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