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Forgotten 2013 Lions star to lead Ospreys alongside debutant for tilt at PRO14 'market leaders'

Dan Lydiate (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Forgotten star of the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour, Dan Lydiate, will lead Ospreys for the third time this season when they take on Leinster this weekend. The 32-year-old be will joined in the engine room by Wales Test internationals Adam Beard and Bradley Davis.

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The chop tackle technique became a mini-trend in the game in the early 2010s and Lydiate was its key exponent and was largely credited for driving its popularity. Capped 64 times for his country, injury and a move to Racing 92 disrupted his Test career.

The 32-year-old hasn’t been capped by Wales since 2016 when a cruel injury against South Africa once again put pay to any Test ambitions.

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Alongside him in the back-row is Gareth Evans at number 8 and Will Griffiths who makes his first PRO14 start for the Ospreys. An unchanged front five sees Rhodri Jones, Dewi Lake and Ma’afu Fia line up in the front-row and Adam Beard and Bradley Davies in the second. Ifan Phillips, Gareth Thomas and Tom Botha provide the cover off the bench alongside Olly Cracknell and Ospreys debutant Rhys Davies.

In the backs Cai Evans comes into the starting line-up alongside the unchanged duo of Luke Morgan and Mat Protheroe on the wings. Joe Hawkins and Scott Williams maintain the centre partnership with Reuben Morgan-Williams and Josh Thomas taking the keys to nine and ten shirts once again.

Off the bench Callum Carson is named after making his PRO14 debut last weekend, alongside the experienced duo of Hanno Dirksen and Shaun Venter.

Speaking ahead of the game, Head Coach Toby Booth said: “I am less worried about Leinster and where they are in their journey as a team, everyone knows how good they are, they are the market leaders in the PRO14. Everyone knows they are there to aspire to but we can’t control them and I am more interested in what we do and how we respond from last week.

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“The character side of our team I am really proud of. The ability to keep fighting until the bitter end and we came up short, only just, last Monday, but if we have good character, a good culture and consistent performances you get closer to teams like Leinster.

“We are looking forward to the challenge and it’s another opportunity to see where we are.”

Ospreys:
15. Cai Evans
14. Mat Protheroe
13. Scott Williams
12. Joe Hawkins
11. Luke Morgan
10. Josh Thomas
9. Reuben Morgan-Williams

1. Rhodri Jones
2. Dewi Lake
3. Ma’afu Fia
4. Adam Beard
5. Bradley Davies
6. Will Griffiths
7. Dan Lydiate ©
8.Gareth Evans

16. Ifan Phillips
17. Gareth Thomas
18. Tom Botha
19. Rhys Davies
20. Olly Cracknell
21. Shaun Venter
22. Callum Carson
23. Hanno Dirksen.

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Liberty Stadium, Swansea
Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU, 10th Championship Appearance)
Assistant Referees: Adam Jones and Ben Whitehouse (both WRU)
TMO: Tim Hayes (WRU)

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Bull Shark 1 hour ago
Rassie Erasmus' Boks selection policy is becoming bizarre

To be fair, the only thing that drives engagement on this site is over the top critiques of Southern Hemisphere teams.


Or articles about people on podcasts criticizing southern hemisphere teams.


Articles regarding the Northern Hemisphere tend to be more positive than critical. I guess to also rile up kiwis and Saffers who seem to be the majority of followers in the comments section. There seems to be a whole department dedicated to Ireland’s world ranking news.


Despite being dialled into the Northern edition - I know sweet fokall about what’s going on in France.


And even less than fokall about what’s cutting in Japan - which has a fast growing, increasingly premium League competition emerging.


And let’s not talk about the pacific. Do they even play rugby Down there.


Oh and the Americas. I’ve read more articles about a young, stargazing Welshman’s foray into NFL than I have anything related to either the north and south continents of the Americas.


I will give credit that the women’s game is getting decent airtime. But for the rest and the above; it’s just pathetic coming from a World Rugby website.


Just consider the innovation emerging in Japan with the pedigree of coaches over there.


There’s so much good we could be reading.


Instead it’s unimaginative “critical for the sake of feigning controversial”. Which is lazy, because in order to pull that off all you need to be really good at is:


1. Being a doos;

2. Having an opinion.


No prior experience needed.


Which is not journalism. That’s like all or most of us in the comments section. People like Finn (who I believe is a RP contributor).


Anyway. Hopefully it will get better. The game is growing and the interest in the game is growing. Maybe it will attract more qualified journalists over time.

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