Ospreys team to face Cardiff Blues

The Ospreys team to play Cardiff Blues on Saturday 14th April 2012 at Cardiff City Stadium, kick off at 6.30pm, will be as follows:

15 Richard Fussell

14 Hanno Dirksen

13 Tom Isaacs

12 Andrew Bishop

11 Shane Williams

10 Dan Biggar

9 Kahn Fotuali’i

 

1 Paul James

2 Richard Hibbard

3 Adam Jones

4 Alun Wyn Jones (Capt)

5 Ian Evans

6 Ryan Jones

7 Justin Tipuric

8 Joe Bearman

 

Replacements:

16 Scott Baldwin

17 Ryan Bevington

18 Aaron Jarvis

19 James King

20 Tom Smith

21 Rhys Webb

22 Matthew Morgan

23 Sonny Parker

 

Dan Biggar makes his 100th Ospreys appearance

Richard Fussell makes his 50th Ospreys appearance

 

The following players were not considered because of injury:

Ashley Beck – Hip

Tommy Bowe – Haematoma

Kristian Phillips - Abdomen

Jonathan Thomas – Illness

Huw Bennett - Achilles

Duncan Jones – Medial ligament

Will Price - ACL

Cai Griffiths - Arm

Richard Kelly - Wrist

Ben John - Groin

Gareth Owen – ACL

Nikki Walker – ACL

 

Head Coach, Steve Tandy, commented:

“We’ve had a couple of good weeks and some great results with the wins in Leinster and against Treviso, but we’ve got to make sure we back that up on Saturday, and in the remaining games after that.

“Make no mistake about it, the Blues are a good team with quality across the park and threats in every position. We know it’s going to be a tough evening, with the extra pressures that come with derby games, but we’ve got to be thorough with our preparation and the attention to detail come game time has to be absolutely spot on.

“The target for us first and foremost is to make the play-offs and to do that we need to make sure our performances in these last few weeks are of the highest standard. We’ve shown signs of what we are capable of but there’s still plenty of room for improvement and that’s what I’m looking for.

“We want our fans to be proud of us. It’s their region and we want them behind us all the way. For that to happen, we’ve got to continue showing the endeavour and heart we’ve shown in recent weeks. If we can do that on Saturday, we’ll get our rewards, and then we can look forward to coming back to the Liberty the following Friday to a big crowd, and say farewell to Shane in real style.”

 

Forthcoming fixtures

Fri 20 Apr – Ospreys v NG Dragons – Liberty Stadium – RaboDirect PRO12 – 7.05pm

Sat 5 May – Aironi v Ospreys – Stadio Luigi Zaffanella – RaboDirect PRO12 – 6.30pm