RugbyRebels

I enjoyed the match and I beleive the result went the right way. I was impressed by the Scarlets scrum Rob Evans had the Ospreys tight head in problems and with injury to Arhip they are going to be pushed in future games unless they can shure up that position.

AWJ was immense again but the contact area was an area of contest not for the feint of heart.

But to the yellow cards were the Scarlets major issue ..Rob Evans was clear with the new directives but the others were mistakes in the heat of the moment. But what it did was make the Scarlets devoid of any real attacking option or threat and with 2 in the second half it gave the match to the Ospreys.
It did not really hit the Scarlets in the points stakes when they were down to 14 just blunted everything they tried to do in constructive attack.

That said two of the sin bins were caused by Osprey pressure so that was a positive for them . Lineouts went well as did the good follow up and pressure added to the kicks kept Scarlets in their own part of the pitch for most of the second half.

It may have not been the try fest running play that the media pumped it up to be... but it was the match I expected ..nothing asked or given and relentless pressure on all players. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

A deserved victory for the Ospreys fan but a frustrating one - they never cut loose or got the points their second half dominance should have given them. Too many errors. I would have liked to have seen Sam Davies at fly half for some of the time (although his performance wasn't error free either).

Anyway, the O's contained the Scarlets for the whole match - Llanelli never looked dangerous. No bonus point but - job done.

This was largely the same Os team that has been on a recent run of romps against inferior opposition. Coming off that into a derby against a battle-hardened Scarlets side, I was worried. I'd have taken any kind of win, and for Os to show that they can also win an ugly scrap against a hard team, was very pleasing.

Less pleasing was how we got done over at the breakdown, particularly in the first half. If the Scarlets back row had penetration to match their dog on the deck, we'd have been staring down the barrel at the half. Os forwards, conversely, found the hard yards quite easy at times, but things invariably went to pot when recycling was required. Whether to blame them, Leonard, or both is a moot point I suppose.

It wasn't a match for back-three players to shine but Sam D, Sanjay and Giles all got themselves involved. Leonard had a decent game with the ball but his distribution is still laboured and I'd rather see Habberfield starting. Scott W appears to be going through a bit of a slump; one late run aside he was largely anonymous, again.

Sourdust wrote:Scott W appears to be going through a bit of a slump; one late run aside he was largely anonymous, again.

Well, after now seeing the state of his face after he came back on, I certainly take that back!

Yep SW would have a problem seeing a gap with one eye shut but his defence was still up there.
As to the backrow the Scarlets had two jacklers and Ospreys one and Barclay is the best disruptor in the league. But the Ospreys used Baker to carry and get over the gainline more.For me the net effect of both teams tactics was a draw.
Whether it was pressure that brought the Scarlets yellows or just poor judgement in the heat of the moment is hard to say but probably a bit of both .