The Ospreys team to play Munster on Saturday 18th September 2010 at Thomond Park, kick off at 8.00pm, will be as follows:-
15 Lee Byrne
14 Nikki Walker
13 Tommy Bowe
12 Andrew Bishop
11 Shane Williams
10 Dan Biggar
9 Jamie Nutbrown
1 Paul James
2 Mefin Davies
3 Craig Mitchell
4 Alun Wyn Jones (Capt)
5 Ian Evans
6 Jerry Collins
7 Marty Holah
8 Jonathan Thomas
Replacements
16 Richard Hibbard
17 Duncan Jones
18 Adam Jones
19 Ian Gough
20 Ben Lewis
21 Rhys Webb
22 Gareth Owen
23 Richard Fussell
The following players were not considered because of injury:
Tom Smith – Shoulder
Rory Pitman – Knee
Tom Isaacs – Knee
Richard Kelly – Knee
James Hook – Shoulder
Barry Davies – Groin
Scott Baldwin – Foot
Sonny Parker - Shoulder
Jonathan Spratt – ACL
Head Coach, Sean Holley, commented:
“It’s a big game for us, it always is, and the fact that it is so early in the season is irrelevant. Munster are one of only two unbeaten teams in the league even at this stage, so it’s important for us that we look to stop them building up a gap on us in the first month.
“Saying that, leagues aren’t won in September so lets not build it up too much, we are building week by week, slowly re-integrating our international players, and win, lose or draw this weekend, we expect to make another big step forward.
“Our form in Ireland last season went a long way to helping us winning the Magners League, with three wins from four in the regular season before the big one in Leinster in the final. We picked up a lot of the points on the road. We’ve already lost in Ulster this season, so it’s important that we pick something up.
“We play Munster four times this season, so it’s a bit of a mini league we’ll have going over the coming months. They are a team that we have the utmost respect for and I think that’s mutual. They’ve had a good start, there’ll be a big crowd there and it’ll be tough, I’ve no doubt about that.
“But we’ll go there with confidence and belief in ourselves. With the likes of Alun Wyn and Tommy coming back into the starting fifteen, Adam on the bench, and with the likes of Ryan and Mike now approaching the end of their pre-season we are starting to get a bit more strength in depth. What we need to do now is kick-on from where we were after the Treviso game last weekend.”
Forthcoming Fixtures
Sat 25 Sept – Ospreys V Aironi – Liberty Stadium – 6.30pm – Magners League
Sat 2 Oct– Scarlets V Ospreys – Parc Y Scarlets – 8.10pm – Magners League
Sat 9 Oct – Toulon V Ospreys – Stade Mayol – 2.30pm – Heineken Cup
Fri 15 Oct – Ospreys V London Irish – Liberty Stadium - 8.00pm – Heineken Cup