Ospreys ready for Munster test

As Head Coach Lyn Jones admits, “the next three weeks will in many ways define our season” and he has chosen a strong side for the Magners League clash with the current Heineken Cup Champions at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday night (5.30pm kick-off).

Currently lying in third place in the Magners League, the Ospreys know they will have to beat the Irish giants if they are to stand any chance of threatening top of the table Leinster in the run in for the title.

“To do well in the Magners League you need a strong squad that consistently performs within varying combinations. We have made changes from the team that beat the Blues last time out, but we have great confidence and belief in our squad and I am sure the guys selected this weekend will again show the qualities so evident at the Millennium Stadium,” said Jones.

“We are developing a strong, well motivated and happy group of players and we will be calling on these strengths to get us through the coming month. There is no good time to face an outfit as efficient as Munster, but this weekend is a particularly bad time to come up against them.

“They were comprehensively outplayed by the Scarlets on their last visit to Wales and I am sure they will, both individually and collectively, be looking to turn things around this weekend. We go into April having to play four games, two against Heineken Cup quarter-finalists and two against Heineken semi-finalists.

“The next three weeks will in many ways define our season and it will be a tough challenge for our squad, but our aim is to compete against the best teams in the best competitions and that it what we are facing.”

Munster Coach Declan Kidney will use the game against Ospreys to freshen up his side and welcome back from injury Anthony Foley, Anthony Horgan, Federico Pucciariello and Mossy Lawlor to the Munster starting line-up.

Foley returns having limped out of the Heineken Cup pool game against Leicester Tigers at Thomond Park in mid-January, while Horgan’s last start was in the Magners League game against the Dragons at the start of that month. Pucciariello picked up a groin injury against Cardiff Blues at the start of March.

There is a second start for rugby league recruit Brian Carney following his try-scoring debut against Ulster. Ireland U21 international Keith Earls is named among the replacements.

“Of course it’s been a tough week, it always is when you go out of a competition. What we have to do now is lift ourselves for the next challenge” said Kidney.

“We have to park that Heineken Cup defeat. There will an opportunity to revisit it and see what we need to correct. We can’t do anything in the short term now about what happened last weekend but we do have control over what happens on Saturday and thats what we must focus on.”

Ospreys: Stefan Terblanche; Jonathan Vaughton, Sonny Parker, Andrew Bishop, Shane Williams; James Hook, Jason Spice; Paul James (Capt), Huw Bennett, Cai Griffiths, Brent Cockbain, Alun Wyn Jones, Andy Lloyd, Steve Tandy, Ryan Jones

Replacements: Barry Williams, Adam Jones, Jonathan Thomas, Richard Pugh, Justin Marshall, Shaun Connor, Nikki Walker

Munster: M Lawlor; B Carney, B Murphy, L Mafi, A Horgan; J Manning, T O’Leary; F Pucciariello, F Sheahan, T Buckley; D O’Callaghan, D Ryan; A Quinlan, J O’Sullivan, A Foley capt

Replacements: J Flannery, M Horan/Eugene McGovern, S O’Connor, J Coughlan, B O’Meara, R O’Gara, K Earls