I hate being negative after such a brilliant and convincing win...but I'm going to be
The Ospreys were rubbish. They offered a token resistance really, won a lucky turnover early on and kept the pressure up until we eventually won it back and then only had a couple of other decent spells in the game. They would make one big hit in the middle of the field and then sit back as if that was job done, once we put on a bit of footwork or had someone latching on to the ball carrier they didn't want to know. Two things stood out that really illustrated how brutal they were. One was Noel going backwards with the ball but still being able to bash his way forward and gain some yards. I know he's improved his physicality over the last few years but come on. The second was the effort of the Ospreys' defender who bit in on the Byrne (can't actually remember who passed and who scored) who gave the scoring pass, he may as well have stayed in Wales with that kind of effort.
Absolutely agree with all the comments about how good Frawley was with the ball, but his defence was awful. He definitely missed three tackles during their pressure earlier on and there may have been one more, and his positioning wasn't good either. He was all over the shop for the try they got too. Penny was similar, got caught a couple of times (when he was beside Frawley actually) but other than that he was outstanding, and in fairness I think he was wrecked after about an hour so don't blame him too much for his last mistake. Both had brilliant performances overall though. Frawley really does have great variety to his play, really skillful player and reads things brilliantly. Penny's instincts are top class, he just has that ability to know where a ball is going to end up that you just can't teach and his power and aggression means he can take advantage of it. I felt sorry for Will Connors during the game, Penny just kicked on brilliantly from his A team performances.
I'm a big fan of Nick and when he announced that he was off and people were saying he wasn't great I was thinking that he doesn't have any standout feature but that he's very good at everything. Last night he was poor in almost everything. His passing was all over the place, Frawley did really well to cope with some balls over his head, and his kicking was awful. He did some good things too and it was only one game, but it was a bad (half) day at the office. HOS looked the same as he usually does to me, brilliant when he just whips the ball away from the base, really hesistant when he has to make any kind of decision.
Fardy was head and shoulders above everyone else for me. His tackling and pressure at the breakdown when we were under pressure early on were immense and then once we got possession and territory he was able to switch to being a brilliant carrier and showing great hands, his work for COB's try really summed up everything good about Fardy in attack.
To me it looks like Molony might have finally grown into himself. There have been times when he looked to struggle with the extra weight put on and times where he looked underpowered, think he might have the balance right now and he's looking really solid and impressive. I thought he looked very assured in the A games this season and he took that into the game last night, it would be a huge boost for us if he's finally going to offer consistency.
Doris was very solid but I'm slightly disappointed that he's not making more of an impact. I've no doubt it'll come but from seeing him over the last couple of seasons I did think he'd explode onto the scene straight away. Deegan looked really sharp when he came on.
COB looked really good, pretty confident that he'll come very good for us and he offers us something different. Good to see Adam looking solid and confident too, thought he did well. I've never really rated Keenan and was worried when he got turned over early on but he was excellent after that. To outrun Giles as he was controlling the ball at his feet was very impressive!
Don't get me wrong, it was a really good performance and there's a lot to be happy about, but just didn't think it was as perfect as others did.