Ulster Rugby vs Ospreys

THE LEADERS ON THE PITCH AND OFF

by ROD NAWN

It is not often that a rugby club can claim to have created a hinterland of support from three great names with spectacular traditions.

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…

MATCH PREVIEW

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ULSTER RUGBY

www. ulster rugby.com