Ospreys team to face “dangerous” Connacht

Posted on Oct 26, 2012 in Ospreys

Ospreys forwards coach, Jon Humphreys is looking forward to meeting a well-prepared Connacht in their Saturday afternoon clash at the Liberty.

Humphreys says: “Connacht are a very dangerous team, Eric Elwood has taken what was already a tough, physical group and looked to expand their game. We know that we are going to have be well prepared, diligent and focused if we are going to get what we want out of this fixture, and it’ll need to be a real team effort on and off the field.

“It’s a traditional Saturday afternoon kick-off, allowing families to come out and support the cause, and we’re looking forward to it. This is the first game in a very important period of the season. We’ve got four PRO12 games over the next six weeks, three of them at home, plus a couple of LV games as well, and it’s where we’ll really see what depth we’ve got in the squad.

“I genuinely believe that it’s this time of the year where we’ve won some of our previous league titles, where boys have stepped in and stood up, many of them youngsters who’ve taken their chance and never looked back. You can list people like Hanno, Tips, Bevington, Beck, even go as far as people like Bishop, Alun Wyn and Ian Evans, they’ve all got their chance in the international break and never looked back. It’s an opportunity for players in the group and for supporters to see who is next on the block for us.

“With it being a half past two kick-off on Saturday we’ll hope for a healthy crowd and a good atmosphere that we can all enjoy.”

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Ospreys team to play Zebre

Posted on Oct 4, 2012 in Ospreys

Ospreys Head Coach, Steve Tandy believes the Ospreys’ win over Munster was a big moment for the region, built on attitude, desire and commitment. He does, however, realise there is still a lot of work to do and the Ospreys are far from perfect.

Tandy said: “This is a big game for us and it’s important that we keep the momentum that we’ve built up over the last couple of weeks going. The whole squad has worked hard and last Saturday you could see clear signs that we are heading in the right direction.

“The win over Munster was about attitude, desire and commitment, typified by the way the team defended in their 22 in the closing minutes, they weren’t content to just sit back with the game won. We can’t get carried away though, we realise that we aren’t perfect and we’ve still got a lot of work to do, there’s plenty to put right.

“It’s the first time for us to play Zebre but as a group we are all well aware of the threat they’ll pose. We’ve struggled in Italy before, not least the defeat to Treviso at the start of this season so we know that we will have to approach the game just like we did the Scarlets and Munster matches and be at our very best, before coming home to kick-off Europe against Treviso at the Liberty Stadium the following Friday, another very difficult game against a very good team where we’ll need the backing of a big, passionate crowd to help us.”

Forthcoming Fixtures

Fri 12 Oct – 20.00KO – Ospreys v Benetton Treviso – Heineken Cup

Sun 21 Oct – 15.00KO – Leicester Tigers v Ospreys – Heineken Cup

Sat 27 Oct – 14.30KO – Ospreys v Connacht – RaboDirect PRO12

Sun 4 Nov – 16.00KO – Ospreys v Leinster – RaboDirect PRO12

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Ospreys team news: Tandy looking for improvement

Posted on Sep 13, 2012 in Ospreys

Ospreys Head Coach, Steve Tandy is looking for a big improvement falling two successive defeats and sees Glasgow as a big threat, despite their poor start to the season.

He said: “This is an important game for us, against a very good, very powerful and very dangerous Glasgow team. Like us they’ll be disappointed at the start they’ve had, but we know they are a real threat. They were in the PRO12 semis last season, as they were two years ago, and just as we haven’t become a bad team on the back of two defeats neither have they.

“We are well aware that we need to improve from where we’ve been over the last two weeks but we also know where we are in terms of a long season and the need to balance things out for the squad and take a look at everybody. We’ve been able to change things about to give some more boys a chance, but we’ve selected a team good enough to do the job, just as was the case in the last two games.

“Obviously we’ve been hugely disappointed by how things have gone but the finger isn’t hovering over the panic button. We’ve reviewed Saturday’s game and what went right and wrong on the night. We aren’t that far away from where we want to be, but in reality we need big improvements in application, discipline and accuracy if we are going to turn possession and chances into wins. We need to get back to what we were doing at the end of last season, playing mature, intelligent rugby that allowed us to go through the phases and really make it count.

“Hopefully there’ll be another big crowd there. The support last Saturday was great and we need the same again to lift the boys and really help them across the line. The difference the supporters can make is huge.”

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Hanno Dirksen signs on for another two years

Posted on May 17, 2012 in Ospreys

The Ospreys have announced that they have secured the services of young winger and crowd favourite, Hanno Dirksen for another two years, contracting him until the end of the 2013/14 season.

The 21-year old has been a huge success for the Ospreys this season, scoring eight tries in 24 appearances, including the RaboDirect PRO12 Try of the Season against Edinburgh at Murrayfield in February.

Dirksen commented:

“I’m very happy. The Ospreys are the best team in Wales and I’m really happy to be a part of the organisation. I feel at home here, everybody has made very welcome and this is my region so I’m happy that I can continue playing for the Ospreys.

“I’ve been given some chances this season and I think I’ve taken them the best I can. It’s great to be playing and training with top class players, Wales internationals and Lions, it’s been an absolutely amazing year for me. It’s nice to be in a squad with so many top class players that I can learn off.

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