HC Blogs - 23rd Oct

The Ospreys pulled off a major upset against money no object French side Stade Francais at an overjoyed Liberty Stadium this afternoon.

In light of their dire start to the season, the Ospreys would have been happy to take even a bonus point of their opening “group of death” match.

Lyn Jones’s side must clearly have been bouyed when Stade took to the pitch in a glorious shade of pink. But it was the French side who played all the rugby, only being denied by a string of last ditch tackles, and there off colour Argentine full back Hernandez missing a couple of penalties.

A sickening clash of heads, saw Andy Lloyd stretchered off on the half hour point. Much to everybody’s relief the number eight only picked up a minor concussion. Lloyds’ injury appeared to rally the Ospreys, and an unlikely piece of genuine flair from Shaun Connor, allowed Sonny Parker to score under the sticks. A further Connor penalty truly rattled Stade, who trailed 10-3 at the interval.

The try or the break itself proved a significant turning point in the game for the home side, playing like men possesed they tackled and equally scrapped for every yard. The indecisiveness and lack of vision was counteracted by the stern disclipine and blitz defence that held Stade out. Julien Arias could not have got any closer to scoring, a desperate Richard Mustoe prevented the winger from grounding the ball, unfortunately Arias twisted his knee in the process.

Eventually Stade did score, scrum half Jérôme Fillol broke down the touchline before feeding Luca Borges who could not miss, the same however could not be said for Hernandez with the resulting conversion. Blatant obstruction from the kick off allowed Matthew Jones, on as a replacement for Connor to edge his side into a bit of comfort. Jones also made a string of high pressure clearances as Stade resorted to kitchen sink rugby, but sheer guts allowed the newly named Liberty stadium to erupt into sheer relief upon the final whistle.

Jonathan Thomas and Sonny Parker were immense in terms of their work rate, which will no doubt please Mike Ruddock, but Richie Pugh may have stuck his hand up also.

Had it not been for predominately passive scrums in Toulouse, the Scarlets would most probably have been on the end of a seventy-point drubbing, let alone the eventual half-century of points they collapsed to in France.

Toulouse are something else, few teams in Europe have the capability to compete with a team that can easily accommodate the absence of the mercurial Freddie Michalak.

The Scarlets are still short in every department of their game, and only a few strong individual performances restricted the home side, and gave them at least the faint hope of a bonus point.

Despite Toulouse being a vastly superior club side, it will be interesting to see how the few Scarlets in Welsh contention can translate their form to the international scene. Only Lee Byrne appears to be in Mike Ruddocks Autumn thoughts at the moment. Byrne though was shown up defensively, and Kevin Morgan based on his display against Castres is well ahead in the Welsh backline pecking order.

Gareth Cooper also appears to have planned his return from the sidelines to perfection, with a performance that was reminiscent of a few seasons ago. The Dragons like the Blues were very much Jekyll and Hyde. Paul Turner is getting closer to finding the right formula at Newport, even with an inexperienced and depleted front row. The physicality and elusiveness of the home side just put the match out of the Dragons reach. An away bonus point could prove so vital.

I was expecting a one sided game at the Arms Park, and in the end there was just about one. For forty minutes it was oh-so typical Cardiff, but in time Leeds afforded them enough time to warm up and gain some territory, and the gaps soon started to appear. Martyn Williams had a woeful match at open side, easily being over shadowed by his usual deputy Robin Sowden-Taylor. Perpignan will be the real make or break match for the Blues.