Preview: Ospreys v Ulster
Filo Tiatia returns to captain the Ospreys against Ulster in their Magners League game at the Liberty Stadium on Friday.
Filo Tiatia returns to captain the Ospreys against Ulster in their Magners League game at the Liberty Stadium on Friday.
Having sat on the bench in last weekend's EDF Cup semi-final victory Tiatia returns to the number eight jersey this week, with Ryan Jones dropping out of the squad altogether. Along with Jones openside Marty Holah also gets a rest, and his place goes to Ben Lewis.
Mike Phillips makes way for Justin Marshall at scrum-half as head coach Lyn Jones looks to make use of his squad. James Hook, fly-half, and Shane Williams, wing, continue and are joined in the back-line by Scotland international Nikki Walker.
Despite having beaten Ulster twice, as well as a narrow defeat, this season in the Heineken Cup Lyn Jones is well aware of the task that faces his side.
“We've played them three times already this season, twice at Ravenhill and once here at the Liberty Stadium, and the two away games were both very tight affairs so we are under no illusions that it will be another difficult match this time around,” said Jones.
“Ulster command massive respect because of their history in the Magners League, and although they have had a difficult season, they appear to be turning the corner and have picked up some good wins against Welsh sides recently.
“This is another big game for us, we need the win in order to start moving up the Magners League as we look to target Cardiff Blues who are in touching distance, two places and eight points clear of us.
Ulster welcome back Matt McCullough, Isaac Boss, Kieron Dawson and Bryan Young to their starting fifteen.
The back row is transformed with Neil Best and David Pollock dropping out of the squad and Matt McCullough taking the number six jersey and Kieron Dawson starting at seven.
The backs remain unchanged apart from Isaac Boss returns to the starting line-up with Kieran Campbell acting as cover.
Form: The Ospreys' only defeat in their last nine games in all competitions at Liberty Stadium was 19-26 to table topping Leinster on 23 November. Ulster suffered their biggest ever league defeat at Munster on Saturday, and have won just once away from home since April 2007: 30-13 at Connacht on 23 November. Ulster's last win in Wales was 32-15 at the Dragons in the Magners League on 9 September 2006. The two sides have already met on three occasions this season, with Ospreys winning home and away in the European Cup, but Ulster taking the Magners League encounter 17-16 at Ravenhill in September.
The Teams:
Ospreys: 15 Johnny Vaughton, 14 Nikki Walker, 13 Sonny Parker, 12 Andrew Bishop, 11 Shane Williams, 10 James Hook, 9 Justin Marshall, 8 Filo Tiatia (c), 7 Ben Lewis, 6 Jonathan Thomas, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Cai Griffiths, 2 Huw Bennett, 1 Duncan Jones.
Replacements: 16 Richard Hibbard, 17 Paul James, 18 Alun-Wyn Jones, 19 Tom Smith, 20 Rhys Webb, 21 Shaun Connor, 22 Jonathan Spratt.
Ulster: 15 Bryn Cunningham, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Andrew Trimble, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Mark Bartholomeusz, 10 Niall O'Connor, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Stephen Ferris, 7 Kieron Dawson, 6 Matt McCullough, 5 Ryan Caldwell, 4 Justin Harrison, 3 Tom Court, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Bryan Young.
Replacements: 16 Neil Brady, 17 Declan Fitzpatrick, 18 Grant Webb, 19 Roger Wilson, 20 Kieran Campbell, 21 Rob Dewey, 22 Marc McCrea.
Date: Friday 28 March, 2008
Kick-off: 19:10 GMT
Venue: Liberty Stadium, Swansea
Referee: Peter Allan (Scotland)
Touch judges: James Jones (Wales), Huw David (Wales)
Television match official: Hugh Watkins (Wales)