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Ospreys

Union	Welsh Rugby Union
Founded	2003; 16 years ago (2003)
Location	Swansea, Wales
Ground(s)	Liberty Stadium (Capacity: 20,827)
Chairman	David Jones
Coach(es)	Allen Clarke
Captain(s)	Justin Tipuric
Most caps	Alun Wyn Jones (236)
Top scorer	Dan Biggar (2,203)
Most tries	Shane Williams (57)
League(s)	Pro14, Conference A
2017–18	5th
1st kit 2nd kit
Official website
www.ospreysrugby.com

The Ospreys (Welsh: Y Gweilch), formerly the Neath-Swansea Ospreys^[1] is one of the four professional rugby union teams from Wales. They compete in the Pro14 and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team formed as a result of Neath RFC and Swansea RFC combining to create a new merged entity, as part of the new regional structure of Welsh rugby, that began in 2003. They are also affiliated with a number of local semi-professional and amateur clubs, including Welsh Premier Division sides Aberavon RFC, Bridgend Ravens, and original founding clubs Neath and Swansea. The regional area represented by the team has widely become known for rugby purposes as 'Ospreylia'.^[2]

Their main home ground is the Liberty Stadium, Swansea, although some smaller profile games have been played at the Brewery Field, Bridgend. Ospreys currently play in a black home strip, while the away strip is white and orange. The Ospreys logo consists of an image of an Osprey mask.

The Ospreys are the most successful Welsh team in the history of the Celtic League or Pro12 tournament, having won the competition four times. They also became the first and only Welsh regional team to beat a major touring side, defeating Australia 24–16 in 2006.^[3]

History

Cardiff Blues Cardiff Llanelli Scarlets Llanelli The Ospreys Swansea Neath Newport Gwent Dragons Newport The 4 Welsh Rugby Union Regions of Wales

Infancy

On 24 July 2003 it was announced that the new team jointly representing Neath RFC and Swansea RFC would be known as the Neath-Swansea Ospreys.^[4] The Ospreys part of the team's name was inspired by the use of the bird as Swansea RFC's centenary badge.^[5] Former Neath RFC coach Lyn Jones was appointed as head coach, who named Scott Gibbs as the team's first captain.^[6] 5 September 2003 saw the region play their first competitive game, a 41–30 Celtic League home win over Irish province Ulster at The Gnoll in Neath.^[7]Leeds Tykes were the Ospreys' first Heineken Cup opponents, with the English team triumphing 29–20 on 7 December 2003.^[8] They struggled to recover from their opening defeat, finishing bottom of their pool, recording their only victory against the Tykes' at home in the final round at St. Helens.^[9] Domestically the Ospreys' did salvage some pride, avoiding becoming the lowest placed Welsh region, by pipping Cardiff Blues to fifth place in the Celtic League.^[10]

Following the demise of the Celtic Warriors region on 1 June 2004,^[11] Neath-Swansea Ospreys had their borders extended to cover much of the Bridgend and Ogmore areas to the east.^[12] However, for logistical reasons it was decided that no home games would be played at Bridgend RFC's Brewery Field.^[13] Former Warriors players David Bishop, Brent Cockbain, Ryan Jones and Sonny Parker were signed by the Ospreys'.

2004–2007

The 2004–05 season saw significant on field improvement for the region. A capacity crowd of 10,280 were present at The Gnoll on 26 March 2005 to witness the Ospreys claim their first piece of silverware. A 29–12 win over Edinburgh, with two rounds of the competition still remaining, saw the team crowned Celtic League champions.^[14] However Impressive back to back wins over Harlequins were not enough to overcome Munster in the pool stages of that season's Heineken Cup. On 14 May 2005 it was announced that the 'Neath-Swansea' part of the team's name would be dropped, with them to be referred to as the Ospreys.^[1]

A growing sense of expectation surrounded the team heading into 2005–06, an expectation they struggled to cope with, finishing a disappointing seventh in the Celtic League. A difficult Heineken Cup pool made up of tough opposition in Leicester Tigers, Stade Francais and ASM Clermont Auvergne proved too difficult, as they finished a distant third. A gutsy home victory over Stade^[15] and a last gasp defeat to Leicester,^[16] did however offer some crumbs of comfort. In April 2006, it was announced that noted former New Zealand All Blacks scrum half Justin Marshall had signed to play for Ospreys.

The Ospreys won the Celtic League during the 2006/07 season, topping the league by a single point and taking the title with an away win at Borders. Winning the Celtic League for a second time meant the Ospreys were the first team to have won the Celtic League twice. In February 2008, the Ospreys provided 13 of the starting line-up for Wales in their Six Nations match against England, setting a new record for the number of players from one region playing for their national side. During the 2007/08 season the Ospreys reached Quarter-final of the Heineken Cup for the first time but unexpectedly lost to Saracens. The following week they won the EDF Energy Cup beating Leicester Tigers at Twickenham.

In November 2006 when it became apparent that Wales 'A' would not be able to face Australia A national rugby union team midweek during their November tour, the Ospreys became the first Welsh region to play a major international side since regional rugby was introduced, a match they won 24–16.^[17] Following the win over the Wallabies, the term Ospreylia became ingrained in popular culture^[18][19][20] with it being adopted by the region and its supporters as a description of the geographical area covered by the region, with supporters known as Ospreylians. Peter Black, Assembly Member for south west Wales has declared himself as AM for Ospreylia on his own blog.^[21]

On 23 February 2007, the Ospreys played their first 'A' team match, against Newport-Gwent Dragons 'A' at Bridgend, which was the first 'A' match fixture for any of the Welsh regional sides. They lost the match 22–10. They have since gone on to play Worcester 'A' in April, a game which they lost 24–23 to an injury-time penalty.

2008–2011

In February 2008 Andrew Hore was appointed as the Ospreys as elite performance director. Previously Hore had been high performance manager with the New Zealand Rugby Union.^[22]

A disappointing seventh-place finish in the Celtic League and a surprise Heineken Cup quarter-final exit to Saracens F.C. saw head coach Lyn Jones resign at the end of the 2007–08 season, on 16 May 2008 Assistant Coach Sean Holley and forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys would continue as part of a new management structure being overseen by Andrew Hore, until a replacement could be found.^[23]Scott Johnson, the former Head Coach of the Welsh national team, and Attack Coach when Wales won the Six Nations Championship Grand Slam in 2005 for the first time in 27 years, was announced as Director of Coaching at the Ospreys on 29 January 2009.

On 21 April 2009, the Ospreys had six players included in the British and Irish Lions' squad for the 2009 South African tour: Lee Byrne (Fullback), Tommy Bowe and Shane Williams (Wings), Mike Phillips (Scrum Half), Alun-Wyn Jones (Lock) and Adam Jones (Prop). One notable omission however, was Wales and Ospreys captain Ryan Jones. The Ospreys announced the signing of former New Zealand All Blacks captain Jerry Collins on 9 May 2009.^[24] Collins had been a stalwart for the All Blacks, since 2004 but retired from international rugby in 2008.

A 29–28 defeat by Biarritz on 10 April 2010 dashed the team's hopes of a first Heineken Cup semi-final appearance. A late Nicky Walker try in San Sebastien proved in vain.^[25] However, on 29 May 2010, the Ospreys won the 2009–10 Celtic League by defeating Leinster in the final by 17–12 at the RDS Arena in Dublin.^[26]

Following a wide-ranging review, Andrew Hore, previously elite performance director at the Ospreys, became on 26 April 2011 chief operations officer at the region.^[22]

2010–11 would not see the region reach the heights of the previous one. Despite winning all their home pool games in the Heineken Cup, a failure to win on the road proved costly, with Munster and Toulon progressing instead. Another win for Munster at Thomond Park on 14 May 2011, ended the Ospreys Celtic League aspirations at the semi-final stage.^[27]

2012–

Former player Steve Tandy was appointed as new Ospreys head coach on 15 February 2012 replacing Sean Holley in the role, as Scott Johnson also departed to take up a coaching role with Scotland.^[28] Both Holley and Johnson's final game as part of the coaching setup at the Liberty Stadium had been a 36–5 away loss to Biarritz, which marked the end of a Heineken Cup campaign that saw them again fail to win on their travels. New coach Tandy enjoyed a successful start to his tenure, winning eight of his first ten matches as full-time Head Coach, including winning the 2011–12 Pro12 following a 31–30 win over Leinster at the RDS, thanks to a late Shane Williams try in his final match for the region 29–30 and Dan Biggar adding a difficult conversion for the win 31–30.^[29] Ospreys have reached 2 semi-finals in the subsequent 5 seasons, but not made the final.

Honours

• 
  Celtic League/Pro12:
  
  • 
    Winners: 2004–05, 2006–07, 2009–10, 2011–12
  
  


• 
  Anglo-Welsh Cup
  
  
  
  • 
    Winners:2007–08
  
  
  • 
    Runners:2006–07
  
  
  
  

Season records

Celtic League / Pro12 / Pro14

Celtic Cup

Heineken Cup / Rugby Champions Cup

Rugby Challenge Cup

Anglo-Welsh Cup

Home grounds

Liberty Stadium

In their first two seasons, the Ospreys shared their home games between St Helen's (home ground of Swansea RFC) and The Gnoll (home ground of Neath RFC). Since their third season in 2005–06, they have played at the purpose-built 20,000 seat Liberty Stadium in Landore, Swansea, which is shared with Swansea City. The Liberty Stadium, with double the capacity of St Helen's, has seen a capacity crowd for the matches against international tourists Australia 'A' team (1 November 2006^[30]) and against local rivals the Scarlets.^[31] On 12 November 2010 the team played their first competitive fixture at the Brewery Field home ground of Bridgend Ravens in the Anglo-Welsh Cup.^[32]

Kit suppliers

From their foundation to the 2013–14 season, the Ospreys kit suppliers were Kooga. Between the seasons 2014-2017, BLK supplied the Ospreys kits. Canterbury will supply the kits for the 2018 season. Lovell Rugby will replace BT Sport as shirt centre sponsor.

Current standings

2018–19 Pro14 Table view · watch · edit · discuss
Conference A
	Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TBP	LBP	PTS
1	Glasgow Warriors	12	8	0	4	334	238	+96	46	27	8	1	41
2	Munster	12	8	0	4	365	219	+146	49	28	6	1	39
3	Connacht	12	7	0	5	278	222	+56	34	31	4	4	36
4	Ospreys	12	7	0	5	275	247	+28	32	29	3	2	33
5	Cardiff Blues	12	6	0	6	292	233	+59	33	30	4	4	32
6	Cheetahs	10	2	1	7	214	322	−108	31	42	4	3	17
7	Zebre	12	3	0	9	151	312	−161	19	37	3	1	16
Conference B
	Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TBP	LBP	PTS
1	Leinster	12	10	0	2	417	203	+214	58	24	8	1	49
2	Ulster	12	7	1	4	244	276	–32	29	33	2	1	33
3	Benetton	12	6	0	6	243	257	−14	32	33	4	3	31
4	Scarlets	12	6	0	6	296	288	+8	38	33	4	2	30
5	Edinburgh	12	6	0	6	246	271	−25	27	38	3	3	30
6	Dragons	12	4	0	8	195	333	−138	21	46	0	2	18
7	Southern Kings	10	1	0	9	200	329	−129	28	46	4	4	12
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order -[33] number of matches won the difference between points for and points against the number of tries scored the most points scored the difference between tries for and tries against the fewest red cards received the fewest yellow cards received
Green background indicates teams that compete in the Pro14 play-offs, and also earn a place in the 2019–20 European Champions Cup (excluding South African teams who are ineligible) Blue background indicates teams outside the play-off places that earn a place in the 2019–20 European Champions Cup Yellow background indicates the fourth-ranked eligible teams in each conference that play-off against each other for the seventh place in the 2019–20 European Champions Cup Plain background indicates teams that earn a place in the 2019–20 European Rugby Challenge Cup. (CH) Champions. (RU) Runners-up. (SF) Losing semi-finalists. (QF) Losing quarter-finalists. (PO) Champions Cup play-off winners.

Current squad

The Ospreys squad for 2018–19 is:^[34]

Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Player Position Union Scott Baldwin ‡ Hooker Wales Scott Otten Hooker Wales Sam Parry Hooker Wales Ifan Phillips Hooker Wales Tom Botha Prop South Africa Maʻafu Fia Prop Tonga Gheorghe Gajion Prop Moldova Alex Jeffries Prop Wales Rhodri Jones Prop Wales Nicky Smith Prop Wales Gareth Thomas Prop Wales Lloyd Ashley Lock Wales Adam Beard Lock Wales Bradley Davies ‡ Lock Wales Alun Wyn Jones ‡ Lock Wales Giorgi Nemsadze Lock Georgia James Ratti Lock Wales Dan Baker Back row Wales Olly Cracknell Back row Wales Sam Cross Back row Wales Will Jones Back row Wales James King Back row Wales Dan Lydiate ‡ Back row Wales Rob McCusker Back row Wales Justin Tipuric (c) Back row Wales Guido Volpi Back row Argentina

Player Position Union Matthew Aubrey Scrum-half Wales Aled Davies Scrum-half Wales Tom Habberfield Scrum-half Wales Harri Morgan Scrum-half Wales Reuben Morgan-Williams Scrum-half Wales Sam Davies Fly-half Wales Luke Price Fly-half Wales Cory Allen Centre Wales James Hook Centre Wales Johnny Kôtze Centre South Africa Joe Thomas Centre Wales Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler Centre Wales Owen Watkin Centre Wales Scott Williams Centre Wales Hanno Dirksen* Wing South Africa Keelan Giles Wing Wales Lesley Klim Wing Namibia Luke Morgan Wing Wales George North ‡ Wing Wales Tom Williams Wing Wales Dan Evans Fullback Wales

• * Denotes a player who is Welsh qualified.


• ‡ Denotes a player who is on a WRU 'National Dual Contract'.


• Notes:

Development Squad & Additional Players

The following players are graduates of Ospreys age grade rugby and will train as part of a B group:^[35]

Additional players that have represented the Ospreys but are not listed in the First Team squad or B group, or have represented the Ospreys Development Squad are also included here.^{[36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]}

Richard Fussell will lead the Ospreys development squad, assisted by Andrew Bishop and Duncan Jones.^[45]

Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Player Position Union Robert Jones Hooker Wales Dewi Lake Hooker Wales Cameron Lewis Hooker Wales Garin Lloyd Hooker Wales Garyn Daniels Prop Wales Rhys Davies Prop Wales Rowan Jenkins Prop Wales Jordan Roberts Prop Wales Rhys Henry Prop Wales Mitchell Walsh Prop Wales Jordan Walters Prop Wales Ed Cousins Lock Wales Matthew Dodd Lock Wales Matt Donnelly Lock Wales Will Griffiths Lock Wales Jay Williams Lock Wales Jake Woodward Lock Wales Mike Connor Back row Wales Charlie Davies Back row Wales Joe Grabham Back row Wales Chris John Back row Wales Morgan Morris Back row Wales Iwan Shenton Back row Wales Jamie Williams Back row Wales

Player Position Union Iwan Temlett Scrum-half Wales Cai Evans Fly-half Wales Josh Thomas Fly-half Wales Callum Carson Centre Wales Joe Jenkins Centre Wales Kieran Williams Centre Wales Ben Cambriani Wing Wales Dewi Cross Wing Wales Frankie Jones Wing Wales Caine Woolerton Fullback Wales Dylan Moss Fullback Wales

Coaching staff

Andrew Millward (Managing Director)
Allen Clarke (Head Coach)
Matt Sherratt (Backs Coach)
Brad Davis (Defence Coach)
Shaun Edwards (Consultancy Defence Coach)
Duncan Jones (Scrum Coach)
Richard Fussell (Skills Coach)
Andrew Bishop (Skills Coach)
Daniel Griffiths (Rugby General Manager)
Chris Davey (Head of International Recruitment)
Gareth Walters (Development Coach)
Chris Towers (Medical Performance Manager)
Simon Davies (Lead Doctor)
Matthew Bowen (Physio)
Anthony Carter (Physio)
Alex Lawson (Head of Strength & Conditioning)
Simon Church (Strength & Conditioning)
Shaun McAuliffe (Kit Custodian)
Craig Whelan (Senior Analyst)
Matt Bruce (Analyst)
Jon Williams (Dietician)
Stephen Mellalieu (Sports Psychologist)
Dai Davies (Team Logistics Manager)

Notable players & coaches

Welsh Internationals

The following players have represented Wales internationally and represented the Ospreys.^[46]

British and Irish Lions

The following players were selected for the British and Irish Lions touring squads while playing for the Ospreys.^[47]

Centurions

Players who have reached the 100 appearance mark for the Ospreys. The first numbers in brackets are the years they represented the Ospreys, while the second numbers in bold are the number of caps they received. Caps updated on 5 January 2019.

Notable Non-Welsh Players

Notable non-Welsh players who have international caps to their name and represented the Ospreys.^[46]

Former coaches

• 
  Lyn Jones (2003–2008)


• 
  Sean Holley (2008–2012)


• 
  Steve Tandy (2012–2018)

ERC Elite Awards

During the 10th anniversary season of the Heineken Cup, ERC, the tournament organisers, introduced the ERC Elite Awards scheme to recognise and reward the glittering list of elite players and teams who have made outstanding contributions to the northern hemisphere's leading club rugby tournament.

Ospreys were awarded the ERC team award for playing 50 games^[48]

Ospreys players who have been awarded 50 tournament caps are:^[49]

• Ian Gough


• Adam Jones


• Duncan Jones


• Shane Williams


• Jonathan Thomas


• Sonny Parker

See also

• Pro14


• Anglo-Welsh Cup


• Heineken Cup


• European Challenge Cup

Footnotes

External links

• Ospreys (official site)


• Ospreys on itsrugby.co.uk


• Aberavon RFC (official site)


• Bridgend RFC (official site)


• Neath RFC (official site)


• Swansea RFC (official site)