| The Ospreys team to face Connacht in the Magners League, at Liberty Stadium - Saturday 17th February - kick off at 5.30pm, will be as follows:
15 Lee Byrne
14 Nikki Walker
13 Tal Selley
12 Andrew Bishop
11 Shane Williams
10 Shaun Connor
9 Justin Marshall
8 Jonathan Thomas
7 Richard Pugh
6 Lee Beach
5 Mike Powell
4 Brent Cockbain
3 Andrew Millward
2 Huw Bennett
1 Paul James (Capt)
Replacements:
16 Barry Williams
17 Adam Jones
18 Chris Martenko
19 Tom Smith
20 Jason Spice
21 Jonathan Vaughton
22 Stefan Terblanche
Comment from Head Coach, Lyn Jones:
"When we lost in Gallway by five points last September we were playing badly but our form has since improved significantly. We are confident that we are a better side now and we are delighted to be buoyed by having some boys back from Wales duty to bolster our squad. This is a refreshing change of approach from previous Wales management and all of the regions will be delighted that Gareth has taken this sensible approach in respect of player release. It is good for the players, good for Wales and good for the regional sides."
"Connacht's recent performance against Edinburgh was one of the worst I have seen them play and I am sure they will be looking to set things right against us. Having said that, we are also looking forward to the game and we have great respect for Connacht, particularly as they have a slight edge on us over the seven fixtures we have played since our formation. We will be working hard to level things up on Saturday evening."
Injury and squad availability news
Four players are unavailable due to Wales team commitments - James Hook, Ryan Jones, Alun Wyn Jones and Duncan Jones
In addition to this we have nine players not available for selection due to injury:
Gavin Henson (knee) is out for 7-10 days
Andy Lloyd (groin) is out for about two weeks
Steve Tandy is unavailable due to flu
Matthew Jones (knee) remains on track for a return later this month
Sonny Parker and Filo Tiatia are in rehab after their groin operations and are still targeting returns early next month
Ian Evans (shoulder), Lyndon Bateman (knee ligament) and David Bishop (knee) are still on track with their rehabilitation programmes looking forward to taking a full part in pre-season training
|
