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Preview: Ospreys v Ulster

September 26 2008

The Ospreys are boosted by the return from injury of Richard Hibbard and Gavin Henson as they play host to struggling Ulster this Saturday at Liberty Stadium.

Hibbard starts to make his first appearance of the season following minor shoulder surgery in the summer. Meanwhile, centre Henson could make his first bow in an Ospreys shirt since damaging ankle ligaments against Saracens in April.

"After difficult trips to Glasgow and Leinster over the last few weeks we're looking forward to coming back to the nest for Saturday's match against Ulster, which starts off a run of four matches out of five at home over the next month," said Head Coach Sean Holley.

"We suffered our first defeat of the season at the hands of Leinster last Friday, and although we are obviously disappointed with the result, we have taken a lot of positives from what was a strong performance.

"We dominated for long periods and there were some very strong aspects to our game, but we failed to turn our possession and territory into the points we deserved, which would probably have given us an excellent victory.

"Ulster are a very difficult team to take on, they always provide a real physical challenge up front, they are well organised and abrasive, and take the breakdown and tackle area to its limits.

"They've also got plenty of pace in the back three who offer a threat from any area of the pitch, and of course, with us having faced them four times over the last year they have plenty of experience of how to play against us."

Meanwhile, Ulster Head Coach Matt Williams has named an experienced team to take on their heavyweight opponents.

Several changes have been named from the side that was beaten by the Dragons at Ravenhill last week with the injured Rory Best one notable absentee.

In Best's absence the captaincy moves to lock and Italian international Carlo Del Fava, and Nigel Brady steps into replace Best as hooker.

In the back line, Bryn Cunningham replaces Clinton Schifcofske at full-back with the former Queensland Red moving out to the wing. Andrew Trimble moves into the centre to partner Rob Dewey, which means Darren Cave drops out of the squad.

On the replacements bench is Ulster and Ireland back-row Stephen Ferris, who makes a welcome return to the squad for his first competitive game of the season after recovering from a back injury picked up in the summer.

Form: Ospreys lost their 100 per cent winning record in the Magners League with their 13-19 defeat at champions Leinster on Friday. The Welshmen's only reversal at Liberty Stadium since last November was 18-19 to Edinburgh on May 2. Ulster are still struggling to break their season's duck following an unprecedented fifth successive Magners League defeat at the hands of the Dragons at Ravenhill on Friday. Ulster have not won in Wales since a 32-25 victory against Dragons at Rodney Parade on 9 September 2006.

Prediction: Not the hammering many would predict but comfortable nonetheless for the Welsh hosts. Ospreys by 20.

The teams:

Ospreys: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Nikki Walker, 13 Tommy Bowe, 12 James Hook, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Daniel Biggar, 9 Rhodri Wells, 8 Tom Smith, 7 Marty Holah, 6 Jonathan Thomas, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Andy Lloyd, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Paul James (c).

Replacements: 16 Huw Bennett, 17 Duncan Jones, 18 Ian Gough, 19 Ryan Jones, 20 Rhys Webb, 21 Andrew Bishop, 22 Gavin Henson.

Ulster: 15 Bryn Cunningham, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Rob Dewey, 12 Andrew Trimble, 11 Clinton Schifcofske, 10 Niall O'Connor, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Robbie Diack, 7 Kieron Dawson, 6 Matt McCullough, 5 Ryan Caldwell, 4 Carlo Del Fava (c), 3 Brendon Botha, 2 Nigel Brady, 1 Justin Fitzpatrick.

Replacements: 16 Stuart Phillpott, 17 Tom Court, 18 Ed O'Donoghue, 19 Stephen Ferris, 20 Paul Marshall, 21 Ian Humphreys, 22 Paul Steinmetz.

Referee: Peter Allan (Scotland)

Touch judges: James Jones (Wales), Alan Jenkins (Wales)

Television match official: Tony Rowlands (Wales)