Heineken Cup / Ralph Ellis / 08 October 2009 / Leave a comment

The Heineken Cup is back this weekend - so Betfair headed to Wales to meet their international rugby captain Ryan Jones and talk about The Ospreys' televised trip to Leicester Tigers on Sunday. . .

"We are trying to sharpen up our cutting edge. We’ve got some fantastic individuals but as a 15 we need to do things together. I think we are slowly getting there."

Hi Ryan - so could you have picked a tougher start?

Probably not, but then that's what the competition is all about - big games, big occasions. And I know it's a bit of a cliche but you've got to beat the best some time, whether it's game one or game eight or nine, so you just have to get on with it and what better way to start?

Is it possibly a good time to catch them at the start of the season?

I'll let you know that on Sunday night!

How would you compare the strength of the Magners League against the Premiership?

I think the Magners League is incredibly competitive, you know, when you play Leinster who are the European Cup winners. It's very close, there are slightly different styles, but nothing much to it.

What about the French League then?

Again it's different challenges. I think the gulf between all three is thin as paper, it's showing in the European Cup because it's not the same teams every year. You get to the quarter-finals and it's a good mix, there's French teams, Welsh teams, Scottish, English. In football, without fail I could tell you the countries that will supply the last eight of the Champions League right now. This is different, and it makes for great viewing, and it shows us why the European Cup is growing all the time. In any given fixture right across this weekend you can look at it and know that both teams are capable of winning.

How's your season been so far? Your summer was spoiled when you got called up late to the Lions, got to South Africa and were sent home again because of a head injury you'd suffered a day or so earlier playing for Wales in Canada.

I hoped you wouldn't remind me about that.

We read one pundit who reckoned that after that disappointment you'd find it hard to get yourself up for playing again...

Whoever wrote that obviously doesn't know me very well. Look, in the end I had a fantastic summer, I got married, I had a bigger than usual break, I did a short pre-season and now we're back into the games. Whatever I lack in other aspects of the game I like to think I'm always competitive and that will never be in doubt.

It can't have been easy to have flown half way round the world and then be sent home again.

It was disappointing, and there's questions that need to be answered, but it was probably the right decision at the time because when they lay it on the line of what you are risking, then nothing is worth that much. It doesn't make it any less of a disappointment though, but at least I've a perspective on it now.

Did you sit on the plane home thinking you'd have liked to have risked it, though?

I certainly would. If they had given me the opportunity, of course I would have pulled the jersey on, but in the end there was no decision to be made. It's now one of those things you look back on, and I'll have to settle for being a Question of Sport question sometime in the future. That's life, you can't change it.

So how do you feel about your start to the season with Ospreys so far?

It's been a mix of results, we haven't quite clicked, although as a group we've shown glimpses of it. I think it was always going to be the case. We've had a new coaching regime, a lot of the boys missing at the start of the pre-season, coming back at different levels of fitness, and it's taken us a bit of time to get comfortable with things. It's only when we've got a full understanding that we really will click. We've shown glimpses in certain aspects of the game, we've been very good defensively and sooner or later we'll be stringing it all together for 80 minutes and you'll see a different team. Hopefully on Sunday!

Has the new coaching regime brought anything different?

Yes, we are playing a very different way to the way we had been. We are trying to achieve different things, when we've got the ball in hand especially.

Trying to be more expansive and attacking?

Definitely, we are trying to sharpen up our cutting edge. We've got some fantastic individuals as a 15 and we need to do things together. I think we are slowly getting there.

Thanks for your time Ryan and we've a free £50 bet for a favourite charity.

That's great it can go to the LMBB society which is based in Wales and works for children with genetic disorders. I've a friend with a horse called Misaro which is due to run at Wolverhampton on Saturday. I'll back it £25 each way at its starting price, please.

Tags: Heineken Cup Betting Odds, Leicester Tigers, Leinster, Ospreys, Ralph Ellis, Rugby Union Betting Odds, Ryan Jones, The Betfair Big Interview