The Ospreys team to face Connacht at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday 27th October, KO 2.30pm, is as follows:
15 Richard Fussell
14 Hanno Dirksen
13 Andrew Bishop
12 Ashley Beck
11 Eli Walker
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 Joe Bearman
7 Justin Tipuric
8 Jonathan Thomas
REPLACEMENTS
16 Matthew Dwyer
17 Duncan Jones
18 Joe Rees
19 James King
20 George Stowers
21 Rhys Webb
22 Matthew Morgan
23 Tom Isaacs
The following players were not considered because of injury:
Ryan Jones – Dead leg
Adam Jones - Knee
Scott Baldwin – Shoulder
Tom Smith - Groin
Tom Habberfield - Ankle
Forwards Coach, Jonathan Humphreys, said:
“Connacht are a very dangerous team, Eric Elwood has taken what was already a tough, physical group and looked to expand their game. We know that we are going to have be well prepared, diligent and focused if we are going to get what we want out of this fixture, and it’ll need to be a real team effort on and off the field.
“It’s a traditional Saturday afternoon kick-off, allowing families to come out and support the cause, and we’re looking forward to it. This is the first game in a very important period of the season. We’ve got four PRO12 games over the next six weeks, three of them at home, plus a couple of LV games as well, and it’s where we’ll really see what depth we’ve got in the squad.
“I genuinely believe that it’s this time of the year where we’ve won some of our previous league titles, where boys have stepped in and stood up, many of them youngsters who’ve taken their chance and never looked back. You can list people like Hanno, Tips, Bevington, Beck, even go as far as people like Bishop, Alun Wyn and Ian Evans, they’ve all got their chance in the international break and never looked back. It’s an opportunity for players in the group and for supporters to see who is next on the block for us.
“With it being a half past two kick-off on Saturday we’ll hope for a healthy crowd and a good atmosphere that we can all enjoy.”
Forthcoming Fixtures
Sun 4 Nov – 16.00KO – Ospreys v Leinster – RaboDirect PRO12
Fri 9 Nov – 19.45KO – Ospreys v Gloucester – LV= Cup
Sat 17 Nov – 17.00KO – Exeter v Ospreys – LV= Cup
Fri 23 Nov – 19.05KO – Edinburgh v Ospreys – RaboDirect PRO12
Fri 30 Nov – 19.05KO – Ospreys v Cardiff Blues – RaboDirect PRO12