The Ospreys team to play Ulster at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday 7th May 2016, KO 3.00pm, is as follows:
15 Dan Evans
14 Ben John
13 Owen Watkin
12 Josh Matavesi
11 Eli Walker
10 Dan Biggar
9 Rhys Webb (Capt)
1 Nicky Smith
2 Scott Baldwin
3 Dmitri Arhip
4 Rynier Bernardo
5 Rory Thornton
6 Dan Lydiate
7 Sam Underhill
8 James King
REPLACEMENTS
16 Scott Otten
17 Gareth Thomas
18 Aaron Jarvis
19 Joe Bearman
20 Olly Cracknell
21 Brendon Leonard
22 Sam Davies
23 Tom Grabham
The following players were unavailable for selection due to injury:
Tyler Ardron - Knee
Lloyd Ashley – Knee
Dan Baker – Shoulder
Adam Beard - Leg
Ashley Beck – Knee
Gareth Delve – Ankle
Hanno Dirksen - Knee
JJ Engelbrecht – Ankle
Ma’afu Fia – Toe
Jeff Hassler - Shoulder
Dafydd Howells – Hamstring
Paul James - Eye
Alun Wyn Jones - Foot
Marc Thomas - Knee
Justin Tipuric – Concussion
Ospreys Head Coach, Steve Tandy, said:
“There’s a really positive mood in the camp this week. We realise the size of the challenge ahead, going up against a very good Ulster side who need the win for a play-off spot but we know that if we can go again and deliver another positive performance that we could get our own reward and it’s really exciting. Everybody is looking forward to Saturday afternoon and getting stuck into the job.
“To bounce back like we have these last three games with a young squad and a full team of experienced, senior guys missing speaks volumes for the character of this squad. The desire and application of a team that has an average age of 23, 24, is outstanding and they’ve shown what being an Osprey is all about in recent weeks as they’ve grown on and off the field. We need more of that this week now, we want the boys to be relentless, to know their roles and to be clinical. If we can hit the right standards across the park then we have a chance of doing what we need to, then it’ll be a case of what happens elsewhere. There’ll be no throwing the towel in, we know from bitter experience in Europe this season that anything can happen on that last day, so we have to keep going.
“The PRO12 as a competition has really grown this year. It’s the final day and there are 10 teams still playing for something other than pride, which is fantastic. We are looking at a big crowd at the Liberty, it’s going to be the kind of occasion that players should thrive on, and we need those supporters to do their part. We’ve seen so many times the difference they can make, they need to understand they are part of this effort. It should be great afternoon.”