The Ospreys have named their team to face Ulster at the Kingspan Stadium on Friday 26th February in the Guinness PRO14, K.O 8pm.
Tom Botha will run out for his 50th appearance in an Ospreys jersey this weekend and will be joined in the front row by Sam Parry and Gareth Thomas. The second row partnership of Lloyd Ashley and Rhys Davies return with Will Griffiths, Olly Cracknell and Morgan Morris forming the back-row.
Rhys Webb takes the captaincy for the second week in a row and partners Stephen Myler at 10. Keiran Williams and Tiaan Thomas Wheeler form the centres with Luke Morgan, Keelan Giles and Dan Evans in the back three.
Off the bench, Nicky Smith returns from injury to provide the front row cover alongside Ma'afu Fia and Ifan Phillips. Gareth Evans and Sam Cross complete the forward replacement contingent with Shaun Venter, Joe Hawkins and Luke Price completing the matchday 23.
Ospreys
15. Dan Evans
14. Keelan Giles
13. Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler
12. Keiran Williams
11. Luke Morgan
10. Stephen Myler
9. Rhys Webb ©
1.Gareth Thomas
2. Sam Parry
3. Tom Botha
4. Lloyd Ashley
5. Rhys Davies
6. Will Griffiths
7. Olly Cracknell
8. Morgan Morris
16. Ifan Phillips
17. Nicky Smith
18. Ma’afu Fia
19. Gareth Evans
20. Sam Cross
21. Shaun Venter
22. Joe Hawkins
23. Luke Price
Toby Booth, Ospreys Head coach, said:
“We know how good Ulster are, the table doesn’t lie and we know the Irish provinces are the benchmark. We didn’t get the result against Munster but we got the result against Connacht, so this is another opportunity to benchmark ourselves.
“We have made some progress and we have a greater understanding of what we are trying to do, but there are always 15 people on the other side trying to stop you do that.
“That is the challenge every week but were certainly much clearer on what we are trying to do, have a greater understanding and have only just scratched the surface and are still trying to grow our people and our game."