News

Ospreys lay down EDF warning

September 30 2008

Wales back-row and captain Ryan Jones insists the Ospreys have no intention of giving up the EDF Energy Cup lightly.

The heavyweight Welsh region have made a flying start to the new Magners League campaign, with four wins out of five taking them to the top of the table.

However, this weekend they switch their attention to a month of Cup rugby, starting with the Anglo-Welsh competition on Sunday, when Harlequins are the visitors to the Liberty Stadium, before moving on to Heineken Cup.

And with the 23-6 win over Leicester in last season's final still fresh in his mind, Jones is desperate to keep his hands on the trophy for a further year.

"At the start of any competition the target has to be to win it, particularly when you are defending your title, and we have no intention of just handing over the Cup to another team," he said.

"We've enjoyed a great run in this tournament, losing just once in our last eleven fixtures [Ospreys also made the final in 2007], and of course, we've had two memorable days out at Twickenham which I know that the fans really enjoyed.

"Going into the games this season, we have to be looking at repeating what we achieved last year, and we will certainly be giving everything to make sure that the cup stays in the Liberty Stadium.

"To achieve that, it's important that we hit the ground running. In this competition, if you lose your first game then it can be very difficult to progress so we realise that we have to get off to a flying start.

"Harlequins have a strong squad with plenty of experience and familiar names and they've started off the season well so they will be confident coming here, but we don't intend giving up our unbeaten home record.

"We've talked about making the Liberty Stadium a fortress, we want teams to fear coming here to play us, and if we are going to manage that then we need to be beating teams like Harlequins."