The Ospreys team to play Newport Gwent Dragons on Friday 6th January 2012 at Rodney Parade, kick off at 7.05pm, will be as follows:
15 Barry Davies
14 Eli Walker
13 Tom Isaacs
12 Ashley Beck
11 Hanno Dirksen
10 Matthew Morgan
9 Rhys Webb
1 Duncan Jones
2 Huw Bennett
3 Aaron Jarvis
4 Ryan Jones
5 Ian Evans
6 Tom Smith
7 Justin Tipuric (Capt)
8 Joe Bearman
Replacements:
16 Richard Hibbard
17 Paul James
18 Adam Jones
19 Jonathan Thomas
20 George Stowers
21 Kahn Fotuali’i
22 Dan Biggar
23 Tommy Bowe
The following players were not considered because of injury:
James King - Ear
Richard Fussell – Ankle
Ben John - Groin
Joe Rees - Hamstring
James Goode – Back
Alun Wyn Jones – Foot
Gareth Owen – ACL
Nikki Walker – ACL
Ian Gough is suspended
Ospreys Head Coach, Sean Holley, commented:
“It’s always difficult when you go to the Dragons and no doubt in the build up to the game people will point to our record there in recent years but we can’t afford to dwell on things like that. This is another day and another group of players, and we will go there believing in our ability to follow up the win over the Blues with another improved performance.
“We go there with the best defence record in the PRO12 and we are very proud of that fact. We need to make sure that we play the game on our terms on Friday night, not theirs, we need to know our roles and improve our accuracy. We have to make sure we don’t give away cheap early points as we have done in some of our recent games to ensure that we can stay in the game long enough to impose ourselves on them, allowing us to fashion the kind of performance that you need when you go to places like there.
“We have a good squad with plenty of depth, results this year have shown us that we can put a lot of trust into the squad, and with three games in twelve days we’ve had to utilise the squad fully. We’ve picked what we feel is the right side for the particular challenge that the Dragons provide, combined with the fixture demands, and it’ll be a 23-man effort just as it was against the Blues on New Year’s Day. If we show the same resolve and spirit that we did to secure that win, but improve the individual aspects of the game where we didn’t reach the standards expected, then we’ll be in a good place.”
Forthcoming fixtures
Fri 13 Jan – Ospreys v Benetton Treviso – Liberty Stadium – Heineken Cup – 8.00pm
Sun 22 Jan – Biarritz v Ospreys – Parc des Sports Aguilera – Heineken Cup – 2.00pm (Local)
Fri 27 Jan – Ospreys v NG Dragons – Riverside Hardware Brewery Field – LV= Cup – 7.05pm
Sat 4 Feb – Worcester v Ospreys – Sixways – LV= Cup – 3.00pm
Fri 10 Feb – Edinburgh v Ospreys – Murrayfield – RaboDirect PRO12 – 7.35pm