"After difficult trips to Glasgow and Leinster over the last few weeks we're looking forward to coming back to the nest for Saturday's match against Ulster, which starts off a run of four matches out of five at home over the next month, in stark contrast to the opening weeks of the season that saw us face three way fixtures in our first four," commented Ospreys Head Coach Sean Holley.
"We suffered our first defeat of the season at the hands of Leinster last Friday, and although we are obviously disappointed with the result, we have taken a lot of positives from what was a strong performance. We dominated for long periods and there were some very strong aspects to our game, but we failed to turn our possession and territory into the points we deserved, which would probably have given us an excellent victory. It was very pleasing that we kept on going until the final whistle and didn't drop our heads as the bonus point we secured right at the death could prove important later in the season.
"Ulster are a very difficult team to take on, they always provide a real physical challenge up front, they are well organised and abrasive, and take the breakdown and tackle area to its limits. They've also got plenty of pace in the back three who offer a threat from any area of the pitch, and of course, with us having faced them four times over the last year they have plenty of experience of how to play against us.
"We've worked hard this week on correcting the areas where we fell short against Leinster and we'll be looking to impose our game on the opposition. We are confident and extremely tight as a group at the moment and are able once again to select a strong team with fresh legs and players with some points to prove and places to play for. Having spent the last few weeks on the road, and in particular after last weekend's game in Dublin where there was a 15,000 crowd, we are all hoping that there will be a good crowd at the Liberty Stadium to welcome us back and to generate a great atmosphere to help the players perform."
Ospreys team v Ulster
15 Lee Byrne
14 Nikki Walker
13 Tommy Bowe
12 James Hook
11 Shane Williams
10 Daniel Biggar
9 Rhodri Wells
8 Tom Smith
7 Marty Holah
6 Jonathan Thomas
5 Ian Evans
4 Andy Lloyd
3 Adam Jones
2 Richard Hibbard
1 Paul James ©
Replacements:
16 Huw Bennett
17 Duncan Jones
18 Ian Gough
19 Ryan Jones
20 Rhys Webb
21 Andrew Bishop
22 Gavin Henson
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