OSPREYS (RUGBY TEAM)

The 'Ospreys' (Welsh: ''Y Gweilch''), formerly the 'Neath-Swansea Ospreys'^[1] (''Gweilch Tawe-Nedd''), are a rugby union team from Wales, playing in the Celtic League, EDF Energy Cup and the Heineken Cup/European Challenge Cup. At the start of the 2005-2006 season, they dropped Neath and Swansea from their name to become simply the Ospreys, although the company is still Neath-Swansea Ospreys.

Contents

Strip

History

Ospreys A

Home ground

Statistics

Current Squad

Notable former players

Management

Club honours

See also

Footnotes

External links

Strip

The Ospreys strip is made up mainly black, grey and white and is currently manufactured by Kooga. The strip's primary sponsor is npower renewables, with secondary sponsorship including ASDA, eteach, Pinetree, Worthington's, John West Foods Ltd, Trade Centre Wales and Cardiff Doors. The Ospreys jersey is currently the second most popular by sales figures throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland, behind Munster.^[2]

History

The Ospreys are one of the five original clubs of the Welsh Regional Rugby Era. The club came into being in the summer of 2003 when the WRU controversially elected to reduce the current top tier of Welsh professional rugby from nine clubs into five regions, attempting to mirror the successful formats in Ireland and the Southern Hemisphere countries of South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
The Ospreys represent the whole of the Neath and Swansea areas in western Glamorgan, including areas of the Upper Swansea Valley, also encompassing Port Talbot and Aberavon. They were initially created as a partnership between the area's two most successful clubs - Neath RFC and Swansea RFC - who still retain ownership of the club on a 50:50 basis.
In the summer of 2004, due to the liquidation of the Celtic Warriors region, Neath-Swansea Ospreys had their borders extended to cover much of the Bridgend and Ogmore areas to the east. However, for logistical reasons, it was decided that no "home" games would be played at Bridgend RFC's Brewery Field.
After initial teething problems, which were inevitable given the storied historical rivalry between the two clubs, the Ospreys have settled down and claim to be Wales' 'one true region' thanks to the demise of the Celtic Warriors. Presented with initially one of the weaker squads (especially in depth) they performed admirably in their first year, earning by right a place in the 2004/05 European Rugby Cup. In 2004/5 they won the Celtic League.
In April 2006, it was announced that noted former New Zealand All Blacks scrum half Justin Marshall had signed to play for Ospreys. When it became apparent that Australia would not be able to face Wales 'A' 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.^[3]
The term Ospreylia has been 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.^[4]

Ospreys A

On the 23rd 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 since went on to play Worcester 'A' in April, a game which they lost 24-23 to an injury-time penalty.

Home ground

In their first two seasons, the Ospreys shared their home games between Swansea's St Helens ground (home of Swansea RFC) and Neath's The Gnoll ground (home of Neath RFC). For their third season, 2005-2006, they moved to the newly-developed Liberty Stadium in Landore which seats over 20,000, double the St Helens capacity. They have sold this stadium out against an international side (Australia, 1 November 2006 ^[5]) and against local rivals the Llanelli Scarlets. ^[6]

Statistics

===Celtic League===

Season	Pos	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Bonus	Points
2006/2007	1st	20	14	0	6	8	64
2005/2006	7th	22 ★	11	0	9	3	55
2004/2005	1st	20	16	1	3	10	76
2003/2004	5th	22	11	1	10	9	55

★ Includes 2 "Free Weekends" which equated to 4 points each.
===Celtic League Cup===

Season	Round	Match
2003/2004	1st	Leinster Lions 35 - 21 Neath-Swansea Ospreys

===Heineken Cup===

Season	Pool/Round	Pos	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Bonus	Points
2006/2007	Pool 3	2nd	6	4	1	1	2	20
2005/2006	Pool 4	3rd	6	2	0	4	1	9
2004/2005	Pool 4	3rd	6	3	0	3	2	14
2003/2004	Pool 2	4th	6	1	0	5	0	4

===Anglo-Welsh Cup===

Season	Group/Round	Pos	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Bonus	Points
2005/2006	Group A	3rd	3	1	0	2	2	6
2006/2007	Final

Current Squad

Notable former players

Management

Officer	Position
Lyn Jones	Head Coach
Sean Holley	Assistant Coach
Jonathan Humphreys	Forwards Coach
Huw Bevan	Fitness Coach
Alex Lawson	Fitness Coach
Damian Karauna	Video Analyst
Chris Towers	Physiotherapist
Daloni Lucas	Physiotherapist

Club honours

★ 'Celtic League' - 2004/05, 2006/07

See also

★ Celtic League

★ EDF Energy Cup

★ Heineken Cup

★ European Challenge Cup

Footnotes

1. The 'Ospreys' is the brand name of the team, since they now have more associates than just Neath and Swansea. The official name of the company behind the team is still 'Neath-Swansea Ospreys' (see also Ospreys Outrage! and Neath RFC - Ospreys fly!)
2. Rugby's most valuable shirt set to become UK's top seller
3. Wallabies to face Ospreys
4. Probably the best region in the World
5. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/my_club/ospreys/6094366.stm
6. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/low/rugby_union/my_club/ospreys/6208137.stm

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)