CELTIC CUP READY FOR KICK OFF

The Dragons have named an unchanged back line from the one that defeated Connacht. A front row shuffle sees Adam Black replacing Rod Snow and Rhys Thomas coming in for Chris Anthony, while Rhys Oakley steps in for the suspended Jamie Ringer in the back row.

Scarlets Academy fly-half Ceiron Thomas gets his first start in a Scarlets jersey this Friday alongside Dwayne Peel who returns to the Scarlets starting line-up for the fist time following the Lions announcement. With a number of niggles still plaguing selection, confirmation of replacements and the number 21 jersey have to wait until Friday.

Dragons Team: Kevin Morgan, Gareth Wyatt, Percy Montgomery, Jonathan Bryant, Ben Breeze, Ceri Sweeney, Gareth Baber, Adam Black, Steve Jones, Rhys Thomas, Ian Gough, Luke Charteris, Rhys Oakley, Jason Forster (c), Michael Owen Replacements from: James Richards, Rod Snow, Chris Anthony, Peter Sidoli, Craig Warlow, Sione Tuipulotu, Gareth Cooper, James Ireland, Matthew Veater

Scarlets Team: 15. Barry Davies; 14. Garan Evans; 13. Matthew J Watkins; 12. Tal Selley; 11. Aisea Havili; 10. Ceiron Thomas; 9. Dwayne Peel; 1. Phil John; 2. Matthew Rees; 3. John Davies; 4. Adam Jones; 5. Chris Wyatt; 6. Simon Easterby ( C ); 7. Gavin Thomas; 8. Andy Powell Replacements: 16. David Maddocks; 17. Aled Gravelle; 18. Vernon Cooper; 19. Gavin Quinnell; 20. Mike Phillips; 21. AN Other; 22. Lee Byrne

Saturday 30 April 2005
OSPREYS v ULSTER
St Helen’s, 5.30pm live on S4C
Referee: Andrew Ireland (SRU)

Ospreys Head Coach, Lyn Jones, on naming his squad said: “Following on from our success in the Celtic League, we are aiming to win our remaining fixtures this season. We are treating this as a totally separate competition and we will be disappointed if we do not proceed to the latter stages. On this basis we will be selecting our strongest available team, and we should be able to present a near full strength side with our Welsh internationals and British Lions being available for selection. Only Sonny Parker is unavailable as it now looks like he will be out for the remainder of the season with a broken thumb”.

Mark McCall has made just two changes to his Ulster side with David Humphreys and Tyrone Howe returning from injury.

Ospreys:
Backs: S. Terblanche, R. Mustoe, S. Williams, A. Bishop, D. Bishop, E. Seveali’I, G. Henson, M. Jones, S. Connor, J. Spice, Forwards: P. James, D. Jones, A. Millward, B. Williams, R. Hibbard, L. Bateman, B. Cockbain J. Thomas, J. Bater, R. Jones, R. Pugh, S. Tandy, A. Jones

Ulster: 15  B Cunningham; 14  T Bowe; 13  K Maggs; 12  P Steinmetz; 11  T Howe; 10  D Humphreys; 9  K Campbell; 1  S Best; 2  P Shields; 3  R Moore; 4  G Longwell; 5  M McCullough; 6  A Ward (Capt); 7  G Pfister; 8  R Wilson Replacements: 16  R Best; 17  R McCormack; 18  R Frost; 19  C Feather; 20  N Doak; 21  P Wallace; 22  A Maxwell