The Ospreys team to face the Blues at Cardiff Arms Park, on Friday August 31st, kick off at 7.40pm, will be as follows: -
15 Lee Byrne
14 Stefan Terblanche
13 Mark Taylor
12 Andrew Bishop
11 Aled Brew
10 Shaun Connor 9 Justin Marshall8 Filo Tiatia
7 Richard Pugh
6 Andy Lloyd
5 Mike Collins
4 Brent Cockbain (Capt)
3 Andrew Millward2 Richard Hibbard
1 Paul James
16 Barry Williams
17 Cai Griffiths
18 Mike Powell/ Tom Smith
19 Ben Lewis
20 Martin Roberts
21 Jonathan Spratt
22 Jonathan Vaughton
Comment from Head Coach, Lyn Jones:
"â¬ÅIt's a difficult game to start the campaign, but motivation won't be a factor for either side this weekend. We will be looking to put in a big performance to get the defence of our Magners League title off with a win. Our players are excited and motivated by the Arms Park challenge, and it should be quite a contest on Friday evening."
Injury and squad availability news:
Nikki Walker is representing Scotland and our eleven Wales 2007 Rugby World Cup squad players are unavailable for this match. Our Wales RWC 2007 squad members are Shane Williams, Sonny Parker, James Hook, Mike Phillips, Jonathan Thomas, Ian Evans, Alun Wyn Jones, Ian Gough, Adam Jones, Huw Bennett and Duncan Jones.
The following players are unavailable for selection due to injury:
Gavin Henson has failed to fully recover from the bout of food poisoning he suffered last weekend
Lyndon Bateman (knee/ shoulder injuries) will be available for selection against the Scarlets
Steve Tandy (shoulder) will be available on 1st October
David Bishop (knee) will return in November
Fixture News
August/ September 2007 fixtures are as follows:
Friday August 31st - Blues v Ospreys "â¬" Cardiff Arms Park "â¬" 7.40pm
Tuesday September 11th "â¬" Ospreys v Scarlets "â¬" Liberty Stadium "â¬" 7.35pm
Friday 21st September "â¬" Ulster v Ospreys "â¬" Ravenhill "â¬" 6.30pm
Sunday 30th September "â¬" Ospreys v Glasgow Warriors "â¬" Liberty Stadium "â¬" 3.00pm