Michael Cheika talks ahead of the Ospreys clash

"It would have been our intention to freshen things up this week with the five-day turnaround from the Toulouse game on the Sunday to another big challenge against the Ospreys on the Friday night.

"The Ospreys are a very strong side and the last two matches that we have had over there have been tight affairs. In year one we lost in the last minute and then in year two, I the game went down to the last few minutes.

"Though we lost on both occasions, there were two points in it so I'm expecting another competitive game on Friday.

"Sunday night was disappointing and in an away game environment, you can't afford to make mistakes. We have to keep our composure a bit more and to play a bit smarter, especially as we are coming up against a very intelligent team.

"The Ospreys have a brilliant squad. They have great depth and even though they are likely to be without some of their Welsh internationals for this game, they have great experience in the likes of Marty Holah, Justin Marshall and Filo Tiatia.

"The 7, 8, 9 and 10 axis is very strong and with the likes of Nikki Walker out wide and Ian Gough, they have experience throughout the squad.

"At this stage it's difficult to say for definite who will or will not be available. We know that Chris (Whitaker) is out injured for a few weeks, so while injuries are unfortunate they're part and parcel of the game.

"It's not like we're in a losing streak. Our last two performances in the Magners League before the win against Leicester had been good, away to Ulster and then at home to Connacht. We're in third place in the league and we want to be as competitive as we possibly can be.

"This year I'm much happier with the squad's ability to rotate and we will need to be at our best on Friday."