The Ospreys team to play Benetton Treviso on Saturday 31st March 2012 at the Liberty Stadium, kick off at 6.30pm, will be as follows:
15 Richard Fussell
14 Hanno Dirksen
13 Andrew Bishop
12 Ashley Beck
11 Shane Williams
10 Dan Biggar
9 Kahn Fotuali’i
1 Paul James
2 Richard Hibbard
3 Adam Jones
4 Alun Wyn Jones (Capt)
5 Ian Evans
6 Ryan Jones
7 Justin Tipuric
8 Joe Bearman
Replacements:
16 Scott Baldwin
17 Ryan Bevington
18 Aaron Jarvis
19 James King
20 Tom Smith
21 Rhys Webb
22 Matthew Morgan
23 Tom Isaacs
The following players were not considered because of injury:
George Stowers - Neck
Jonathan Thomas – Illness
Huw Bennett - Achilles
Duncan Jones – Medial ligament
Will Price - ACL
Cai Griffiths - Arm
Richard Kelly - Wrist
Ben John - Groin
Gareth Owen – ACL
Nikki Walker – ACL
Forwards Coach, Jonathan Humphreys, commented:
“We were understandably very pleased with the win last weekend but the message all this week has been that it won’t mean anything if we don’t back it up in this match.
“That performance probably set a benchmark for the rest of the season. We will need to hit those standards and show the same desire and endeavour in our remaining games if we are going to have any chance of achieving a home semi.
“At this time of the season every game is crucial and so much can change up at the top end of the table after each round of fixtures. We won’t worry about other games, we’ll concentrate on what we can control, which is our performance levels and accuracy. If we get these right then we’ll get our reward in terms of a play-off place.
“Saturday night will be a great opportunity for our supporters to welcome back our Grand Slam boys to the Liberty Stadium so I’d hope that we’ll have a good crowd and atmosphere for the occasion. In particular, fans will no doubt want to give a special welcome back to Adam for the first time since he signed his new contract. It’s fantastic for the Ospreys that he wants to stay here, a real statement of intent at a time when people think it’s all gloom and doom at the regions. He’s been a tremendous servant to the Ospreys and will be looking forward to playing in front of his home fans again.”
Forthcoming fixtures
Sat 14 Apr – Cardiff Blues v Ospreys – Cardiff City Stadium – RaboDirect PRO12 – 6.30pm
Fri 20 Apr – Ospreys v NG Dragons – Liberty Stadium – RaboDirect PRO12 – 7.05pm
Sat 5 May – Aironi v Ospreys – Stadio Luigi Zaffanella – RaboDirect PRO12 – 6.30pm