The Ospreys team to face Calvisano at Centro Sportivo San Michele "â¬" Saturday 9th December "â¬" kick off at 2.00pm (local time), will be as follows: -
The Ospreys team to face Calvisano at Centro Sportivo San Michele - Saturday 9th December - kick off at 2.00pm (local time) , will be as follows: - 15 Lee Byrne 14 Nikki Walker 13 Sonny Parker 12 James Hook 11 Shane Williams 10 Gavin Henson 9 Justin Marshall 8 Ryan Jones 7 Steve Tandy 6 Jonathan Thomas 5 Ian Evans 4 Alun Wyn Jones 3 Adam Jones 2 Huw Bennett 1 Duncan Jones (Capt)
Replacements:
16 Barry Williams 17 Andrew Millward 18 Lyndon Bateman 19 Andy Lloyd 20 Jason Spice 21 Andrew Bishop 22 Stefan Terblanche
"-December is a critical month for all of the Welsh regions and it will go some way towards shaping the season in the EDF, Magners and Heineken competitions. This week we move from the EDF to the Heineken Cup. If we are fortunate enough to register victories home and away against Calvisano, with Sale and Stade hopefully cancelling each other out over the same weekends, this should set things up weeks for intriguing week five and six contests in January."-
"-Personally, I have a huge respect for Saturdays opposition having visited their stadium four years ago with Neath. Following a comfortable first half the Italians showed considerable spirit and ability which led them to registering a victory which represented one of the low points in my coaching career. There is no chance of us underestimating the task facing us on Saturday. They have a great pack of forwards and a French mentality to their play and they will present us with a stern test."-
"-This tournament expects the best teams to have zero mistakes and it is totally unforgiving as unlike many tournaments there is no time to recover from an off day."-
Injury and squad availability news
We have eight players not available for selection due to injury:
Cai Griffiths has a slight lower back injury and will be out for a week
Chris Martenko (shoulder) is returning to fitness and full training and is expecting to take part in competitive rugby within the next week or so
Paul James (chest muscle tear) is still targeting a return against the Scarlets on Boxing Day
Five players will not be available until 2007 - Richard Hibbard (shoulder), Matthew Jones (knee), Tim Evans (knee) and Craig Mitchell (knee) have all started non contact training and are targeting returns in Feb 2007. David Bishop (knee) is hoping to be off crutches before Christmas
December Fixtures
Calvisano v Ospreys (Heineken Cup) - Centro Sportivo San Michele - Saturday 9th December - kick off at 2.00pm
Ospreys v Calvisano (Heineken Cup) - Liberty Stadium - Friday 15th December - kick off at 7.30pm
Blues v Ospreys (Magners League) - Arms Park - Saturday 23rd December - kick off at 5.30pm
Ospreys v Scarlets (Magners League) - Liberty Stadium - Tuesday 26th December - kick off at 4.10pm
Ospreys v Dragons (Magners League) - Liberty Stadium - Sunday 31st December - kick off at 2.10pm