Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Where did it all go wrong for Ospreys? And all the other European rugby talking points

Saracens vs Glasgow in the Champions Cup

Ups and downs for potential Lions, new questions over Mike Ford’s brief future at Toulon, Saracens next in line to try and tame the Aviva beast – and what happened with the Ospreys?

Lions watch

Last week, Chris Ashton said in an interview with The Guardian that “my missus is closer to a Lions tour than me.” The Lions squad to tour New Zealand this summer is announced just a couple of days before the Champions Cup semifinals, and though the Saracens’ winger’s opinion of his chances may be right, it’s not for want of trying. He scored twice against Glasgow to join Vincent Clerc at the top of the all-time European marksmen list with 36 tournament tries as Sarries shredded Glasgow. But his defensive frailties were also on show, as he let Lee Jones slip free for the visitors’ opening try – although it could be argued it was not entirely his fault.

ADVERTISEMENT

Warren Gatland will also have noticed Finn Russell’s kicking radar went awry at the wrong moment, and may well also be sweating on news about Jonny Gray’s fitness. Another fly-half, Dan Biggar, did himself no favours with a petulant and patchy performance for Ospreys against Stade Francais in the Challenge Cup, but Simon Zebo did his chances no harm with a nerveless and faultless display at fullback against Toulouse. And playmaker fullback-cum-fly-half Joe Carbery’s status as armchair pundits’ bolter-in-chief must be assured after an astonishing man-of-the-match performance in Leinster’s win over Wasps.

There’s no place like home

All four host teams won at a canter in the weekend’s Champions Cup quarterfinals. It was the first time that every one of the last-eight encounters in Europe’s premier club rugby competition was won by a margin of 14 points or more – and, frankly, not one of the visiting sides looked likely to join Saracens in an exclusive club of visiting winners. In the past 16 quarterfinals, the Premiership side is the only team to have won on the road, and they have done it twice. Of all the losing visitors, Wasps possibly have the biggest grievance. Not because they should have beaten Leinster in Dublin; far from it, they were not so much second as maybe third best. But a late, late refereeing error in Galway in December cost them what turned out to be crucial home advantage.

[rugbypass-ad-banner id=”1473723660″]

Toulon days over for Mike Ford?

Ford’s days at the helm of ailing French rugby superpower Toulon were numbered, anyway, with the long-running will-they-won’t-they bromance between president Mourad Boudjellal and incoming director of rugby Fabien Galthie finally formalised last month by the signing of contract. But French rugby newspaper Midi Olympique has reported the weekend’s Champions League quarter-final defeat at Clermont may have been the last straw. According to the report, Boudjellal may be considering handing over firefighting duties for the rest of the season to forwards coach Marc Dal Maso, with injured duo Matt Giteau and Vincent Clerc helping out. If it all sounds just a little desperate, that’s because it probably is. There is not much time left to concentrate on the league, and Toulon’s place in the end-of-season play-offs – not to mention next year’s Champions Cup – remains far from certain.

Saracens turn to try to break Dublin hoodoo

In recent weeks, first England and then Wasps succumbed to the pressure of Irish intensity on and off the pitch in Dublin. In three weeks time, it’s Saracens’ turn to head across the Irish Sea to face a Celtic challenge in the second Champions Cup semifinal at fortress Aviva. As defending champions and the only English Premiership side standing in the competition, Mark McCall’s Sarries will hardly lack for motivation – but it’s rather easier to believe their mental and physical resilience means they are more likely to rise to the challenge than the two sides that tried and failed before them.

How did the Ospreys fall?

How did Ospreys lose their Challenge Cup quarter-final to Stade Francais? They had home advantage – or at least Principality advantage, as their usual ground, Liberty Stadium was being used for a soccer match. They dominated possession (70%) and territory (76%), made more breaks (12-3), beat more defenders (31-2) and ran twice as far with the ball in hand (656m to 330m). Only their scrum struggled. And, yet, the only stat that really matters reveals they lost 21-25.

Some of the Welsh side’s problems can be laid at referee Matthew Carley’s feet, with several decisions feeding the discussion topic needs of any rugby club’s Bullshit Corner forum for at least a week. Stade’s Josaia Raisuqe was sent off in the second-half for a second yellow-card offence when his first – a stamp on Keelan Giles – probably should have been a straight red. He ruled out one score for a forward pass that probably wasn’t, and allowed another that was scored after a pass that probably was. And glaciers move faster than Stade’s forward Hugh Pyle did when he was retreating from an offside position before the Pro12 side’s full-back Sam Davies decided to randomly pass him the ball that allowed him to release Julien Arias to score.

But the inescapable and inconvenient truth is Ospreys really have only themselves to blame. They let Stade make numerical disadvantage count, conceding two tries while a player up. Dan Biggar missed a penalty from in front of the posts and later failed to make touch with a penalty two minutes from time as Ospreys pressed for what would have been a late winning try. And they missed chance after chance after chance to put the game beyond the Parisians’ reach.

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Borthwick, it's time to own up – Andy Goode Borthwick, it's time to own up – Andy Goode
Search