STAT ATTACK: Ulster and Ospreys do battle in round eight

Victory for the home team could see them swap places with their opponents, whereas an Ospreys win would stretch their lead even further at the top of the table.

On top of that, there are individual stats to be chased with the league's current top try scorer Rhys Webb on international duty with Wales.

The scrum-half has five scores so far this campaign in the GUINNESS PRO12 but there are four players just behind him on the leaderboard with four: Jeff Hassler, Gareth Davies, Andrew Trimble and Simon Zebo.

But with Davies and Trimble both out injured and Zebo on international duty with Ireland, the chance is there for Hassler to jump ahead of his Ospreys teammate with a strong showing in Belfast.

On top of that Rhys Patchell's injury means that the race to be the GUINNESS PRO12's top points scorer is
wide open.

Ian Madigan is likely to still be with Ireland so he will stay one point behind Patchell on 77, while Dan Biggar on 70 is with Wales.

That opens the door for Tom Heathcote (52), whose Edinburgh side host Cardiff Blues on Sunday, or Ian Humphreys and Ulster on Friday.

Second-placed Glasgow Warriors are also in action on Friday night with a trip to Llanelli to face Scarlets, a team who they completed the double against last season, whilst the remaining team in the play-off places, Munster, also face a journey to Wales to play Newport Gwent Dragons the same evening.

Should Ian Keatley return from Ireland duty for Munster, the fly-half only needs 14 more points to take his career PRO12 total past the 1,000-mark.

The round wraps up on Sunday with Leinster perhaps being the team with the most to prove; with the season almost one third of the way through they have not climbed higher than fifth in the table to date.

Initially 119 PRO12 players were selected in the original squads for autumn internationals, the best representation of any world league, but the next couple of weeks will give players a chance to stake their claim for forthcoming GUINNESS PRO12 and European matches.

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