JACKSON COLUMN: Ospreys won't settle for seventh heaven

Winning the Guinness PRO12 requires rather more than a flying start over the first two months. At this same stage of the season with almost one third of the 22-match championship played, the team out in front last year and the year before that ended up watching someone else waltz off with the trophy.

Twelve months ago, Munster occupied the perch now monopolised by the Ospreys. The Irish province won ten of their first eleven matches only to be stopped inside the distance, knocked out by the Warriors at Scotstoun in the play-off semi-final.

Two years ago, Ulster reeled off eleven straight wins and wound up losing the Final to Leinster. During both those campaigns, the champions were to be found in fourth place after seven rounds.

This time they are in fifth place, roughly their natural habitat going into the third month of the season. And in spite of an indifferent start, no neutral observer would bet against the holders finishing up in the Final as they always have done since its inception five years ago.

The Ospreys have beaten them twice on such grand occasions at the RDS, making light of ground disadvantage in 2010 and again two years later. Written off pre-season by some who should have known better, the best of the four Welsh teams have recovered from the recent loss of four Lions (Adam Jones, Ian Evans, Richard Hibbard, Ryan Jones) and reinvented themselves as title contenders.

Success, of course, brings its own penalties. With almost half their starting XV engaged on Wales duty, they still had enough in reserve to overcome Connacht, also handicapped by international calls, to make it seven wins out of seven.

One reason why head coach Steve Tandy will not be found basking in a deckchair beneath the blue skies always to be found at the top of the table is that he knows the really hard part will come soon enough. The resumption of Round 8 fixtures on November 21 leaves the Ospreys exposed to the meanest of all Friday night missions - Ulster at the Kingspan Stadium.

As if that's not daunting enough, the Ospreys then go back to Ireland the following week to confront Leinster in Dublin. The holders will by then have been reunited with their international contingent, a luxury which will be denied their challengers.

Because Wales, unlike Ireland, play a fourth Test this month, the Ospreys will have to carry on without such influential figures as Alun-Wyn Jones, Dan Biggar, Rhys Webb and a few more.

Others currently in the same boat, most notably the Warriors and Munster, will have their leading players back by then. Both kept winning last weekend despite each losing virtually a complete team in the national interest.

The Warriors lost an entire back line - Stuart Hogg, Sean Maitland, Alex Dunbar, Sean Lamont, Tommy Seymour, Finn Russell/Duncan Weir, Henry Pyrgos - and beat Treviso, their eighth win out of nine in all competitions this season.

Munster, led by the evergreen Donncha O'Callaghan, left it late at the BT Cardiff Arms Park, an eleventh-hour try from Paddy Butler pulling them through against the Blues 28-24. They took everything their Welsh opponents hurled them, including the novelty of a drop goal attempt from Adam Jones.

With a penalty already guaranteed, the veteran tighthead prop took aim from some 30 metres and looked up to see his under-clubbed effort bounce in front of the posts and roll under the crossbar much to his and everyone else's amusement.

Had he given it a bit more oomph, Jones might very easily have kicked himself into the history books by emulating the famous All Black Ian Clarke. When Sir Wilson Whineray's mighty New Zealanders finished their 34-match tour of Europe against the Barbarians at Cardiff Arms Park in February 1964, Clarke lined up against his compatriots.

He took his place in the Barbarian front row alongside the Wales prop Len Cunningham and the Ireland hooker who had captained the Lions five years earlier, Ronnie Dawson. Clarke duly accounted for the only points the Baa-baas scored, dropping a goal from 35 yards in the course of a 36-3 defeat.

And while on the subject, drop goals in the Guinness PRO12 so far this season have been almost as rare as Jones' abortive attempt last Saturday. Only two have landed so far, Rhys Priestland for the Scarlets against Munster last month and Kelly Haimona for Connacht against Ulster in Galway in September.

Last season, for the record, there were 17, a list headed by two Welsh fly halves - Dan Biggar with five and the Dragons' Jason Tovey with four.

How they stand after seven matches this season:

Ospreys 30 pts
Glasgow Warriors 27 pts
Ulster 26 pts
Munster 23 pts
Leinster 21 pts
Connacht 18 pts
Scarlets 18 pts
Edinburgh 11 pts
Cardiff Blues 8 pts
Newport Dragons 7 pts
Zebre 5 pts
Benetton Treviso 1 pt

How they stood after seven matches last season:

Munster 26 pts
Glasgow Warriors 25 pts
Ospreys 23 pts
Leinster 22 pts
Ulster 20 pts
Scarlets 16 pts
Cardiff Blues 14 pts
Newport Dragons 14 pts
Edinburgh 12 pts
Benetton Treviso 11 pts
Zebre 8 pts
Connacht 6 pts

Play-offs: Leinster, Glasgow Warriors, Munster, Ulster.
Winners: Leinster.

How they stood after seven matches two seasons ago:

Ulster 31 pts
Scarlets 25 pts
Glasgow Warriors 22 pts
Leinster 22 pts
Ospreys 19 pts
Munster 19 pts
Benetton Treviso 13 pts
Edinburgh 13 pts
Cardiff Blues 13 pts
Connacht 10 pts
Newport Dragons 9 pts
Zebre 1 pt

Play-offs: Leinster, Ulster, Scarlets, Glasgow Warriors.
Winners: Leinster

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