Scarlets looking to stay in top four race as they take on Italian side Zebre

Posted on Mar 21, 2013

The Scarlets travel to Italy on Friday night to take on Zebre for the first of five crucial games in their bid to gain a play-off place in the top four of the RaboDirect PRO12.

Zebre have lost all 23 matches they have played this season in all competitions, eight by seven points or less. Scarlets only defeat in the last four rounds of RaboDirect PRO12 play was 5-32 to Leinster in Dublin on 23 February.

The West Wales region have slipped up in Italy this season, going down 20-22 at Treviso on 29 September however the Scarlets won 22-13 when the two sides met in round 8 of this season’s RaboDirect PRO12.

After a two-week break in regional fixture action, the Scarlets have combined a few days break for players to refresh minds with training days at Parc y Scarlets to stay sharp and ensure the momentum built before the break wasn’t derailed.

And it’s been a healthy break from match action for the Scarlets squad, according to their Head Coach Simon Easterby, who said that this week’s full training sessions had showed that some time off had re-energised his team.

Back into the Scarlets starting line-up come three Welsh internationals, with Liam Williams moving to the wing as Gareth Owen returns from injury to take up the full-back spot after an impressive run of games earlier this year; Aaron Shingler starts in the back row alongside experienced colleagues Johnathan Edwards and captain Rob McCusker and Matthew Rees starts at hooker with another set of experienced Scarlets campaigners in the front row – props Phil John and Deacon Manu.

Wales international centre Scott Williams is on the Scarlets bench for some added strike power and Aled Davies get the number nine jersey to start with Owen Williams at outside half and impressive Wales 20 scrum-half talent Rhodri Williams on the bench.

Simon Easterby said: “We needed to finish the last block of rugby with a win which we secured against Edinburgh and the boys have benefitted from the chance to rest a few tired, bruised and battered bodies as well as the opportunity to clear their heads a little.

“It’s been a very positive week back in full training at Parc y Scarlets, with the boost of the international players coming back energised by their victory in the Six Nations and we are now clearly focused as a group on these next five games which we have to win to retain our control on a top four finish.

“During the international window, the players who remained at Parc y Scarlets shown real commitment and we have kept us in a good position.  We have to respect all the teams we play now and that includes how we approach our challenge against Zebre on Friday night.

“Zebre may have lost a lot of games this year but have come very close to teams at nearly every point – so we have to be really focused on our job in hand as players and as coaches. They will be very competitive and we will not be going out there underestimating what we need to do to get a result. 

“The Italian players will be very upbeat after Italy’s finish to the Six Nations and with that they will post a real threat to us and our ability to retain our control on our play-off ambitions.

“They’re well-coached and we are going to have to be really up for this and need a strong performance to get the result we need.

“We’ve hopefully managed time off with some good rugby preparation as well with our players – we will see the response to that on Friday night.”

“A play-off place is still in our control and that’s up to us to follow through with that now with results.”

Easterby said an exciting finish to the season was really building: “There is plenty to go in terms of the fixtures left, we have to play Glasgow and a lot of the top placed sides still have to play each other – so it’s going to be about points taken from taken from sides as well as the ones you win.  We are in the mix and it’s great that there is still so much to play for in the short amount of games left; we have potentially a really good run in.”

Scarlets Team v Zebre Friday March 22nd 2013 kick off 7pm at Stadio XXV Aprile; 15 Gareth Owen 14 Liam Williams, 13 Gareth Maule, 12 Adam Warren, 11 Andy Fenby, 10 Owen Williams, 9 Aled Davies, 1 Phil John, 2 Matthew Rees, 3 Deacon Manu, 4 George Earle, 5 Johan Synman, 6 Aaron Shingler, 7 Johnathan Edwards, 8 Rob McCusker (capt)

Replacements: 16 Emyr Phillips, 17 Rhodri Jones, 18 Jacobie Adriaanse,  19 Jake Ball,  20 Sione Timani, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Aled Thomas, 23 Scott Williams.

Wales internationals Ken Owens, Jon Davies and George North are rested following their intense campaigns during the Six Nations. The Scarlets internationals are expected to return for the big Double Header Welsh regions fixture ‘Judgment Day’ at the Millennium Stadium next Saturday March 30th (kick off 2.30pm Dragons v Scarlets & 5.15pm Blues v Ospreys).

Injured Scarlets players not available for selection include:  Rhys Priestland (Achilles), Josh Turnbull (shoulder), Tavis Knoyle (wrist), Samson Lee (back), Jordan Williams (pectoral), Richard Kelly (hand).

Ospreys’ Rees predicts bright future for Italian rugby

Posted on Oct 12, 2012

As the Ospreys prepare for the Heineken Cup opener against Benetton Treviso, Backs Coach Gruff Rees has spoken about his admiration for Friday night’s opponents.

The Italian team have long had a presence in European rugby’s elite competition, going right back to the inaugural 1995/96 season, but it is in recent years that they’ve really begun to make that presence felt, with significant wins coming over the likes of Biarritz and Perpignan, as well as a home draw against the Ospreys on the opening weekend of last season’s tournament.

According to Rees, Treviso’s introduction to the RaboDirect PRO12 has been beneficial for not only the club itself, but also, the league and Italian rugby in general.

“I’ve got a lot of time and respect for Treviso and what the people there have done” he said.

“Not just over the last few years since they entered the PRO12, but over the longer term. They’ve set a foundation in place at the club over five or six years with the current coaching group. I’m full of admiration for Franco Smith, I think he’s done a great job and along with his coaches they’ve instilled a good ethos around strong values. That’s been a real strength of theirs and they’ve developed some good players for Italian rugby.

“We’ve all seen how competitive they’ve been over two years in the RaboDirect. They’ve picked up some excellent results, including against us at the start of the season. It’s a credit to everyone involved and I can only see them growing, pushing forward year in, year out.”

With Leicester Tigers and Toulouse also in Pool Two, there are a number of exciting clashes in store for Ospreys fans, and Gruff insists that Treviso will play a big part in the final placings:

“They’ve got a very good home record, as good as most teams, and they picked up an impressive win away to Edinburgh last weekend” he pointed out.

“They’ve got a toughness about them and they’ll be coming to the Liberty full of confidence, looking to have a good crack at us as they did the first game of the season.

“They’ve got Toulouse at home the following week, and regardless of how the game goes here tomorrow night, they will be confident of doing something in that game, knowing that all three teams have to visit their place.

“It’s an exciting group and it’s particularly exciting for Italian rugby as I’ve no doubt that they will believe in their ability to make a real impression in this pool. We’re smart enough to look beyond any Italian stereotypes, this Treviso group have gone beyond that and the suggestion that they could pick up the occasional home win and then struggle away from home.

“All four teams in this pool will look at each other on an even keel, knowing that if they aren’t at their best on any given day then they could lose, regardless of the fixture and teams involved. It’s going to be an interesting competition.”

Gruff spent most of last season at the now defunct Aironi, and although now back in Ospreylia, he continues to follow Italian rugby closely. He is no doubt that the introduction of Italian teams to the PRO12 has been a huge success:

“Having two sides in the PRO12 has clearly invigorated Italian rugby from top to bottom” he said.

“It’s not just about Treviso, it’s definitely been advantageous for Italian rugby that there’s another outlet, another professional team, in the PRO12. Obviously I was involved for a while in Aironi and I’ve got a lot of time for what they achieved there. There were a lot of good players developed there in a short time, and making the transition from Italian club rugby to top end Celtic and European rugby.

“You’ve seen players like Venditti, Tebaldi, Trevisan, Favaro and De Marchi, they’ve come through directly as a result of what’s happened over the last couple of years in Italian rugby and really started to give the national team some strength in depth.

“It’s not just about the opportunity for younger players, the older ones are back playing in Italian rugby also, Bortolami, Bergamasco, Perugini. They are people who’ve been there and done it, been great stalwarts of Italian rugby, and having them back in the domestic game is having a positive influence.”

While rugby has traditionally fallen way down the sporting pecking order in Italy, from his time in the country Rees believes that the sport can continue to grow in importance, saying:

“It’s indisputable that they are hindered by the fact that as a national sport it is way down the pecking order. If you pick up the Gazetta, the national sport paper, rugby generally has a footprint on the last but one page where you’ve got wall-to-wall football, volleyball, handball, basketball, a host of different sports before that. That’s a real challenge.

“It’s not big in schools so they have to invest in the club set-up and that can be a strength. Players can come through a pathway at their club that brings them through to a level beneath Zebre and Treviso. They’ve got to consolidate and build on that, not just picking players from 16 and above, but looking at 11 to 16-year olds.

“I think the success of Treviso can be an inspiration. Treviso in the northeast is a real strong brand, they’re doing a really good job of recruiting and developing talent, with a strong ethos of coaching that is helping them to really establish the club as a force in the wider European game.

“There are pockets of Italy where there are some real strong footholds, and that is starting to take shape. Aironi as a brand were beginning to reach out across the northwest of Italy and took games to Milan where they had a crowd of close to 10,000 for a Heineken Cup game.

“Italian rugby can continue to grow and I believe that there is a bright future for the sport there. With the population bases it’s frightening to think of what they can achieve.”

Young lock set for Italian loan

Posted on Aug 30, 2012

Teenager Jack Jones will look to follow in the footsteps of Scott Baldwin by using a loan spell in Italy as the springboard to establishing himself at the Ospreys.

Baldwin enjoyed time with Serie A1 club ASR Milano last season, one of the regions’ official partner clubs in Italy, before returning to Ospreylia earlier this year to force his way into first team reckoning at the Liberty Stadium.

19-year old lock Jones will also make the trip to Italy to join another partner of the Ospreys, Rugby Rovigo Rugby Delta FEMI-CZ, on a season long loan to gain valuable experience on and off the field.

The Ospreys and Rovigo formalised their relationship with Rovigo in 2011, the region teaming up with one of the leading Italian clubs and 11 times winner of Super 10, the domestic championship in Italy, to share and exchange technical expertise and resources with a view to improving the organisational, commercial and competitive capabilities of the two organisations.

A product of the Ospreys Player Development Pathway, Jones played his early rugby at Tonmawr and was schooled at Ysgol Gyfun Ystalyfera and Llandovery College. Now a student at Neath Port Talbot College, he is an age-grade international and captained the Eyasses at U18 level. Son of former Swansea and Neath back-rower Robin Jones and grandson of the late Neath and Wales legend Brian Thomas, Jones captained Swansea last season at just 18-years old.

(more…)

Zebre team to face the Dragons

Posted on Aug 29, 2012

Zebre technical director Gajan has named the team that will face Dragons in the opening game of 2012/13 RaboDirect PRO12 in Newport.

Parma (Italy) – Zebre team to face the Dragons at the Rodney Parade in the first round of the RaboDirect PRO12 on Friday 31st August (kick-off 7pm local time ) has been named. First start in the competition for Italian winger Pace, flanker Cristiano, lock Caffini, irish prop Ryan and south-african number 8 Van Schalkwyk.

(more…)

RUGBY NEWS: Competition for places will benefit Ospreys

Posted on Aug 27, 2012

Kahn Fotuali’i is preparing for a real tussle for the Ospreys number nine jersey this season as he does battle with Wales scrum-half Rhys Webb for a place in the starting line-up.

The Samoan international arrived in Ospreylia last year from Super XV giants Crusaders, sharing duties with Webb throughout the season, and although it was Fotuali’i who started the PRO12 semi-final against Munster at the Liberty Stadium as the Ospreys soared to a 45-10 win, Webb was the one who got the nod two weeks later when the region secured a fourth league title with a nail-biting win over Leinster in Dublin.

As the new season draws nearer, the Auckland born half-back says that the competition between the pair will be a good thing:

“I think it’s good for the team, to have two players keeping each other on their toes” said Fotuali’i.

“I rate Webby really highly, we are two different types of players. For myself I’ve just got to concentrate on my own game, focus on what I do, and try to put pressure on him. He’ll certainly be putting pressure on me.

“Whoever gets to start will definitely do a job and then we’ll have someone coming off the bench who can make an impact and help to drive the team on. It’s going to be a good competition that will benefit the team and both players.”

After pre-season defeats to Clermont Auvergne and Bath Fotuali’i is quick to stress that preparations are the new campaign are going well, with the team building nicely ahead of the opening day trip to northern Italy to face Benetton Treviso.

“We know the results didn’t go our way, and we know that in particular the Bath game we didn’t play that well but that’s pre-season. You try new things out, look at different players and combinations, patterns of play all that kind of things, to see what works and what doesn’t. We used something like 50 players over the two games, which gives you an indication of the work that’s been done to identify where players are at.

(more…)