The Ospreys team to play Ulster at the Liberty Stadium on Friday 4th October, KO 7.05pm, is as follows:
15 Richard Fussell
14 Jeff Hassler
13 Andrew Bishop
12 Ashley Beck
11 Eli Walker
10 Dan Biggar
9 Tito Tebaldi
1 Ryan Bevington
2 Richard Hibbard
3 Adam Jones
4 Alun Wyn Jones (Capt)
5 Ian Evans
6 Tyler Ardron
7 Justin Tipuric
8 Joe Bearman
REPLACEMENTS
16 Scott Baldwin
17 Duncan Jones
18 Aaron Jarvis
19 James King
20 Sam Lewis
21 Tom Habberfield
22 Matthew Morgan
23 Ben John
Tyler Ardron makes his first Ospreys start
Alun Wyn Jones makes his 150th Ospreys appearance
Head Coach Steve Tandy said:
“We are really pleased to be where we are in the table four weeks in and after three games on the road, but we aren’t going to allow ourselves to get carried away. There’s plenty of room for improvement in a few areas of our game, and we are going into a tough run of fixtures where we are going to have to move up several gears if we are going to keep building momentum.
“Ulster on Friday night is as difficult as it gets. They’ve got a strong squad with world class players in there, Lions, All Blacks and Springboks, and as they’ve shown over the last two seasons in getting to Heineken and PRO12 finals, they can beat anyone so we are going to have to be at our very best.
“It should be a cracking contest, and is the first of two home games on the bounce against quality opposition with Leinster at the Liberty next weekend. This is what we’ve been building towards in the opening weeks of the season and it’s a period that any rugby fan will be excited about.
“Our fans will have a massive part to play over these two games, helping to create the kind of atmosphere that the team can thrive on. The players really appreciate the support they get each week, and hopefully with two massive games coming up off the performance off the field will go up several levels as well as on it.”
The following players were unavailable for selection through injury:
Dmitri Arhip – Achilles
Hanno Dirksen – Knee
Dafydd Howells - Shoulder
Ryan Jones - Calf
Tom Smith - Knee
Rhys Webb - Knee
Forthcoming Fixtures
Sat 12 Oct 18.00 KO – Ospreys v Leinster – Heineken Cup
Sun 20 Oct 12.45 KO – Northampton Saints v Ospreys – Heineken Cup
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