided to change things up a little.
Now then, did it have anything to do with SNK actually knowing what he was doing for once?
Something to think about, you'd hope. Then again, blues are going for Parks next season, so no use in positive thinking, really.

 

[Thingimubob]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (RC @ Jan 2 2010, 07:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I only caught this game a couple of hours ago (thank you sky plus) but that was a raping!
Ospreys didn't look that dangerous, but we took the points when we needed to and although our defence was good, Cardiff let themselves down greatly by so many unforced errors.
And by god, did any see a miracle happen on that field?
Sweeny came on, SNK went to full back and...holy crap...Sam Norton Knight had a positive effect on the game. He broke the gain line, he offloaded well, he was positionally aware and all this happened in the last 10 mins of the game when dai young decided to change things up a little.
Now then, did it have anything to do with SNK actually knowing what he was doing for once?
Something to think about, you'd hope. Then again, blues are going for Parks next season, so no use in positive thinking, really.[/b]

I gave up watching when Ryan Jones scored and switched over to the start of Doctor Who. Blues were utterly useless, was very frustrating to watch <_< . It just seems we fall to bits when some of our key players aren;t there (Roberts and Martyn Williams being the 2 main ones) and just decide to give up instead. Ospreys weren't even that amazing! Dan Biggar had a very good game though, going to be an interesting battle between him and Stephen Jones for the Welsh no.10 jersey in the 6 Nations.
I'm still very annoyed that the Blues are even considering signing Parks tbh, I mean ok he has been in great form for Glasgow, but why do we need to sign another foreign 10? Especially one that's in his 30's. I really think they need to try sand sign Hook, mostly because Hook very much wants to play 10, which will be hard for him to do with Biggar playing as well as he is. Would be great for the National side too, seeing that a potential national half-back partnership could be brewing in each region Phillips and Biggar at the O's, Wayne Evans and Tovey at the Dragons, Richie Rees/Cooper and Hook at the Blues and Martyn Roberts and Stephen Jones at the Scarlets.

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

Notron-Knight seems to me to be a good fullback, but a poor fly-half.

Ospreys played well, Blues didn't. I would have liked to have got a bonus ponit, but at least it was a win.

 

[Bluemoon]

There is a horrible rumour going around that Mr.Ben Blair is off to france, SNK goes full back, Parks in to be fly half.

Blair is probably our most tactically aware player. Another good player being released.

 

[RC]

SNK is a good full back, he showed glimpses of it in the Ospreys game.
But he's just overwhelmed in a position he can't play.
Ben Blair leaving is bad news, i heard that a few weeks ago, but SNK can do a good job back there.
Fly half is without a doubt your big problem...and as other members have suggested Hook would do the job there nicely and it would help Wales a lot as well.

 

[MunsterMan]

Ospreys are keeping Hook until 2012 according to a report last week after Cardiff tried to buy out his contract, this was before they went for Parks obviously.

 

[RC]

But we're not gonna use Hook!
This is just greedy...

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

Hook has this season proved to be a mtach-winning centre on multiple occasions this season. He's proved to be an average fly-half as well.

 

[cyRil]

Exactly. I had said a couple of weeks ago that I'd be happy if Hook went to the Blues so he could get time at 10. But we'd like him as a quality centre actually, so Cardiff can go do one. Johnson really needs to drill into Hook that his future is at 12/13 and he can become a world-class centre, because he will never be an outstanding Fly-half.

I'm guessing Cardiff will try and ride out these next c.18 months, before they can re-sign Nicky Robinson and become a decent side again.