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Auteurs d'un remarquable début de saison
Ospreys unbeaten start to the Guinness PRO12 suggests they could be ready to put three years of European misery behind them.
Steve Tandy’s men are the only unbeaten side in Europe’s top three leagues having won five from five to kick-off their league campaign in style. The visit of PRO12 bottom club Benetton Treviso could see them make it six from six, but Europe has not been kind to the Welsh region in recent years.
After making the Heineken Cup quarter-final for three consecutive seasons they have not been able to get passed the pool stages since 2011. But Ospreys number eight Dan Baker is hoping to prove the region’s doubters wrong when the European Rugby Champions Cup gets under way next weekend.
Baker and his colleagues have been handed a challenging Pool 5 draw, where they will face Aviva Premiership champions Northampton, French giants Racing Metro and Treviso.
“I admit, when I saw the draw my jaw did drop a little bit,” said Baker. “But all we can do is get on with it. There is no easy group in that competition, it is not as though there is another group you look at and think you would rather have been in there.
“People will look at us up against Northampton, the English champions, and a very strong Racing Metro side and they will write us off. They can think we are underdogs and we will be happy with that. It means we have nothing to be afraid of and nothing to lose.”
Baker will hope to use the opening double-header, which sees the Ospreys host Treviso and travel to Franklin’s Gardens to meet the Saints, to enhance his Wales credentials. The 22-year-old impressed on the summer tour of South Africa, with his powerful carrying and deft offloading game, and is hungry for more Test experience.
He said: “It is an honour to play alongside some of those players in the Wales squad. There are Grand Slam winners and British & Irish Lions in there and they are all great with the younger players, they really try and bring you along and they are there for you. You see the standards they set and you have to try and get to it.”
Match Facts
- Ospreys have won four and drawn one of six meetings with Benetton Treviso in the Heineken Cup. Ospreys are the only team Benetton Treviso have beaten in the Heineken Cup since 2011.
- Ospreys and Benetton Treviso were two of the three lowest try-scoring teams in last season’s competition, averaging 0.5 and 0.3 tries per game respectively.
- Ospreys maintained the only 100% goal kicking success rate of any team in the competition last season.
- Justin Tipuric won 15 turnovers from just six games in last season’s tournament
Ospreys kicked off their European Rugby Champions Cup Pool 5 campaign in style with a bonus-point victory over Benetton Treviso at the Liberty Stadium. - 19/10/2014 15:28
Ospreys kicked off their European Rugby Champions Cup Pool 5 campaign in style with a bonus-point victory over Benetton Treviso at the Liberty Stadium.
A brace of tries from full-back Dan Evans plus further scores for Jeff Hassler, Rhys Webb and Dan Baker gave the Welsh side a handsome win, fly-half Dan Biggar added 17 points with the boot.
Treviso did at least manage to get themselves on the board with a late try from wing Ludovico Nitoglia, converted by Joe Carlisle, as they look towards their clash with Racing Metro 92.
The only blow for the Ospreys was an apparent neck injury suffered by No 8 Baker, which required lengthy treatment before the Wales international was stretchered off.
The result made it seven wins from seven for the Ospreys so far this season, they are the only unbeaten side in Europe, and sets them up for next weekend’s meeting with Northampton Saints at Franklin’s Gardens.
The home side were on the front foot from the off and Biggar quickly had them nine points to the good with three successful penalties.
The opening try came in the 22nd minute. A powerful scrum shove opened up space on the left where Evans broke the first line of defence, and Treviso’s scramble defence could not prevent Biggar’s short pass putting Hassler over.
Treviso thought they had a way back into the game when wing Ludovico Nitoglia raced over from Joe Carlisle’s half-break, but the score was ruled out for a forward pass.
Matters got worse for the visitors when replacement lock Marco Fuser saw yellow for illegally stopping a powerful Ospreys maul, and the hosts made the most of the numerical advantage as in-form scrum-half Webb burrowed over for his sixth try in just seven games.
No sooner had Fuser returned from the sin bin, Salesi Manu was handed a 10-minute rest for also infringing in a maul.
Again the Ospreys capitalised, with Evans eventually getting the ball down as the Treviso defence desperately tried to hold him up over the line.
Baker soon brought up the bonus point as he cantered over before his afternoon was unfortunately ended by injury.
Evans got his second try after Biggar made an arcing break in midfield and Webb’s miss pass found the full-back free on the left.
But Treviso had the last word as Nitoglia scampered clear to score behind the posts.?
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