The Ospreys team to play Cardiff Blues at Principality Stadium, on Saturday 15th April 2017, KO 2.45pm is as follows:
15 Dan Evans
14 Keelan Giles
13 Ashley Beck
12 Josh Matavesi
11 Dafydd Howells
10 Sam Davies
9 Rhys Webb (Capt)
1 Nicky Smith
2 Scott Baldwin
3 Brian Mujati
4 Bradley Davies
5 Rory Thornton
6 James King
7 Justin Tipuric
8 Dan Baker
REPLACEMENTS
16 Scott Otten
17 Paul James
18 Rhodri Jones
19 Lloyd Ashley
20 Tyler Ardron
21 Tom Habberfield
22 Luke Price
23 Kieron Fonotia
The following players were unavailable for selection due to injury:
Dmitri Arhip – Shoulder
Adam Beard – Elbow
Dan Biggar - HIA
Hanno Dirksen – Knee
Ma’afu Fia - Knee
Jeff Hassler – Achilles
Ben John – HIA
Alun Wyn Jones - Shoulder
Dan Lydiate – Knee
Rob McCusker – Ankle
Sam Parry - Neck
James Ratti – Shoulder
Sam Underhill - HIA
Eli Walker – Back
Owen Watkin – Knee
Head Coach, Steve Tandy, commented:
“It’s the business end of the season now and we know what’s at stake over the next few weeks. We’ve got three big games, three tough challenges ahead, starting with the Blues at Principality Stadium and we know what we’ve got to do.
“We are in third place so we can take comfort that it’s very much about us in the run-in, if we put together three winning performances then there’s nothing anyone else can do to stop us reaching the play-offs. Things haven’t gone as planned the last few and, where we had a bit of a gap, some room for comfort, Ulster and the Scarlets are breathing down our neck and will both be desperate to put one over us in the final two rounds.
“There’ll be a lot of fuss around Saturday’s game, a derby match at the Principality Stadium in front of a big crowd, but we can’t allow ourselves to get wrapped up in the occasion. It’s important that we are professional around the build up and the 80 minutes itself. That has to be the focus for us, to build a performance of the level required from first to last minute and make sure we can keep ourselves ahead of the chasers for the last two rounds.
“The Blues are a dangerous side, they have threats across the field, and can score tries from anywhere on the field so we’ve got to be at our best. The last two weekends have been frustrating for us, both games that we could have won, we don’t want the same story this week and it’s only the players out there who can control that by their actions and decision making when they step over the line on Saturday.”
Forthcoming Fixtures
Sat 29 Apr – 3.00pm – Ospreys v Ulster – Liberty Stadium – PRO12
Sat 6 May – 5.15pm – Scarlets v Ospreys – Parc y Scarlets – PRO12
