Ospreys team to face Leinster

The Ospreys team to play Leinster at the RDS Showground on Saturday 14th September, KO 6.15pm, is as follows:

 

15 Richard Fussell

14 Ben John

13 Andrew Bishop

12 Ashley Beck

11 Eli Walker

10 Dan Biggar

9 Tito Tebaldi

 

1 Ryan Bevington

2 Scott Baldwin

3 Joe Rees

4 Ian Evans

5 James King

6 Tom Smith (Capt)

7 Sam Lewis

8 Joe Bearman

 

REPLACEMENTS

16 Richard Hibbard

17 Duncan Jones

18 Adam Jones

19 Tyler Ardron

20 Morgan Allen

21 Tom Grabham

22 Matthew Morgan

23 Jeff Hassler

Tyler Ardron and Jeff Hassler will make their Ospreys debuts if they come off the bench


Head Coach Steve Tandy said:

“It was good to get off to a positive start last weekend. We wanted to build some real momentum in the opening weeks of the season and although there’s plenty of room for improvement there’s a lot to be happy about after a tough game in Italy.

“The spirit and effort shown by the boys was fantastic, that was probably the most pleasing thing for me. When we had to dog it out at the end, it was backs to the wall stuff and we came through a very difficult test.

“Looking forward to this weekend, there’s been plenty to work on off the back of last Saturday, a few things to put right, but the attitude of the group has been good.

“Leinster away is always tough and we wouldn’t expect it to be any different this weekend. They’ve got strength in depth and whatever team they pick we know that as a team we are going to have to be at our best to be able to build on the win in Treviso and keep the momentum going.

“We want to come back to the Liberty next week to play Edinburgh on the back of another positive performance, so that there will be a real buzz around the Liberty to welcome the boys back for the first home game of the PRO12 season, and a good crowd getting behind the region.”

 

The following players were unavailable for selection through injury:

Dmitri Arhip – Achilles

Hanno Dirksen – Knee

Tom Habberfield – Ankle

Dafydd Howells - Shoulder

Aaron Jarvis – Knee

Ryan Jones - Shoulder

Lloyd Peers – Shoulder

Rhys Webb - Knee

 

Forthcoming Fixtures

Sat 21 Sep 18.30 KO  – Ospreys V Edinburgh – RaboDirect PRO12

Sat 28 Sep 17:00 KO – Connacht v Ospreys – RaboDirect PRO12

Fri 04 Oct 19:05 KO – Ospreys v Ulster– RaboDirect PRO12

Sat 12 Oct 18.00 KO – Ospreys v Leinster – Heineken Cup

Sun 20 Oct 12.45 KO – Northampton Saints v Ospreys – Heineken Cup