Bevington, Habberfield and Hassler come into starting XV for Sunday's big Heineken Cup clash at Franklin's Gardens
The Ospreys team to play Northampton Saints at Franklin’s Gardens on Sunday 20th October, KO 12.45pm, is as follows:
15 Richard Fussell
14 Jeff Hassler
13 Andrew Bishop
12 Ashley Beck
11 Eli Walker
10 Dan Biggar
9 Tom Habberfield
1 Ryan Bevington
2 Richard Hibbard
3 Adam Jones
4 Alun Wyn Jones (Capt)
5 James King
6 Ryan Jones
7 Justin Tipuric
8 Joe Bearman
REPLACEMENTS
16 Scott Baldwin
17 Duncan Jones
18 Aaron Jarvis
19 Tyler Ardron
20 Morgan Allen
21 Sam Lewis
22 Tito Tebaldi
23 Matthew Morgan
Jeff Hassler makes his first Heineken Cup start
Head Coach Steve Tandy said:
“This is a big game for us, one that everybody in the camp is really looking forward to. We didn’t do ourselves justice at the Liberty on Saturday, we had the third biggest Heineken Cup crowd of the weekend and it’s disappointing that we weren’t able to reward such a big turnout with a good performance.
“We are well aware that we need to make some big improvements if we are going to put in the kind of performance at Northampton that we need. They are in the same boat as us having also lost their first game, so no doubt there’ll be a tension and edge to the game. This is a very difficult group but there’s still everything to play for and there’s going to be plenty of twists and turns. We can’t worry about what the other teams in the group do, we’ve got to fight all the way and make sure we put ourselves in a position to take advantage of the twists and turns. We have to show what we are about on Sunday.
“It’s going to be a big test of character and attitude, how this group reacts to a setback, but we know enough about them to realise that we have big-game players in the squad, individuals who are used to pressure situations and it will be up to them to lead by example on Sunday. It’ll be a great contest, and we’ll have to front up to a big, physical team, but that’s an exciting prospect.”
The following players were unavailable for selection through injury:
Dmitri Arhip – Achilles
Dan Baker - Shoulder
Hanno Dirksen – Knee
Ian Evans - Achilles
Ben John - Hip
Tom Smith - Knee
Rhys Webb - Knee
Forthcoming Fixtures
Fri 25 Oct 19.05 KO – Ospreys v Newport Gwent Dragons – RaboDirect PRO12
Sat 02 Nov 19.15 KO – Munster v Ospreys – RaboDirect PRO12
Fri 08 Nov 19.45 KO – Leicester Tigers v Ospreys – LV= Cup