Jones ‘under no illusion’ of Dragons home quality as Ospreys name side for URC derby
Both sides will be looking to finish on a high before the international break, with Dragons not tasting victory since this fixture in last season’s opener but have the upper hand in the fixture having won the last three encounters in Newport.
Wales captain Jac Morgan is set for his first appearance for Ospreys this season having been named among the replacements having not featured since the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, with his comeback delayed by a minor calf injury.
Jones’ side have also made six changes from the 42-17 defeat against Glasgow last weekend with Keiran Williams returning at centre, whilst Iestyn Hopkins comes into the backline. There are also changes in the pack with Tom Botha, Ryan Smith, Huw Sutton and Harry Deaves all set to start.
Australian lock Smith will be making his eagerly awaited debut after joining from Queensland Reds in the summer.
“We are looking forward to it. Welsh derbies are one of the first fixtures you target when they come out at the beginning of the season”, said Ospreys coach Jones in his pre-match press conference.
“It’s exciting, we’ve had to wait a bit longer than usual. We had one first up at the beginning of last year.
“We are excited to get stuck into what will be a good game, I’m sure.
“It is always important to get wins particualry if you are trying to get into the play-offs at the end of the year. You want to acuminate as many wins as you can.
“We are aware we have played against three of the top-four teams and two of those have been away from home so it’s been a difficult start on paper, but I thought our performances in three and a half games have been strong.
“There has been far more positive than negative and if we were to get a result this week, it will be a decent start to the season.
“It [Rodney Parade] is a dangerous place to go for many teams. The sharks got away with a result there that was probably looking unlikely for a while.
“The crowd is very passionate; it is a tough place to play.because the Dragons definitely rise to the home advantage. They really feed off the environment there.
“They are a good side, when they put their best players out there, and they play to their standard, they are a very good team.
“Although they have had a long streak of a lack of wins, our being the last one, some of their performances have been very strong at home and there has been a lot of one score games.
“You can never underestimate that. We are under no illusion of the task ahead of us. We are fighting for victories ourselves and haven’t had as many as we would have liked in the last five or six games either.
“We are passionate about fighting and showing what we are about as well.
“In terms of previous results and revenge, it’s not about that. It is about our performance, and we hope that the result takes care of itself then.
“But we know we will have to be at our very best on the weekend.”
Ospreys: Walsh; Kasende, Cokanasiga, K Williams, Hopkins; Edwards, Morgan-Williams; Thomas, Lake (capt), Botha, Smith, Fender, Sutton, Deaves, Moriarty
Replacements: Lloyd, Phillips, Warren, R Davies, Morgan, L Davies, Boshoff, Nagy
Both sides will be looking to finish on a high before the international break, with Dragons not tasting victory since this fixture in last season’s opener but have the upper hand in the fixture having won the last three encounters in Newport.
Wales captain Jac Morgan is set for his first appearance for Ospreys this season having been named among the replacements having not featured since the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, with his comeback delayed by a minor calf injury.
Jones’ side have also made six changes from the 42-17 defeat against Glasgow last weekend with Keiran Williams returning at centre, whilst Iestyn Hopkins comes into the backline. There are also changes in the pack with Tom Botha, Ryan Smith, Huw Sutton and Harry Deaves all set to start.
Australian lock Smith will be making his eagerly awaited debut after joining from Queensland Reds in the summer.
“We are looking forward to it. Welsh derbies are one of the first fixtures you target when they come out at the beginning of the season”, said Ospreys coach Jones in his pre-match press conference.
“It’s exciting, we’ve had to wait a bit longer than usual. We had one first up at the beginning of last year.
“We are excited to get stuck into what will be a good game, I’m sure.
“It is always important to get wins particualry if you are trying to get into the play-offs at the end of the year. You want to acuminate as many wins as you can.
“We are aware we have played against three of the top-four teams and two of those have been away from home so it’s been a difficult start on paper, but I thought our performances in three and a half games have been strong.
“There has been far more positive than negative and if we were to get a result this week, it will be a decent start to the season.
“It [Rodney Parade] is a dangerous place to go for many teams. The sharks got away with a result there that was probably looking unlikely for a while.
“The crowd is very passionate; it is a tough place to play.because the Dragons definitely rise to the home advantage. They really feed off the environment there.
“They are a good side, when they put their best players out there, and they play to their standard, they are a very good team.
“Although they have had a long streak of a lack of wins, our being the last one, some of their performances have been very strong at home and there has been a lot of one score games.
“You can never underestimate that. We are under no illusion of the task ahead of us. We are fighting for victories ourselves and haven’t had as many as we would have liked in the last five or six games either.
“We are passionate about fighting and showing what we are about as well.
“In terms of previous results and revenge, it’s not about that. It is about our performance, and we hope that the result takes care of itself then.
“But we know we will have to be at our very best on the weekend.”
Ospreys XV:
Walsh, Kasende, Cokanasiga, K Williams, Hopkins; Edwards, Morgan-Williams
Thomas, Lake (captain), Botha, R Smith, Fender, Sutton, Deaves, Moriarty
Replacements:
Lloyd, Phillips, Warren, R Davies, J Morgan, L Davies, Boshoff, Nagy
[Lead image: Ospreys Rugby]
