The Ospreys have handed Ian Gough the captain’s armband for the Magners League meeting with Glasgow on Friday evening.
With the Welsh international players in camp preparing for the match against the All Blacks, Gough becomes skipper in a pack flushed with star names.
Filo Tiatia moves from the back row to partner Gough meaning Jerry Collins, Marty Holah and Tom Smith wear the six, seven, and eight jerseys.
With both Mike Phillips and Jamie Nutbrown unavailable through injury, Scott Johnson has turned to Liam Davies and Gareth Owen as the half back combination.
But the former Wales coach knows that dealing with injuries and international absentees is part and parcel of the modern game. He said: “It’s been an interesting week for us, preparing for an important Magners League game minus so many players, with 10 players in the Wales squad and a growing injury list.
“But, what circumstances like this do, is allow someone else the chance to shine. You certainly won’t hear us complaining about the situation, we understand that one of our remits is to develop players for Wales, and also, to develop Ospreys players.
“We’ve got a considerable record in developing players that we are extremely proud of, and we are always aware that this leads us to situations like now when we have to cope without our international players, which is why we’ve made changes to our development system to enable us to cope better this year, and this is now the first real test of the system.
“We are up against a good side on Friday night, Glasgow have had a good start to the season with some excellent results under their belt, and I’ve absolutely no doubt that they will come to the Liberty Stadium looking to make life difficult for us, and thinking that they can get something from the game. The challenge for us is to make sure they don’t.
Glasgow are in fourth place on the table, one spot above the Ospreys and have a two-point lead over Johnson’s side.
Ospreys: Barry Davies; Tommy Bowe; Sonny Parker, Andrew Bishop; Nikki Walker; Gareth Owen, Liam Davies; Ryan Bevington, Richard Hibbard, Cai Griffiths, Ian Gough (capt), Filo Tiatia, Jerry Collins, Marty Holah, Tom Smith
Replacements: Ed Shervington, Ross Davies, James King, Steve Tandy, Rhodri Wells, Jonathan Spratt, Nicky Thomas
Glasgow Warriors:
Forwards: Jon Welsh, Dougie Hall, Moray Low, Richie Gray, Al Kellock (capt), Kelly Brown, John Barclay, Johnnie Beattie
Backs: Bernardo Stortoni, Colin Shaw, Max Evans, Graeme Morrison, Thom Evans, Dan Parks, Chris Cusiter
Replacements: Fergus Thomson, Kevin Tkachuk, Dan Turner, Richie Vernon, Mark McMillan, Colin Gregor, Hefin O’Hare
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (IRFU)
