The Wales and British Lions legend will hang up his boots following the Ospreys’ Magners League trip to Galway. Centre Taylor, 35, won two league titles with Swansea and one with Sale Sharks as well as the 1999 Swalec Cup and 2000 Welsh Player of the Year.
Taylor said: “I’ve had an enjoyable and successful career. I’ve got many fantastic and happy memories like captaining my country, scoring the first try against South Africa at the new Millennium Stadium and winning a Grand Slam, but I feel with the youngsters coming through that opportunities of regular rugby will become less and less.”
Taylor was last capped for Wales against New Zealand in 2005 and was also part of the British Lions tour to Australia in 2001. He won 52 Welsh caps, scoring 12 tries and will add vital experience in a youthful Ospreys line-up with a dozen players unavailable at Wales’s training camp in Ireland ahead of their two-Test tour to World Champions South Africa.
Connacht: G Duffy; O Treviranus, M Deane, K Matthews, D Riordan; A Dunne, C McPhillips; B Wilkinson, A Flavin, R Morris, A Browne, A Farley (capt), J Muldoon, J O’Connor, C Rigney
Replacements: J Fogarty, R Loughney, B McGovern, M McCarthy, C O’Loughlin, T Nathan, D Yapp
Ospreys: Gareth Owen; Leigh Bevan, Mark Taylor, Jonathan Spratt, Kristian Phillips; Shaun Connor, Rhys Webb; Paul James (capt), Richard Hibbard, Cai Griffiths, Andy Lloyd, Lyndon Bateman, Hale T-Pole, Steve Tandy, Tom Smith
Replacements: Ed Shervington, Ryan Bevington, Mike Powell, Marty Holah, Martin Roberts, Dan Biggar, Ashley Beck
Referee: Neil Paterson (SRU)
