The Ospreys team to play Glasgow at Scotstoun Stadium, in Guinness PRO12 Round 9 on Friday 25th November 2016, KO 7.35pm UK, is as follows:
15 Dan Evans
14 Dafydd Howells
13 Kieron Fonotia
12 Ashley Beck
11 Tom Grabham
10 Josh Matavesi
9 Tom Habberfield (Capt)
1 Paul James
2 Sam Parry
3 Ma’afu Fia
4 Lloyd Ashley
5 Rory Thornton
6 Olly Cracknell
7 Sam Underhill
8 Dan Baker
REPLACEMENTS
16 Scott Otten
17 Gareth Thomas
18 Rhodri Jones
19 Adam Beard
20 Rob McCusker
21 Brendon Leonard
22 Luke Price
23 Tom O’Flaherty
Tom Grabham makes his 50th Ospreys appearance
Kieron Fonotia makes his Ospreys debut (Osprey No. 206)
Luke Price and Tom O’Flaherty will make their PRO12 debuts if they come off the bench
Dmitri Arhip is absent to be with his wife who is due to give birth
The following players were unavailable for selection due to injury:
Tyler Ardron – Thumb
Bradley Davies - Knee
Hanno Dirksen – Knee
Jeff Hassler – Achilles
Ben John – Groin
Eli Walker - Foot
Owen Watkin – Knee
Rhys Webb - Ankle
The following players were unavailable due to international duty:
Scott Baldwin, Nicky Smith, Alun Wyn Jones, Dan Lydiate, Justin Tipuric, James King, Dan Biggar, Sam Davies, Keelan Giles
Head Coach, Steve Tandy, commented:
“Going away to Glasgow is never an easy ask. They have been one of the most consistent teams in the PRO12 over the last three or four years and their success has been built on an impressive home record. We’ve come up short there ourselves recently, so we know what we are walking into on Friday night.
“Both of us had a disappointing result in our last PRO12 game and, with the table being so tight right the way from top down to the Blues in 7th, we know that there can be plenty of movement in the table on one weekend. We go there in third place, which looks pretty good off the back of a positive start to the season, at home in particular, but that can change pretty quickly when you are away to one of your rivals in the play-off positions.
“There’s a long way to go this season, whatever happens on Friday night there’ll still be 12 PRO12 games to play, but we know that getting our performance right up in Glasgow can really strengthen our position and set up a huge month in December with some big games at the Liberty Stadium.
“The mindset this weekend has to be a positive one, the boys need to embrace the challenge and make sure that they are accurate, clinical and relentless for the whole 80 minutes. Anything less and we know we’ll be up against it, but the mindset is good and we are excited about building on the good work we’ve done so far.”
Forthcoming Fixtures
Fri 2 Dec – 7.35pm – Ospreys v Edinburgh – Liberty Stadium – PRO12
Thurs 8 Dec – 8.45pm (Local) – Grenoble v Ospreys – Stade Des Alpes – ERCC
Sat 17 Dec – 3.00pm – Ospreys v Grenoble – Liberty Stadium – ERCC
Tues 27 Dec – 3.00pm – Ospreys v Scarlets – Liberty Stadium – PRO12