The Ospreys team to face the Scarlets in the Magners League on Saturday 26th December 2009 at Parc Y Scarlets, kick off at 2.05pm, will be as follows:-
15 Gareth Owen
14 Tommy Bowe
13 Andrew Bishop
12 James Hook
11 Nikki Walker
10 Dan Biggar
9 Ricky Januarie
1 Paul James
2 Huw Bennett
3 Craig Mitchell
4 Ian Gough
5 Alun-Wyn Jones
6 Jerry Collins
7 Marty Holah
8 Ryan Jones (Capt)
Replacements:
16 Richard Hibbard
17 Adam Jones
18 Ian Evans
19 Jonathan Thomas
20 Jamie Nutbrown
21 Sonny Parker
22 Lee Byrne
Ian Gough makes his 50th appearance for the Ospreys
Ospreys Head Coach, Sean Holley, commented:
“It’s a match that everybody at the Ospreys are all looking forward to, supporters, players, coaches alike. It’s always a busy time of year for us, with the Magners League throwing up big local derbies, sandwiched in between important Heineken Cup games, and you can’t fail to be excited by the prospect.
“There’s going to be a big crowd at Parc Y Scarlets on Saturday, just as there will be at the Liberty Stadium the following weekend, and players love to be involved in these events. There’s local bragging rights at stake, one upmanship between the players, but we mustn’t lose sight of the biggest reward, which is a place in the play-offs at the end of the season.
“We’ve shown signs in the last few weeks that we are heading in the right direction, and we’ve posted some decent results, particularly in our last Magners League match against Munster. But, we are realistic about where we are at the moment, we know that we aren’t performing as well as we would want to be in certain areas, and that has been the focus in training this week. We’ll face a Scarlets team on Saturday who have shown several times already this season what they are capable of, so we know that we are going to have to raise our game another level again if we are going to get anything from the match.”
The following players were not considered because of injury
Duncan Jones – broken bone in foot
Barry Davies – groin
Shane Williams – torn hamstring
Mike Phillips - ankle ligament
Tom Isaacs - shoulder reconstruction
Conor McInerney - knee
Lyndon Bateman - knee
Jonathan Spratt - back
Forthcoming Fixtures
Fri 1st Jan – Ospreys V Cardiff Blues – Magners League – Liberty Stadium – 5.15pm
Fri 8th Jan – Ulster V Ospreys – Magners League – Ravenhill – 7.05pm
Sat 16th Jan – Clermont Auvergne V Ospreys – Heineken Cup – Stade Marcel Michelin?– 4.45pm
Sat 23rd Jan – Ospreys V Leicester Tigers – Heineken Cup – Liberty Stadium – 1.35pm