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ULSTER
RUGBY
www.
ulster
rugby.com
MATCH
PREVIEW
But the leaders of the Guinness PRO12 who
come to Kingspan Stadium tonight have a history
of breaking the mould, building a sporting and
commercial model the envy of many.
Ospreys was born out of Welsh rugby’s troubled
acceptance of the professional era, and the
decision in 2003 to establish strong regional
sides to counteract the declining influence of
the nation’s ten clubs. Swansea-Neath Ospreys
began life as a merger of those two fine clubs,
initially alternating home fixtures in those towns.
In time Bridgend would also be incorporated as
the club created a genuine community-based
rugby focus with a very professional commercial
arm.
The result was an area of Wales which is now
proudly known as Ospreylia.
It may sound like the fantasy imaginings of C.S.
Lewis or Lewis Carroll, but it is a ‘land’ which
provides a huge base of support for what has
become Wales’s most successful club. Its
‘citizens’ are the supporters who have seen four
Celtic League titles secured, have cheered an
Anglo-Welsh Cup victory at Twickenham, and
watched some of the greatest players in the
world on a weekly basis.
Now the Ospreys’ home is the state-of-the-art
Liberty Stadium in Swansea, and once more the
PRO12 pace has been set by a group of players
carefully managed by Head Coach Steve Tandy.
He’s still a stripling at 34, but as a former flanker
with the club, and someone who had immersed
himself in age-group coaching very early in his
career, he may have been stunned to be asked to
take charge at the Liberty Stadium in early 2012,
but he had a pedigree the management trusted.
He combined the latter part of his playing career
with coaching Bridgend to domestic domination,
and as the Ospreys looked to adapt to harsher
financial realities Tandy was ideally suited to take
over from Sean Holley.
His squad is still littered with names regularly
in Warren Gatland’s national side, but while the
memories left by Leigh Halfpenny, Mike Phillips,
Lee Byrne, Tommy Bowe and the twinkling
Shane Williams are now firmly entrenched in the
Ospreys’ history, the coaches now work with a
squad which puts great emphasis on developing
young talent.
The structure of the club is such that its
recruitment and scouting systems are second-
to-none, so players like Dan Evans, Eli Walker,
Rhys Webb and Daffydd Howells line up with
those such as Alun Wyn Jones, a Lion legend
now, and Justin Tipuric and the indefatigable and
instantly recognisable Duncan Jones.
It’s hardly surprising that other clubs – not
least Ulster – have looked at the Ospreys as
something of a model in terms of its playing
and commercial approach. The Welsh club now
can claim to be a global sporting ‘brand’, and
its careful choice of business partners and its
constant reinventions on and off the pitch have
inspired others throughout Europe.
Kingspan Stadium and its fantastic facilities,
Ulster’s increasingly obvious development of
young talent from across Ireland, and the thirst
for success resembles what Ospreys have
enjoyed - both are fuelled by a belief that only
totally professional systems on the pitch and
training ground, and in off-the-field management
and commercial partnerships, will secure quality
rugby and a solid future.
Ulster and the visitors will both field sides this
evening after Joe Schmidt and Gatland have
made their decisions about who they require for
big international matches on Saturday, against
Australia and South Africa respectively.
But it’s a measure of the depth and quality of
player resources in both camps that neither side
would claim to be weakened by national calls.
Neil Doak is negotiating his way through his first
few weeks in sole charge at Ulster, and he will
have been relishing the prospect of the leaders
arriving in Belfast. Both sides are superbly
coached, but Tandy and Doak are attack-
minded instinctively and though – as ever – two
formidable sets of forwards will dictate the early
pattern it will be a real surprise if this top-of-the-
table clash does not produce a healthy try return.
It’s a fascinating contest on a host of levels,
and not least because fans will see high-quality
performers from two of Europe’s most forward-
looking and exciting clubs. They have very
different roots in the professional game, but
they have found similar direction and certainty in
recognising that all that is best in sport can best
be secured by sound business management
skills.
But it’s the rugby which has created two
wonderful sides, meeting on a showpiece
Kingspan stage, so enjoy the spectacle, another
big Friday night game in Belfast.
And, now and again, just remember how
it came to be…
It is not often that a rugby club can claim to have created a hinterland
of support from three great names with spectacular traditions.
THE LEADERS
ON THE PITCH AND OFF
by ROD
NAWN