By Sean Davies

There is a painfully recurring reality for Welsh teams when they meet the major sides at the start of their Heineken Cup campaigns.

Sale are the biggest rugby team I've ever come across with so many influential ball carriers Ospreys coach Lyn Jones

They roll up with confidence high after whaling on under-motivated Scottish and Irish sides at the start of the Celtic League - then blunder straight into a solid wall of English and French muscle hardened by their brutal domestic tournaments.

It's a clich�, but there's a reality behind it and the Ospreys have pushed the story to the hilt ahead of the opening-weekend visit of English champions Sale to the Liberty Stadium.

"Sale manhandled London Irish in every facet of the game in their last match [the Sharks' 14-31 Guinness Premiership win on Sunday]," said Ospreys coach Lyn Jones.

"They're the biggest rugby team I've ever come across with so many influential ball carriers, it's a huge challenge.

"The Guiness Premiership and the French league are just so much more cut-throat and ruthless than the Magners League."

Ospreys lock Brent Cockbain has sung from the same hymn sheet, stressing the extent of the "physical challenge" to come, while number eight Ryan Jones agrees.

"There's a huge French influence at Sale, with such a massive pack and so much flair," he said.

The Ospreys beat Stade Francais first-time out last year

"We won't get anywhere unless we take the gain line away from them.

"I've not played against [Sale number eight] Sebastien Chabal before, it's a huge challenge, but you must match yourself against the best."

The bookies seem to agree that the west Glamorgan side are in for a battering, Sale amongst the favourites for the tournament whilst the Ospreys languish at 40-1.

But could Lyn Jones and his squad be throwing us with smoke and mirrors?

Cockbain and Ryan Jones are hardly shrinking violets in the physicality stakes.

Throw in Duncan Jones, Adam Jones, Ian Evans and Alun Wyn Jones and you're not talking about a pack who will be embarrassed to swap shirts with the Sharks at the end of the game.

The Ospreys won their first-up fixture with mighty Stade Francais - again in the same group - last year, and their pack proved more than a match for Leicester in two brutal European encounters.

If the Welsh side have been indifferent in the Magners League so far, they have been building towards Europe and the full squad impressed in EDF Energy Cup wins over Gloucester and Bath.

Of course the forward arm wrestle will be crucial. It always is.

The Ospreys are very formulaic and are not firing at the moment 1998 Heineken Cup-winner Ieuan Evans

But the Ospreys' real worry will be whether their inconsistent back line can seize the game at the crucial moment.

"Gavin Henson, James Hook and Sonny Parker are all quite quiet, but they're very talented and are starting to gel as a unit," says Cockbain.

"We're trying to play expansive rugby and use the skills of our back line."

Former Wales captain Ieuan Evans - a Heineken Cup winner with Bath in 1998 - is not so sure.

"The Ospreys are very formulaic and are not firing at the moment," says Evans. "They're not using the talents of players like Shane Williams effectively."

The Ospreys are desperate for their talented back line to gel

There is little European tradition in west Glamorgan, neither the Ospreys or Neath having advanced past the group stages.

Swansea reached the quarter-finals in 2001, only to be hammered by Leicester, and lost out in the semi-final of the inaugural, experimental competition to Toulouse.

The lack of experience and composure seemed to cost them in two tight Heineken encounters with Munster in 2004/5, and again against Leicester last year.

"If watching Munster in Europe teaches you anything it's that making mistakes costs points and that you must score points when you get the chance," says Lyn Jones.