14 Richard Fussell

13 Tom Isaacs

12 Andrew Bishop

11 Hanno Dirksen

10 Dan Biggar

9 Rhys Webb

1 Duncan Jones

2 Scott Baldwin

3 Aaron Jarvis

4 Ian Gough

5 James Goode

6 Tom Smith

7 Justin Tipuric (Capt)

8 Jonathan Thomas

Replacements:

16 Richard Hibbard

17 Cai Griffiths

18 Joe Rees

19 James King

20 Joe Bearman

21 Matthew Morgan

22 Sonny Parker

23 Kristian Phillips

Jonathan Thomas makes his 150^th Ospreys appearance

Aaron Jarvis and Scott Baldwin make their first start for the Ospreys

James Goode makes his first RaboDirect PRO12 start for the Ospreys

If he comes off the bench Joe Bearman will make his Ospreys debut

The following players were not considered because of injury:

Craig Cross - Knee

Gareth Owen - ACL

Nikki Walker - Medial Ligament

Ross Jones - Ankle

Ashley Beck - Shoulder

Director of Coaching, Scott Johnson, commented:

"Ulster will no doubt bring plenty of confidence with them after their good start to the season. They have recruited well over the summer. Jared Payne in particular is a good signing who will bring something different to the table for them, and I'm expecting them to be there challenging on all fronts year after a good season last time.

"We saw from their performance against the Blues last week that they play good rugby and have a cutting edge, so we know that it's going to be a difficult afternoon.

"For our part, we need to lift our all round performance up a couple of notches from where we were last weekend against Treviso. Yes, we got another win to make it three from three but we rode our luck at times, particularly in the first half.

"The resolve and effort was first class though. The boys really dug in and toughed it out to get a win, and it's a win that we can really be happy with as it's a tough place to go. A lot of teams got a bloody nose there last season and no doubt will again this year, so it's pleasing to be able to come away with the points.

"But, make no mistake about it, this week has been about picking up the performance level to get it to where we'll need it to be to deal with the threats that Ulster have all over the park. It's going to be a real test, and promises to be quite a contest at this early stage of the season."

Forthcoming fixtures

Fri 30 Sep - Ospreys V Connacht - Liberty Stadium - RaboDirect PRO12 - 7.30pm

Sat 8 Oct - Munster V Ospreys - Thomond Park - RaboDirect PRO12 - 7.30pm

Sat 15 Oct - Exeter Chiefs V Ospreys - Sandy Park - LV= Cup - 7.45pm

Sat 22 Oct - Ospreys v Northampton Saints - Riverside Hardware Brewery Field - LV= Cup - 6.00pm

Fri 28 Oct - Glasgow V Ospreys - Firhill - RaboDirect PRO12 - 7.05pm