The Ospreys team to play Castres at Liberty Stadium on Friday 13th December, KO 8.00pm, is as follows:
15 Sam Davies
14 Aisea Natoga
13 Tom Isaacs
12 Ben John
11 Jeff Hassler
10 Dan Biggar
9 Rhys Webb
1 Ryan Bevington
2 Richard Hibbard
3 Aaron Jarvis
4 Ian Evans
5 James King
6 Sam Lewis
7 Justin Tipuric
8 Ryan Jones (Capt)
REPLACEMENTS
16 Scott Baldwin
17 Marc Thomas
18 Dan Suter
19 Tyler Ardron
20 Morgan Allen
21 Tom Habberfield
22 Matthew Morgan
23 Tom Grabham
Sam Davies makes his Heineken Cup debut
Marc Thomas will make his Heineken Cup debut if he comes off the bench
Head Coach Steve Tandy said:
“It was a tough evening out in Castres last weekend and although we were obviously disappointed to come away with just a point, there was a lot of good that we could take out of the game and use to prepare for Friday night.
“The circumstances going into the game were obviously very difficult but it was pleasing to see a young and pretty inexperienced team pushing the French champions to the limit. The commitment, defensive effort and the resilience shown was first rate to keep us in the game and we very nearly pinched it at the end. The game is all about fine margins and we were unfortunately unable to snatch the win, but what we saw in France will give us real confidence going into the return.
“Going into these games on the back of four tough, physical, autumn internationals, straight into two Heineken Cup games, three Welsh derbies and then Europe again in January, it’s a big ask for certain players to go right through. We don’t have the strength in depth that we used to, none of the regions do, which means that we have to manage players to ensure that they are physically able to cope with the workload. That was why Richard Hibbard started on the bench last weekend, and why Alun Wyn will sit out Friday night. We need to ensure that we have these boys available for the longer haul. The flipside of this is that we get some valuable game time for boys coming through the squad.
“We had a great afternoon here at the Liberty 12 months ago in similar circumstances against Toulouse and that will be the target on Friday night. With big Welsh derbies coming up it’s important that we get things right on the field, and build some momentum with some good performances in front of what we hope will be some big crowds, not only on Friday but against the Scarlets and Northampton next month.”
The following players were unavailable for selection through injury:
Dmitri Arhip – Achilles
Dan Baker – Shoulder
Joe Bearman - Elbow
Ashley Beck – Hip
Andrew Bishop - Back
Adam Jones - Calf
Lloyd Peers - Ankle
Tom Smith – Knee
Jonathan Spratt - Wrist
Eli Walker - Hamstring
Forthcoming Fixtures
Fri 20 Dec 19.05 KO – Cardiff Blues v Ospreys – RaboDirect PRO12
Thurs 26 Dec 14.05KO – Scarlets v Ospreys – RaboDirect PRO12
Fri 3 Jan 19.15KO – Ospreys v Scarlets – RaboDirect PRO12