The Ospreys team to play Leinster on Sunday 27th May 2012 in the RaboDirect PRO12 Final at the RDS Showground, kick off at 4.00pm, will be as follows:
15 Richard Fussell
14 Hanno Dirksen
13 Andrew Bishop
12 Ashley Beck
11 Shane Williams
10 Dan Biggar
9 Rhys Webb
1 Paul James
2 Richard Hibbard
3 Adam Jones
4 Alun Wyn Jones (Capt)
5 Ian Evans
6 Ryan Jones
7 Justin Tipuric
8 Joe Bearman
Replacements:
16 Scott Baldwin
17 Ryan Bevington
18 Aaron Jarvis
19 James King
20 Tom Smith
21 Kahn Fotuali’i
22 Matthew Morgan
23 Tom Isaacs
The following players were not considered because of injury:
Tommy Bowe – Haematoma
Huw Bennett - Achilles
Will Price - ACL
Cai Griffiths - Arm
Ben John - Groin
Gareth Owen – ACL
Nikki Walker – ACL
Head Coach, Steve Tandy, commented:
“It’s a huge game, a massive occasion for Ospreys Rugby, and everybody is really excited about Sunday.
“Leinster are a great team. What they’ve achieved in Europe over the last four years speaks for itself, and the nature of their win against Ulster last weekend means that they'l be full of confidence. Playing at home in front of their own fans is another bonus for them and will make the task even more difficult for us.
“Previous games won’t count for a thing on Sunday, it’s all about the day and who handles the pressure the best. We know that we have to improve in certain areas, we were guilty of putting ourselves under unnecessary pressure in the Munster match and that meant we had to rely too heavily on our defence. We don’t want to have to do that on Sunday, we want to try and be more composed and look to dictate territory better.
“We will obviously do our homework and analysis on them but the key thing for us is about our own performance. We need to prepare properly, be thorough, and make sure we are accurate in everything we do. We have to be clinical. If we focus on our own game and the areas that we can control, then we’ll be able to compete and we’ll be in the game.
“It’s going to be a great day, there’s a big Osprey support traveling out to back the cause and we want to put on the kind of performance that will make them proud of their team.”