The Ospreys team to play Ulster at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday 8th September, KO 6.30pm, is as follows:
15 Richard Fussell
14 Hanno Dirksen
13 Andrew Bishop
12 Ashley Beck
11 Tom Isaacs
10 Matthew Morgan
9 Rhys Webb
1 Ryan Bevington
2 Richard Hibbard
3 Aaron Jarvis
4 Ian Gough
5 Alun Wyn Jones (Capt)
6 James King
7 Justin Tipuric
8 Jonathan Thomas
REPLACEMENTS
16 Scott Baldwin
17 Duncan Jones
18 Joe Rees
19 George Stowers
20 Joe Bearman
21 Kahn Fotuali’i
22 Dan Biggar
23 Tom Grabham
The following players were not considered because of injury:
Ryan Jones – Knee
Eli Walker – Shoulder
Will Price - ACL
James Goode – Groin
Tom Habberfield - Ankle
Backs Coach, Gruff Rees, said:
“It’s going to be a tough game against a quality team that has really grown over the last couple of years as seen by their Heineken Cup run last season that saw them go all the way to the final. Brian McLaughlin did a great job and Mark Anscombe their new coach is looking to really build on that this year with some quality signings to enhance an already strong squad.
“For us it’s a great game to kick-off at home and we’ll be expecting a big crowd on a lovely evening so it should be great occasion. We’ll want to do well, to make sure we send all our season-ticket holders home happy, but in order to do that we’ll have to make big improvements to our discipline and our attention to details from where we were last Friday in Treviso. We need to tighten up and find a little bit more composure, while keeping the right balance to ensure that we are always in control of ourselves. That’s an area where we let ourselves down in the first half last time.
“We’ve made a few changes for this game, changes we were always going to make in order to allow players to have a fair chance to stake a claim for a place in the opening weeks of the season. It’s up to those coming in to put their hands up now and show that they deserve a chance to retain the jersey, but what it will do is help to ensure everything stays competitive.”
Forthcoming Fixtures
Fri 14 Sep 19:05 KO – Ospreys v Glasgow – RaboDirect PRO12
Fri 21 Sep 19:05 KO – Scarlets v Ospreys – RaboDirect PRO12
Sat 29 Sep 18:30 KO – Ospreys v Munster – RaboDirect PRO12
Fri 5 Oct – 19:05 KO – Zebre v Ospreys – RaboDirect PRO12