Tigers v Ospreys Friday night at 8pm at Welford Road

After a famous 'double' victory over French champions Montpellier last week, the Ospreys have a short turnaround again, before they travel on Friday to the Midlands to face English champions, Leicester Tigers at Welford Road with an 8pm kick-off. The winner of this tie will almost certainly get a home tie in the HCC round of 16 so there is a lot to play for and the loser is still likely to qualify for the last 16 but will likely face a much tougher away tie against one of the top teams from Pool A. The full picture for the Round of 16 will not be known until all the games are played by Sunday early evening.

The Ospreys managed to come through Saturday's amazing game against Montpellier with only one major injury to speak off and that was to Rhys Webb who took a bang to the ribs. I do not know if Webb will be available for selection but RMW will no doubt be an able deputy should his injury be too much. Kieran Williams will likely return to the squad so I expect very little change but Ethan Roots might have gotten himself over his knock and could well be pushing for selection as well.

Likely Squad

N Smith G Thomas S Baldwin D Lake T Francis T Botha AWJ A Beard H Sutton/BBBD/ E Roots J Morgan J Tipuric M Morris R Davies

R Webb/M Aubrey RMW O Williams K Giles K Williams G North A Cuthbert C Evans J Hawkins M Collins

There is a chance of going 6:2 on the bench again. We could see R Davies continue at 6 with Roots on the bench alongside Morris and I think the starting team could look like this:-

N Smith D Lake T Francis AWJ A Beard R Davies/E Roots J Tipuric J Morgan

R Webb/RMW O Williams K Giles K Williams G North A Cuthbert C Evans

Reps

G Thomas S Baldwin T Botha H Sutton/BBBD M Morris

RMW/M Aubrey J Hawkins M Collins

Discuss.