Cardiff pushing Ospreys all the way

The Magners league Table currently looks like this:

The Magners League: Table

27 April 2007

Pos Team      Pld  P/D Points

1.   Leinster   18   81    56

2.   Ospreys   17   68    54

3.   Cardiff B  17   121   53

4.   Ulster      19   107   51

5.   Glasgow   18   30    45

6.   Llanelli S  17   11     43

7.   Edinburgh 17  -31    41

8.   Munster    17   33    40

9.   Newport D 16   1     35

10. Connacht  18  -116  26

11. Borders    18  -305   12

With the following games remaining this weekend:-

Munster v Dragons (Sat)

Scarlets v Edinburgh (Sun)

Of which neither should have any impact on the title race. Cardiff’s last gasp victory against Ulster all but put Ulster them out of the title race. Glasgow snatching a rare away win at Ravenhill last night confirmed this. That leaves three teams in with a realistic shout at the title, Leinster who lead by 2 points from the Ospreys and 3 points from Cardiff, both of whom have a game in hand. The Ospreys beating Leinster in their final home match of the season last night, leaves them favourites for the title, but anything other than BP wins away at Glasgow, N/G Dragons and Borders, in the final ever game played by that region, would open the door for Cardiff and Leinster who meet in a possible title decider on the final weekend of the season. Leinster’s other fixture this season is a home game against the Borders. As this will probably be a 5 point win for Leinster, the pressure is on Cardiff to win their remaining Welsh derbies to give themselves a shout at the title on the last day of the season.

Here are the final league fixtures for the top three teams, make of them what you will:-

1 May
Cardiff Blues v Newport Gwent Dragons (Arms Park, 1910 BST)

4 May

Glasgow Warriors v Ospreys (Hughenden, 1930 BST)

5 May
Llanelli Scarlets v Cardiff Blues (Stradey Park, 1735 BST)
Leinster v Border Reivers (Donnybrook, 1930 BST)

8 May
Newport Gwent Dragons v Ospreys (Rodney Parade, 1935 BST)

11/12/13 May
Border Reivers v Ospreys (Netherdale)
Cardiff Blues v Leinster (Arms Park)

I fancy Cardiff to win with a bonus point on Tuesday but Llanelli away, the following Saturday, is always a tough game. That said however, a great performance down there and the title could be in our hands. The Ospreys simply need three bonus point victories to secure the title.