The Ospreys team to face The Blues in the Celtic League at the Arms Park "â¬" Friday 3rd March - kick off at 7.10pm, will be as follows: -
The Ospreys team to face The Blues in the Celtic League at the Arms Park – Friday 3rd March - kick off at 7.10pm, will be as follows: -
15 Stefan Terblanche
14 Richard Mustoe
13 Sonny Parker
12 Gavin Henson
11 Shane Williams
10 Shaun Connor
9 Jason Spice
1 Cai Griffiths
2 Huw Bennett
3 Andrew Millward
4 Andrew Newman
5 Lyndon Bateman
6 Jonathan Thomas
7 Steve Tandy
8 James Bater (Captain)
Replacements:
16 Richard Hibbard – Front Row
17 Craig Mitchell – Front Row
18 Ian Evans
19 Des Dillon
20 Martin Roberts
21 Matthew Jones
22 Andrew Bishop
Comment from Head Coach, Lyn Jones: -
"Our fixture in December against The Blues came off the back of what was psychologically a difficult few weeks for us following the Heineken Cup fixtures. We had played well in the games against Leicester and probably deserved to win both fixtures, only to fall just short in the final outcome. We could not pick ourselves up for The Blues and as a result we were left exposed. They benefited from a slightly longer recovery period after wins against Calvisano and this proved to be crucial on the night”
“We were extremely disappointed at the time and we are determined to maintain the recent improvements in our performances on Friday evening. Welsh derby’s are always fiercely contested and last seasons fixture at the Arms Park was in the balance until the last ten minutes. I expect a similarly close encounter this time out”
Injury and squad availability news
We currently have nine players unavailable: -
Adam Jones and Duncan Jones are with the Wales squad
Andy Lloyd has a knee injury which is under assessment
Lee Beach has a broken bone in his foot and will be out of action for four weeks
Barry Williams and Paul James have had vertebrae disk surgery. They hope to return in May
Brent Cockbain (hamstring) and Ryan Jones (shoulder) have begun rehabilitation but will not play again this season
David Bishop (knee) is now in light training, but will also not feature this season
March Fixtures
Blues v Ospreys – Arms Park – Friday 3rd March – kick off at 7.10pm
Ospreys v Edinburgh Gunners – Liberty Stadium – Sunday 26th March – kick off at 4.10pm
Scarlets v Ospreys (rearranged) – Stradey Park – Friday 31st March – kick off at 7.10pm