Booth’s side will look to get back on track after falling agonisingly short in the 19-15 defeat against Edinburgh in the URC before the Six Nations break.
The loss at the Hive meant the Ospreys dropped to tenth place in the table and outside of the end-of-season play-off placings. The Welsh region, however, remain within striking distance of the top eight with five points separating fourth to eleventh and just four points separating Friday’s visitors Munster in sixth position.
Back to an almost fully fit quota Booth revealed that utility back Max Nagy will be available for the challenge of last season’s champions. Whilst not quite back in training yet, the Ospreys boss is hopeful of having hooker Dewi Lake and back-row Jac Morgan back for the EPCR Challenge Cup last-16 tie with Sale at the Brewery Field on April 6.
“We’ve looked over the international break to see who will play. Gareth [Thomas] and Beardy [Adam Beard] have played a hell of a lot of minutes so won’t be involved at all,” said Booth.
“Max Nagy, Hugh Sutton and Garwyn Phillips are back for us, so we are getting some bodies off the physio bench to the pitch, which is good.
“We are hopeful to get more people back. Dewi Lake and Jac Morgan will be the next two and that will be exciting for everybody to get some real quality back when it really matters.
“I don’t think it will be for the next two games, but potentially for the European game.
“We will have to see though because they have not resumed training yet. It is normally a two-week window at least with long-term injuries back out in the middle.
Obviously, George [North] went off injured, so he is out.
“We have not had the feedback yet. The first thing is to make sure he is ok. He has contributed so much for Welsh Rugby.
“He needs to be respectfully treated to see what health and state of mind he is in, and we will establish what injury he has got, and we will go from there.
“I’m disappointed it finished the way that it did for him, but lets not focus on the last bit, lets focus on the 120+ caps and what he has done. That is the stuff we want to remember George for.
“Owen Watkin is keen to play, he has made that clear, but we need to make sure we have a balance there because he has still been involved in the training program.
“I have an idea in mind [to start at centre]. We don’t have much to choose from but the way to get around squad size sometimes is to have flexibility in position. We have a lot of people who can play in two or three positions. You want to get your best players on the pitch.
With three important matches in three weeks between the Ospreys two URC matches and a European tie with Sale, Booth is happy for competition for places.
One dilemma for the head-coach, however, will be the selection at eight with both Morgan’s Morris who in recent seasons has been a standout starter and the raw talent of Morse both fit and available for selection.
“Competition for places is great to have. It does require more management in a respectful clarity of communication,” continued Booth.
“It depends on how much people have played, how they come back in terms of conditioning and the amount of preparation time you would have had. From that point-of-view, it’s all the things you have to put into the mix.
“We will keep people as fresh as we can and if you’re not picked this week you will have to be ready for the next one.
“I think people are obsessive about shirt numbers, I understand why, it is the norm. It is about characteristics.
“You look at Ben Earl for England, he is not a traditional number eight in relation to his size or make-up, but he was one of the form players of the tournament. It’s about having the attributes he possesses.
“James Ratti for example has played at second-row, back-row, eight and at six but what we really want from Ratti is the attributes that he brings to the game. The competitiveness, attitude and collision, those are the things you want.
“The two eights [Morris and Morse] have different attributes for sure. One is more attacking-based than defensively. It depends on what type of game you are playing and balance.
“The two greatest challenges from a selection point-of-view are getting the balance of your back-row and your midfield right because it all depends on what you are trying to do and how you want to play.
“The next three weeks will be critical around that though so we need to focus on the controllables and get on with what we can.”
[Lead image: Ospreys Rugby]
