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Forgotten 2013 Lions star to lead Ospreys alongside debutant for tilt at PRO14 'market leaders'
Forgotten star of the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour, Dan Lydiate, will lead Ospreys for the third time this season when they take on Leinster this weekend. The 32-year-old be will joined in the engine room by Wales Test internationals Adam Beard and Bradley Davis.
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The chop tackle technique became a mini-trend in the game in the early 2010s and Lydiate was its key exponent and was largely credited for driving its popularity. Capped 64 times for his country, injury and a move to Racing 92 disrupted his Test career.
The 32-year-old hasn’t been capped by Wales since 2016 when a cruel injury against South Africa once again put pay to any Test ambitions.
Alongside him in the back-row is Gareth Evans at number 8 and Will Griffiths who makes his first PRO14 start for the Ospreys. An unchanged front five sees Rhodri Jones, Dewi Lake and Ma’afu Fia line up in the front-row and Adam Beard and Bradley Davies in the second. Ifan Phillips, Gareth Thomas and Tom Botha provide the cover off the bench alongside Olly Cracknell and Ospreys debutant Rhys Davies.
In the backs Cai Evans comes into the starting line-up alongside the unchanged duo of Luke Morgan and Mat Protheroe on the wings. Joe Hawkins and Scott Williams maintain the centre partnership with Reuben Morgan-Williams and Josh Thomas taking the keys to nine and ten shirts once again.
Off the bench Callum Carson is named after making his PRO14 debut last weekend, alongside the experienced duo of Hanno Dirksen and Shaun Venter.
Speaking ahead of the game, Head Coach Toby Booth said: “I am less worried about Leinster and where they are in their journey as a team, everyone knows how good they are, they are the market leaders in the PRO14. Everyone knows they are there to aspire to but we can’t control them and I am more interested in what we do and how we respond from last week.
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“The character side of our team I am really proud of. The ability to keep fighting until the bitter end and we came up short, only just, last Monday, but if we have good character, a good culture and consistent performances you get closer to teams like Leinster.
“We are looking forward to the challenge and it’s another opportunity to see where we are.”
Ospreys:
15. Cai Evans
14. Mat Protheroe
13. Scott Williams
12. Joe Hawkins
11. Luke Morgan
10. Josh Thomas
9. Reuben Morgan-Williams
1. Rhodri Jones
2. Dewi Lake
3. Ma’afu Fia
4. Adam Beard
5. Bradley Davies
6. Will Griffiths
7. Dan Lydiate ©
8.Gareth Evans
16. Ifan Phillips
17. Gareth Thomas
18. Tom Botha
19. Rhys Davies
20. Olly Cracknell
21. Shaun Venter
22. Callum Carson
23. Hanno Dirksen.
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Liberty Stadium, Swansea
Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU, 10th Championship Appearance)
Assistant Referees: Adam Jones and Ben Whitehouse (both WRU)
TMO: Tim Hayes (WRU)
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Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to comments