Shane Williams: It pains me but Scarlets will shade my Ospreys
Steve Tandy’s side have made it difficult for themselves in the last few months. They’ll be frustrated, because their poor run of results started completely unexpectedly with that shock loss to Treviso. They didn’t turn up in that game, and things have spiralled from there with their Challenge Cup loss to Stade Francais and damaging league reversals to Leinster and Cardiff Blues.
Deep down, they will know they have lost games they should have won. I still think both teams are good enough to make the play-offs, but I went down to watch the Ospreys in training this week and it was interesting to see the environment up close. In typical Tandy fashion, Steve is putting all the pressure on himself as we reach the nitty gritty.
When you get to this stage of the season as a player, all you are thinking about is making the semi-finals. There is no point worrying about anything else and once you get there, you can see what happens. If you are in and around the top four then you’ve had a pretty good season regardless, so you must still be doing some things right.
I know people make a big thing about playing at home in the last four and that can be an obvious advantage. But if you’re fighting tooth and nail to get there, then the truth is you take whatever you can get in terms of a semi-final.
I just look at my own career and with the Ospreys, we played some of our best rugby away from home so there’s no reason you can’t win on the road. In my time, we won a Celtic League title away to Leinster, and that just goes to show what can be done. I scored two tries in that game and it remains one of the best memories of my career with the Ospreys.
All that said, Scarlets against Ospreys on Saturday is going to be some game.
If you look at recent results, the Scarlets are on top. To see the Ospreys lose games recently has been disheartening and disappointing and it means those wearing red will be favourites this weekend. Can they cope with that? Time will tell. They’ve got the momentum and a confident Scarlets side is always difficult to stop.
In players like Jonathan Davies, Scott Williams and Liam Williams, they have lots of talent. On the back of his Lions selection, I’m sure Liam will want to go out on a high before his move to Saracens this summer. Liam is always 100 per cent committed in whatever he does, but he’ll see his time in Llanelli coming to an end and what better way to go out than with a PRO12 title? That would be some achievement.
It won’t be difficult for either team to get up for a Welsh derby with so much at stake and it’s also massively important for rugby in this country that we get a team into the semi-finals. Europe was disappointing this season, with only the Scarlets in the Champions Cup, so it’d be nice to be able to cheer on a Welsh team when it really matters at the end of the season.
The Scarlets and Ospreys will take the focus, but let’s not forget the Dragons and Blues. They meet at Caerphilly which will be strange for all involved. I suppose in some ways it’s neutral ground! I played there a long, long time ago and it’s a really nice little ground. I’m sure there will be a good crowd because it’s not the biggest of stadiums and that could help both teams by creating a great atmosphere.
The Blues will be favourites and rightly so. They were brilliant against the Ospreys on Judgement Day and should have too much for the Dragons. If they can finish seventh there’s still a chance of them playing Champions Cup rugby via the play-offs and I’m sure they’ll be going all out for that.
The Dragons won’t lie down, though, and it all points to an exciting finale.
Hopefully, from a Welsh point of view, we’ll have three teams still with games left to play once it all comes to an end.
