Thomas will be joined in the Ospreys back row by Justin Tipuric and Tom Smith
Director of Coaching, Scott Johnson, commented: “Ulster will no doubt bring plenty of confidence with them after their good start to the season. They have recruited well over the summer. Jared Payne in particular is a good signing who will bring something different to the table for them, and I’m expecting them to be there challenging on all fronts year after a good season last time.
“We saw from their performance against the Blues last week that they play good rugby and have a cutting edge, so we know that it’s going to be a difficult afternoon.
“For our part, we need to lift our all round performance up a couple of notches from where we were last weekend against Treviso. Yes, we got another win to make it three from three but we rode our luck at times, particularly in the first half.
“The resolve and effort was first class though. The boys really dug in and toughed it out to get a win, and it’s a win that we can really be happy with as it’s a tough place to go. A lot of teams got a bloody nose there last season and no doubt will again this year, so it’s pleasing to be able to come away with the points.
“But, make no mistake about it, this week has been about picking up the performance level to get it to where we’ll need it to be to deal with the threats that Ulster have all over the park. It’s going to be a real test, and promises to be quite a contest at this early stage of the season.”
Ospreys 15 Barry Davies 14 Richard Fussell 13 Tom Isaacs 12 Andrew Bishop 11 Hanno Dirksen 10 Dan Biggar 9 Rhys Webb; 1 Duncan Jones 2 Scott Baldwin 3 Aaron Jarvis 4 Ian Gough 5 James Goode 6 Tom Smith 7 Justin Tipuric (Capt) 8 Jonathan Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Richard Hibbard 17 Cai Griffiths 18 Joe Rees 19 James King 20 Joe Bearman 21 Matthew Morgan 22 Sonny Parker 23 Kristian Phillips
