Ospreys team to face Munster

The Ospreys team to play Munster on Saturday 18th September 2010 at Thomond Park, kick off at 8.00pm, will be as follows:-

 

15 Lee Byrne

14 Nikki Walker

13 Tommy Bowe

12 Andrew Bishop

11 Shane Williams

10 Dan Biggar

9 Jamie Nutbrown

 

1 Paul James

2 Mefin Davies

3 Craig Mitchell

4 Alun Wyn Jones (Capt)

5 Ian Evans

6 Jerry Collins

7 Marty Holah

8 Jonathan Thomas

Replacements

16 Richard Hibbard

17 Duncan Jones

18 Adam Jones

19 Ian Gough

20 Ben Lewis

21 Rhys Webb

22 Gareth Owen

23 Richard Fussell

 

The following players were not considered because of injury:

 

Tom Smith – Shoulder

Rory Pitman – Knee

Tom Isaacs – Knee

Richard Kelly – Knee

James Hook – Shoulder

Barry Davies – Groin

Scott Baldwin – Foot

Sonny Parker - Shoulder

Jonathan Spratt – ACL

 

Head Coach, Sean Holley, commented:

 

“It’s a big game for us, it always is, and the fact that it is so early in the season is irrelevant. Munster are one of only two unbeaten teams in the league even at this stage, so it’s important for us that we look to stop them building up a gap on us in the first month.

 

“Saying that, leagues aren’t won in September so lets not build it up too much, we are building week by week, slowly re-integrating our international players, and win, lose or draw this weekend, we expect to make another big step forward.

 

“Our form in Ireland last season went a long way to helping us winning the Magners League, with three wins from four in the regular season before the big one in Leinster in the final. We picked up a lot of the points on the road. We’ve already lost in Ulster this season, so it’s important that we pick something up.

 

“We play Munster four times this season, so it’s a bit of a mini league we’ll have going over the coming months. They are a team that we have the utmost respect for and I think that’s mutual. They’ve had a good start, there’ll be a big crowd there and it’ll be tough, I’ve no doubt about that.

“But we’ll go there with confidence and belief in ourselves. With the likes of Alun Wyn and Tommy coming back into the starting fifteen, Adam on the bench, and with the likes of Ryan and Mike now approaching the end of their pre-season we are starting to get a bit more strength in depth. What we need to do now is kick-on from where we were after the Treviso game last weekend.”

Forthcoming Fixtures

Sat 25 Sept – Ospreys V Aironi – Liberty Stadium – 6.30pm – Magners League

Sat 2 Oct– Scarlets V Ospreys – Parc Y Scarlets – 8.10pm – Magners League

Sat 9 Oct – Toulon V Ospreys – Stade Mayol – 2.30pm – Heineken Cup

Fri 15 Oct – Ospreys V London Irish – Liberty Stadium - 8.00pm – Heineken Cup