The Ospreys starting XV to face Bristol Rugby in a friendly fixture at the Liberty Stadium "â¬" Friday 24th August, kick of at 7.45pm, will be as follows.
The Ospreys starting XV to face Bristol Rugby in a friendly fixture at the Liberty Stadium "â¬" Friday 24th August, kick of at 7.45pm, will be as follows: -
15 Lee Byrne
14 Jonathan Vaughton
13 Mark Taylor
12 Andrew Bishop
11 Aled Brew
10 Shaun Connor9 Justin Marshall
8 Filo Tiatia
7 Ben Lewis
6 Andy Lloyd
5 Mike Collins
4 Brent Cockbain (Capt)
3 Cai Griffiths 2 Richard Hibbard1 Paul James
The game will have unlimited replacements which will be selected from the remainder of the available squad
Comment from Head Coach, Lyn Jones:
"â¬ÅThis will be a great opportunity for some of our younger players to show supporters and coaches that they have what is required to become Ospreys of the future. It also gives squad players returning from injury and summer training camps a chance to get some valuable game time."â¬Â
"â¬ÅI am delighted that Bristol Rugby have taken the opportunity to come to Liberty Stadium for this pre-season friendly and it will be great to welcome back some very old friends."â¬Â
"â¬ÅIt is natural for teams to be optimistic as they go into a new season and we are no exception to this, although our pre-season has been hugely disrupted by Rugby World Cup and injuries which did not clear up from last season. However, this has given us a great opportunity to focus on the young Ospreys and the players who will be stepping up in 2010 and some of the talent we have seen is extremely encouraging. Supporters will get a glimpse of this talent over the upcoming fixtures."â¬Â
Injury and squad availability news
Nikki Walker is representing Scotland and our eleven Wales 2007 Rugby World Cup squad players are unavailable for this match. The Welsh players are :- Shane Williams, Sonny Parker, James Hook, Mike Phillips, Jonathan Thomas, Ian Evans, Alun Wyn Jones, Ian Gough, Adam Jones, Huw Bennett and Duncan Jones.
The following players are unavailable for selection due to injury:
David Bishop (knee) will return in November
Steve Tandy (shoulder) will be available on 1st October
Lyndon Bateman (knee/ shoulder injuries) will be available for selection against the Scarlets
Barry Williams (shoulder), Richard Pugh (shoulder), Andy Lloyd (groin), Filo Tiatia (groin) and Cai Griffiths (groin) all return against Bristol after summer operations
Fixture News
August / September 2007 fixtures are as follows:
Friday August 24th "â¬" Ospreys v Bristol Rugby "â¬" Liberty Stadium "â¬" 7.45pm
Friday August 31st - Blues v Ospreys "â¬" Cardiff Arms Park "â¬" 7.40pm
Tuesday September 11th "â¬" Ospreys v Scarlets "â¬" Liberty Stadium "â¬" 7.35pm
Friday 21st September "â¬" Ulster v Ospreys "â¬" Ravenhill "â¬" 6.30pm
Sunday 30th September "â¬" Ospreys v Glasgow Warriors "â¬" Liberty Stadium "â¬" 3.00pm