Third-placed Ospreys welcome Glasgow Warriors to the Liberty Stadium on Sunday, with both sides looking to get back to winning ways in the Guinness PRO12. What’s at stake? Should both Munster and Leinster lose to Scarlets and Newport Gwent Dragons respectively on Friday night, then Ospreys could find themselves sitting top of the Guinness PRO12 come Sunday. They currently occupy third spot heading into Round 16, one point behind Leinster and three off of leaders Munster. Glasgow Warriors sit sixth ahead of the game and will be looking to climb the table with a bit of a gap opening up between them and seventh-placed Cardiff Blues. Ulster are one place and two points above the 2015 champions, while Scarlets are just eight ahead in that fourth and final semi-final spot. And both sides will be eager to bounce back from disappointing losses. Ospreys’ narrow 25-23 home defeat to Munster last Saturday was their first defeat in any competition since November, while Glasgow are hoping to avoid a third straight reverse. Team news (Ospreys): Steve Tandy might have 11 players unavailable for selection due to international duty, but he does have Brian Mujati to call upon, with the prop making his Ospreys debut after joining from Sale Sharks earlier this month. He packs down in an all-changed front row that sees Paul James brought in at loosehead and Hugh Gustafson named at hooker for his first Ospreys start. There are ten changes altogether – two of them positional – with Dan Baker returning at No.8 and Tyler Ardron getting the nod at blindside flanker. Luke Price replaces Sam Davies, who is on Wales duty, and Brendon Leonard takes over from Tom Habberfield at scrum-half, with Josh Matavesi fit again to resume at No.12. The positional switches see Ashley Beck moving to outside centre and Olly Cracknell taking over at openside, while Rory Thornton makes his 50th Ospreys appearance in the second row. Team news (Glasgow Warriors): There is also a debut for the visitors with flanker Matt Smith making his Glasgow Warriors bow, while Ratu Tagive could also feature for the first time off the bench. Jamie Bhatti is handed his first start and Pat MacArthur is in line to make his 150th appearance for the club, becoming only the eighth player to reach that landmark. Lewis Wynne starts at No.8 while Rob Harley returns from the Scotland camp to pack down on the blindside. Scott Cummings, who scored twice against Ulster last weekend, continues his partnership with Brian Alainu’uese in the second-row, while Corey Flynn and Sila Puafisi join Bhatti in the front row. Brandon Thomson had a debut to remember at the Kingspan after scoring a try from full-back, and he moves up the field to his more familiar position of fly-half, starting outside of Grayson Hart. Peter Horne will captain the side from inside centre, with Nick Grigg outside of him wearing the No.13 jersey. Peter Murchie returns to the side at full-back and he is flanked by Junior Bulumakau and Rory Hughes on the wings. Talking points: Scarlets head coach Steve Tandy said: “There was a lot good about our performance last week against Munster, but it was let down by a couple of moments where we weren’t accurate enough. “Our lack of attention to detail proved costly as it gave Munster ins and a quality team like that can kill you off with the smallest opportunity, which is what they did. “It was an incredibly disappointed dressing room after the game, but we couldn’t dwell on it as we knew that we had to pick ourselves up to go again on Sunday against a side who can, and will, cause us all sorts of problems.” Glasgow Warriors head coach Gregor Townsend said: “Matt (Smith) and Jamie (Bhatti) have an opportunity to start for the first time and we are looking forward to seeing them play. “There is a good blend of youth and experience throughout the 23 and there has been an edge to our training this week as all our players have been pushing hard to be selected. “With Ratu (Tagive) potentially making his debut and Pat (MacArthur) set to play his 150th game for the club, we have a group of players keen to make an impact from the bench. “We’ll have to take the game to the Ospreys for 80 minutes as they have been very impressive this season.” Key Battle: Rory Thornton and Scott Cummings are no strangers to each other, facing off for Wales U20s and Scotland U20s respectively. And as they prepare to do battle on Sunday it will be a memorable occasion for Thornton no matter what as he makes his 50th Ospreys appearance. But Cummings will be looking to spoil the party and heads into the game in fine fettle after dotting down twice against Ulster last weekend. Key stat: The Warriors have been victorious on five of their last eight visits to Wales in all competitions. However, Ospreys beat Glasgow 22-5 in Round 9 but have not achieved a season-double over the Warriors since 2008/09. Did you know? The Ospreys have not lost successive matches at the Liberty Stadium since October 2015. Ospreys Top points scorer: 84 – Sam Davies Top try scorer: 5 – Dan Evans Glasgow Warriors Top points scorer: 48 – Finn Russell Top try scorer: 8 – Tommy Seymour Ospreys: Dan Evans, Keelan Giles, Ashley Beck, Josh Matavesi, Hanno Dirksen, Luke Price, Brendon Leonard, Paul James, Hugh Gustafson, Brian Mujati, Lloyd Ashley, Rory Thornton, Tyler Ardron, Olly Cracknell, Dan Baker Replacements: Ifan Phillips, Gareth Thomas, Rhodri Jones, James King, Sam Underhill, Tom Habberfield, Kieron Fonotia, Dafydd Howells Glasgow Warriors: Peter Murchie, Junior Bulumakau, Nick Grigg, Peter Horne, Rory Hughes, Brandon Thomson, Grayson Hart, Jamie Bhatti, Corey Flynn, Sila Puafisi, Brian Alainu’uese, Scott Cummings, Rob Harley, Matt Smith, Lewis Wynne Replacements: Pat MacArthur, Alex Allan, D’arcy Rae, Tjiuee Uanivi, Chris Fusaro, Nemia Kenatale, Richie Vernon, Ratu Tagive Overall Guinness PRO12 head to head record: Played 28, Ospreys won 13, Glasgow won 12 with 3 games drawn. At Liberty Stadium, 1.05pm. Live on BBC Wales and BBC Alba Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU, 2nd competition game) Assistant Referees: Stuart Gaffikin (IRFU), Craig Evans (WRU) Citing Commissioner: Jeff Marks (WRU) TMO: Simon McDowell (IRFU)
