Ospreys chief Booth rings changes
THE Ospreys name Wales fly-half Gareth Anscombe on the bench amid wholesale changes for their United Rugby Championship encounter with in-form Ulster in Swansea on Saturdayhis afternoon (3pm kick-of ).
After his team’s misadventure in Galway against Connacht, head coach Toby Booth makes seven changes to the starting line-up, with Test men Alex Cuthbert, Tomas Francis, Sam Parry and Gareth Thomas among those returning.
New Wales hooker Bradley Roberts, who was a shock call-up during the autumn, starts against Toby Booth’s team.
Anscombe figuring among the replacements is presumably linked to the Ospreys wanting to move him up the gears gradually. Booth had made clear before Wales’ autumn Tests that he felt the 30-year-old needed more time before a recall to the international arena after his return from more than two years out with a knee injury.
The evidence of Wales’ games in the autumn suggests the coach was right.
Anscombe started the first game and came off the bench in the second without appearing to be firing on all cylinders.
But the 29-cap player is a class act who the Ospreys will want to add pep if required against Ulster.
The coaches will hope for a muchimproved effort after their side were thrashed 46-18 by Connacht.
The Ospreys were missing a virtual full team of players from their starting line-up in Galway in Mat Protheroe, George North, Michael Collins, Keiran Williams, Alex Cuthbert, Gareth Anscombe, Rhodri Jones, Dewi Lake, Tomas Francis, Alun Wyn Jones, Adam Beard, Dan Lydiate and Justin Tipuric, but, to his credit, Booth did not hide behind the high number of absentees, saying: “We’ve never used injuries as an excuse and I don’t intend to start now.”
Cuthbert comes back on the left wing after Test duty and Wales Six Nations hopeful Collins goes straight into the side after his return from a calf injury.
Up front, the Ospreys welcome back a new front row of Thomas, Parry and Francis, with Will Griffiths and Morgan Morris figuring in the back row after impressing off the bench in Connacht.
The certainty is the Welsh side will need to play well to upset an Ulster team who defeated Leinster last time out.
“Ulster will be very confident after beating Leinster in Dublin,” said Booth.
“This is an opportunity to do better and show more than we did last week against Connacht, and we certainly need to do that. It’s still a benchmarking opportunity to see how far we are on our journey.
“We have some players back and that will give us a real injection of energy and should help us to bounce back.”
Ulster hand a start to new Wales international Bradley Roberts, with the hooker packing down alongside Eric O’Sullivan and Tom O’Toole in the front row.
John Cooney is named at scrumhalf, partnering Billy Burns, with Alan O’Connor leading the team from the second row.
Ospreys: Dan Evans; Alex Cuthbert, Michael Collins, Owen Watkin, Luke Morgan; Stephen Myler, Rhys Webb (capt); Gareth Thomas, Sam Parry, Tomas Francis, Rhys Davies, Bradley Davies, Will Griffiths, Jac Morgan, Morgan Morris.
Reps: Elvis Taione, Nicky Smith, Tom Botha, Jack Regan, Ethan Roots, Reuben Morgan-Williams, Gareth Anscombe, Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler.
Ulster: Mike Lowry; Robert Baloucoune, Angus Curtis, Stuart McCloskey, Ethan Mcllroy; Billy Burns, John Cooney; Eric O’Sullivan, Bradley Roberts, Tom O’Toole, Kieran
Treadwell, Alan O’Connor (capt), Sean Reidy, Nick Timoney, David McCann. Reps: T. Stewart, J. McGrath M. Moore, M. Kearney, M. Rae, N. Doak, S. Moore, C. Gilroy.