Ospreys team to face Glasgow

The Ospreys team to play Glasgow on Friday 2nd March 2012 at the Liberty Stadium, kick off at 7.05pm, will be as follows:

 

15 Ross Jones

14 Hanno Dirksen

13 Andrew Bishop

12 Ashley Beck

11 Eli Walker

10 Dan Biggar

9 Rhys Webb

 

1 Ryan Bevington

2 Richard Hibbard

3 Joe Rees

4 Ian Gough

5 James King

6 Tom Smith (Capt)

7 Sam Lewis

8 Joe Bearman

 

Replacements:

16 Scott Baldwin

17 Will Taylor

18 Aaron Jarvis

19 Jonathan Thomas

20 George Stowers

21 Kahn Fotuali’i

22 Matthew Morgan

23 Tom Isaacs

 

Ross Jones makes his PRO12 debut

Will Taylor will make his PRO12 debut if he comes off the bench

Ryan Bevington makes his 50th Ospreys appearance

 

The following players were not considered because of injury:

Duncan Jones – Medial ligament

Will Price - ACL

Cai Griffiths - Arm

Richard Kelly - Wrist

Ben John - Groin

Gareth Owen – ACL

Nikki Walker – ACL

 

There are 15 players absent on international duty with Wales, Ireland, Wales U20, and Scotland U20.

 

Head Coach, Steve Tandy, commented:

“It’s a crucial game in terms of securing a play-off spot with Glasgow right up there. If we can get a win then it will put a bit of distance between us and them, which will be important with games starting to run out.

 

“I’m reasonably pleased with how my first two games have gone, a win and losing bonus point from a difficult trip to Ulster, but there is plenty for us to work on and some areas where we need to improve. A lot of the things we can improve on are under our own control and we’ve been working hard all week to put them right and get the positive performance and result we need on Friday. We’re expecting a difficult night against a tough team who’ve only lost four games this season and it should be a good game.

 

“It’s an exciting time for Ospreys Rugby, and a fantastic opportunity for some of the young talent we’ve got coming through the pathway. We’ve seen how players like Beck, Bevington, Webb and Tipuric have made a big step-up this season which has been rewarded with international recognition, and in recent months people like Hanno, Eli, Joe Rees, James King and Sam Lewis have been exceptional. We’ve got another debut in Ross Jones at full-back this week, and I think it’s fantastic to see so many young players featuring. There are no NWQ players in our starting XV on Friday, which speaks volumes for the work we are doing to develop players, and I really hope that the rugby public recognise and support this.”

 

 

Forthcoming fixtures

Fri 23 Mar – Leinster v Ospreys – RDS Showground – RaboDirect PRO12 – 7.05pm

Sat 31 Mar – Ospreys v Benetton Treviso – Liberty Stadium – RaboDirect PRO12 – 6.30pm