London Wasps game heads to Bridgend

The venue was confirmed after a number of factors were taken into consideration, including a South Wales derby between Swansea City and Cardiff City in the npower Championship at the Liberty Stadium on the Sunday afternoon, as well as Wales hosting England at the Millennium Stadium in the opening fixture of this year's Six Nations Championship on the Friday night, ahead of two more Six Nations matches on the Saturday.

The decision to play in Bridgend follows the success in November of the game against Leicester Tigers in the same competition, which was also held at Bridgend RFC. The first time that the Ospreys had ever staged a competitive fixture at the venue, almost 7,000 fans ignored torrential rain to cheer the Ospreys to a resounding 46-13 over the Aviva Premiership Champions, scoring 8 tries in the process.

Ospreys Managing Director, Roger Blyth, commented:

"After the success of the Leicester game, this should be another wonderful occasion. The response to that fixture from the rugby and business communities of Bridgend was fantastic, and given the circumstances and other sporting events taking place that week, it was a very easy decision to take the game back to the Riverside Hardware Brewery Field.

"With the Swans playing Cardiff City at home on the Sunday afternoon it means the Liberty Stadium is unavailable to us, while the Friday night international further complicates the issue. Faced with Thursday night rugby at the Liberty Stadium, or a switch to Bridgend where there was such a fantastic crowd and a great atmosphere back in November, the decision was straightforward and everybody at the Ospreys is excited about going back there.

"It's a Sunday afternoon which makes it more attractive for families, and it could be a real crunch match with a place in the semi-finals at stake, so once again, I would anticipate the people of Bridgend really getting behind their region."

Elite Performance Director, Andrew Hore added:

"The players involved in the Leicester game at Bridgend, without exception, all thoroughly enjoyed the experience and can't wait to go back. We've always maintained that the Bridgend district is a vital part of the Ospreys region, and it's been great to see that since the build-up to that game in November, the support and interest in the Ospreys from Bridgend is clearly growing. For us to be able to continue taking games to Bridgend then we need a big crowd of passionate support, blacking out the Brewery Field on February 6^th.

"The local boys in the squad who are likely to feature are all really keen to experience playing at their 'home club' ground once again, and I think it's fair to say that the Leicester game, and this forthcoming match against Wasps, have helped the wider group to really understand what the Ospreys playing these games in Bridgend means to the local community."

Ticketing details for the game will be confirmed shortly.