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Ospreys Begin Their Brewery Days With a Toast To Harry Deaves’ 50th

Ospreys Head Coach Mark Jones. Pic. Alamy

Ospreys Head Coach Mark Jones. Pic. Alamy

There will be internationals aplenty on duty as the Ospreys entertain unbeaten Zebre Parma at Bridgend’s Brewery Field on Saturday.

 

The famous old ground is the Ospreys’ home for this season, with Wales’ summer skipper Dewi Lake at the helm for the opening game there.

It’s a fixture that will see the BKT URC come full circle in this, its 25th season in its various guises. 

That’s because the Brewery Field was the setting for the very first Celtic League match - Bridgend v Pontypridd - on August 17, 2001.

Harry Deaves will be hoping to mark his 50th game for the Ospreys with a win to kick start his region’s United Rugby Championship campaign.

After two defeats on their South African safari, where they picked up a point for scoring six tries against the Bulls in Pretoria, Deaves and co head to Bridgend for their first competitive home game of the season.
 
Unbeaten Zebre Parma are the visitors and after they opened with back-to-back home wins against Edinburgh (31-28) and the Lions (22-20) they look like being a tough nut to crack.

“Zebre were an improved team last year with five wins. That’s probably why their coach was named as the coach of the season, so we are well aware of the challenge,” said Ospreys head coach Mark Jones.
 
“And they are two from two so far this season. They have a balance around their kicking and unstructured games and they are a more rounded side.”

READ MORE: Wales and Ospreys Leader Dewi Lake Heading Down Memory Lane
 
Lake will lead the side in the continued absence of British & Irish Lions star Jac Morgan. 

It will be a a return to his home town of Bridgend for this summer’s Wales captain and he will be more aware than anyone of the need for support from the locals to help the Ospreys get over the line for the first time this season.
 
“We’re all looking forward to playing in Bridgend with a partisan crowd this season. They feel right on top of you and the Brewery Field is going to be a good home for us for the remainder of this season,” added Jones.
 
“Saturday afternoon is rugby time and we’re excited to be playing at that time with a 3.10pm kick off.”
 
Jones is also hoping his players have learned some of the lessons from their defeats to the Bulls and Stormers.
 
“There has been lots of good in what we’ve been trying to do, especially with a number of our senior players unavailable at the moment. We were in a good position at half-time in both games, and even at 60-65 minutes we could have won,” he added.
 
“There are things we’ve learned that we need to do to turn these gutsy performances into wins. It’s great the boys are getting rewards for their attacking play, but that can’t be at the expenses of our defence around our set-play and rucks.
 
“We need to be more consistent. These days you need three or four more tries to win a game these days and we are around that, but we need to tighten up on our defence.”

READ MORE: Ospreys' Dan Edwards Proud to Step Into the Shoes of Legends

No fewer than five Lions make their season debuts for Leinster as the champions look to bounce back from defeats in their opening two matches of the season out in South Africa.

Prop Tadhg Furlong, hooker Ronan Kelleher, winger James Lowe, full-back Jamie Osborne, and flanker Josh van der Flier all start against the Hollywoodbets Sharks at the Aviva Stadium, with Van der Flier captaining the team from the openside.

The Sharks are also reinforced by returning internationals with wing Ethan Hooker and hooker Bongi Mbonambi, both involved just a week on from featuring in the victory over Argentina at Twickenham, while fellow South Africa stars Makazole Mapimpi and Vincent Koch are back on duty as well.

The table-topping Bulls have eight Springboks in their starting XV for the trip to Belfast, where they will take on Ulster.

Fly-half Handre Pollard makes his first appearance for the Pretoria-based franchise since re-joining from Leicester, while centre Canan Moodie and props Wilco Louw and Jan-Hendrik Wessels return after sharing in the 29-27 win over the Pumas at Twickenham.

READ MORE: Shane and Shanks Agree . . . Ospreys to Finish Top of Welsh Pile

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