The Ospreys team to play Munster at Liberty Stadium on Saturday 29th September, KO 6.30pm, is as follows:
15 Richard Fussell
14 Hanno Dirksen
13 Andrew Bishop
12 Ashley Beck
11 Tom Isaacs
10 Dan Biggar
9 Kahn Fotuali’i
1 Ryan Bevington
2 Richard Hibbard
3 Aaron Jarvis
4 Alun Wyn Jones (Capt)
5 Ian Evans
6 Ryan Jones
7 Justin Tipuric
8 Joe Bearman
REPLACEMENTS
16 Scott Baldwin
17 Duncan Jones
18 Adam Jones
19 Jonathan Thomas
20 George Stowers
21 Rhys Webb
22 Matthew Morgan
23 Ross Jones
Richard Hibbard makes his 100th league appearance for the Ospreys
Ryan Bevington makes his 50th league appearance for the Ospreys
The following players were not considered because of injury:
Eli Walker – Shoulder
James Goode – Groin
Tom Habberfield - Ankle
James King – Shoulder
Tom Grabham – Bruised ribs
Backs Coach, Gruff Rees said:
“We were delighted with the win last Friday but that’s forgotten about now, we’ve had to put that one to bed and move on. There’s still a lot of work to be done, it was a better performance against the Scarlets but there’s still a lot of room for improvement needed.
“We’ve said all along that these opening weeks of the season would see us looking at the wider squad, giving people a chance, and despite some disappointing results we believe it’s been the right thing to do as we’ve learned a lot about the group moving forward.
“What you’ll see from selection now though is a far more settled group starting to come together as we move into what is a crucial month of the season. We’ve got some big games coming up, starting this weekend, and we need big performances to match.
“Munster have shown in the early weeks that once again they will be up there with the contenders. As always they are a big strong, with a powerful pack, but they’ve also developed some real cutting edge behind which makes them even more dangerous.
“Ospreys v Munster is a great contest and sums up what’s best about the PRO12. We’ve had some great occasions here for this fixture, none more than last season where we had a big crowd and fantastic support. We need more of the same on Saturday.”
Forthcoming Fixtures
Fri 5 Oct – 19.05 KO – Zebre v Ospreys – RaboDirect PRO12
Fri 12 Oct – 20.00KO – Ospreys v Benetton Treviso – Heineken Cup
Sun 21 Oct – 15.00KO – Leicester Tigers v Ospreys – Heineken Cup
Sat 27 Oct – 14.30KO – Ospreys v Connacht – RaboDirect PRO12