Having joined the Ospreys in the summer of 2007, Gough made his debut for the region in October that year, having been part of the Welsh squad at the Rugby World Cup, wearing the Ospreys jersey for the first time in a 13-13 draw with Edinburgh at Murrayfield.
Capped by Wales at every age-grade level, he won 64 senior caps, the last of which came against Fiji at the Millennium Stadium in November 2010. Having signed a new contract that runs until the summer of 2014, the experienced second row has now switched his focus to the game against Connacht, which will be his 100th for the region.
“It’s a big achievement however you look at it. I’m really pleased to get there. It was only a month or so ago that I was looking at my appearances and realised I was getting pretty close so it’s nice to get there. I got to 92 at the Dragons so I fell just short there, which makes it even nicer to complete the century at the Ospreys.
“The next target for me now is to maybe break through the 200 regional appearances barrier at some time this season, and having signed a new contract I want to take it on some way beyond that number.
“It’s nice to be in a club where the fellow members are true Ospreys legends. Paul James tops the list on 168, and there a few who’ve just gone past 150 recently, but everybody there who has gone over 100 are boys who’ve shown good loyalty to the region.”
Ospreys Forwards Coach Jonathan Humphreys admits he is a long-term Gough admirer, and congratulated him on both his new contract and reaching the 100-cap mark, saying he can be an inspiration to his fellow Ospreys, young and old.
“I’m delighted for Goughie, on both reaching his 100th cap and his new contract. He was a player that I wanted in our squad for a considerable period of time before we finally got hold of him. He’s been a fantastic servant to the region and a real asset to the team, a very durable character and one of the natural leaders in our environment.
Connacht 15 Gavin Duffy (Capt) 14 Brian Tuohy 13 Dave McSharry 12 Henry Fa’afili 11 Tiernan O’Halloran 10 Miah Nikora 9 Paul O’Donohoe; 1 Brett Wilkinson 2 Adrian Flavin 3 Rodney Ah You 4 Dave Gannon 5 George Naoupu 6 TJ Anderson 7 John Muldoon 8 Ray Ofisa
Replacements 16 Ethienne Reynecke 17 Ronan Loughney 18 Stewart Maguire 19 Mike Kearney 20 Eoghan Grace 21 Frank Murphy 22 Niall O’Connor 23 Mark McCrea
Ospreys: 15 Barry Davies 14 Tommy Bowe 13 Andrew Bishop 12 Ashley Beck 11 Richard Fussell 10 Matthew Morgan 9 Rhys Webb; 1 Duncan Jones 2 Richard Hibbard 3 Aaron Jarvis 4 Ian Gough 5 James King 6 Tom Smith (Capt) 7 Chauncey O’Toole 8 Joe Bearman
Replacements: 16 Mefin Davies 17 Cai Griffiths 18 Joe Rees 19 James Goode 20 George Stowers 21 Tom Isaacs 22 Sonny Parker 23 Hanno Dirksen
