Ospreys prepared for Thomond passion

The Ospreys head to Munster’s Thomond Park fortress for Saturday’s Guinness PRO12 semi-final and Dan Biggar says that the team is looking forward to the challenge.

Recent seasons have seen the Ospreys enjoy as good a record as any visiting team at the iconic Limerick stadium, with two wins and a draw from their last five PRO12 visits there and, while Biggar acknowledged the size of the task facing the Ospreys this weekend, he insisted they won’t travel in fear.

“We know what Thomond Park is like” he said.

“We know how passionate the crowd are and how good the place is. To be honest, if we were to play anywhere in the semi-final, in terms of getting an atmosphere and be part of an occasion, there are very few places in Europe better than Thomond Park on a big match day.

“We’re looking forward to the challenge and not looking at it as a daunting task. It will be great to be a part of what Thomond Park represents on a big rugby weekend. I don’t think that’s an issue for us. Times have changed a little bit since we were last in the final in this competition but the core has remained.”

The momentum going into Saturday’s game is with Munster, the province securing top spot in the championship table after winning their final six PRO12 games of the season, in contrast to the Ospreys who saw their hopes of a home semi blown out of the water as they lost four of their last five. Nevertheless, Biggar insisted that they can upset the odds to secure a third appearance in the final for the region.

“We know we’re going in as underdogs” admitted Biggar.

“We know we’ve been a bit out of sorts but the mood in the camp is pretty good. We’re quietly confident that we can produce a performance and get a positive result.

“We’re confident amongst ourselves. It’s just about not being overawed by the occasion on Saturday. We can take confidence from winning big games away from home in Ireland, in tough places likes the RDS and Thomond Park. We’ve won games in both of those stadiums. That will give us plenty of confidence.

“We know the challenge that Munster presents us so we have to be on the money and front up at set-pieces, because that's where they are going to have a fair bit of strength. They have been excellent so far and only a top, top team like Saracens in the semi-final of European Cup managed to stop them. Otherwise they have looked pretty good against everyone else."