The Ospreys team to play Glasgow at the Liberty Stadium on Friday 14th September, KO 7.05pm, is as follows:
15 Richard Fussell
14 Hanno Dirksen
13 Jonathan Spratt
12 Ashley Beck
11 Tom Grabham
10 Dan Biggar
9 Rhys Webb
1 Duncan Jones
2 Richard Hibbard
3 Aaron Jarvis
4 Ian Gough
5 Ian Evans
6 George Stowers
7 Justin Tipuric (Capt)
8 Joe Bearman
REPLACEMENTS
16 Scott Baldwin
17 Ryan Bevington
18 Joe Rees
19 Alun Wyn Jones
20 Sam Lewis
21 Kahn Fotuali’i
22 Matthew Morgan
23 Andrew Bishop
Tom Grabham makes his first competitive start for the Ospreys
The following players were not considered because of injury:
Ryan Jones – Knee
Eli Walker – Shoulder
James Goode – Groin
Tom Habberfield - Ankle
Tom Isaacs - Dead leg
James King - Shoulder
Tom Smith – Groin
Jonathan Thomas - Hip
Adam Jones - Knee
Head Coach, Steve Tandy, said:
“This is an important game for us, against a very good, very powerful and very dangerous Glasgow team. Like us they’ll be disappointed at the start they’ve had, but we know they are a real threat. They were in the PRO12 semis last season, as they were two years ago, and just as we haven’t become a bad team on the back of two defeats neither have
they.
“We are well aware that we need to improve from where we’ve been over the last two weeks but we also know where we are in terms of a long season and the need to balance things out for the squad and take a look at everybody. We’ve been able to change things about to give some more boys a chance, but we’ve selected a team good enough to do the
job, just as was the case in the last two games.
“Obviously we’ve been hugely disappointed by how things have gone but the finger isn’t hovering over the panic button. We’ve reviewed Saturday’s game and what went right and wrong on the night. We aren’t that far away from where we want to be, but in reality we need big improvements in application, discipline and accuracy if we are going to turn possession and chances into wins. We need to get back to what we were doing at the end of last season, playing mature, intelligent rugby that allowed us to go through the phases and really make it count.
“Hopefully there’ll be another big crowd there. The support last Saturday was great and we need the same again to lift the boys and really help them across the line. The difference the supporters can make is huge.”
Forthcoming Fixtures
Fri 21 Sep 19:05 KO – Scarlets v Ospreys – RaboDirect PRO12
Sat 29 Sep 18:30 KO – Ospreys v Munster – RaboDirect PRO12
Fri 5 Oct – 19:05 KO – Zebre v Ospreys – RaboDirect PRO12