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Ospreys and Dragons clash in final festive derby

Ospreys and Dragons clash in final festive derby

Ospreys welcome Newport Gwent Dragons to the Liberty Stadium in the final instalment of PRO12 derby action over the festive period.

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Four former Dragons will start for the Ospreys in Ashley Beck’s 100th game for the region as they look to hold on to their place at the summit of the league table. Their title bid took a hit last weekend when they lost their 17-game unbeaten record against the other Welsh regions with a 22-10 defeat at the Scarlets. They are just one point above second-placed Glasgow Warriors and Steve Tandy will be hoping the Scarlets can do them a favour by claiming victory at Scotstoun tonight.

Rhys Webb has overcome an illness and Eli Walker has shaken off a hamstring injury to start alongside former Rodney Parade favourites Dan Lydiate, Sam Parry, Dan Evans and Richard Fussell.

Dragons make two changes from the side that lost 11-9 to Cardiff Blues. Scrum-half Jonathan Evans is preferred to Richie Rees, while flanker Lewis Evans comes in for James Thomas – and there is also a start for former Ospreys full-back Tom Prydie.

Lyn Jones’ side looked to have kick started their season with an away victory at the Blues, but failed to back it up a week later. They are ninth in the PRO12 with three wins from 12 matches.

Ospreys Head Coach Steve Tandy said: said: “This week is a real test of character for the group, to bounce back from the disappointment of last week and go into another big Welsh derby. The Dragons have been playing really well in recent weeks so will come here full of confidence and looking to get one over us on Sunday so we are going to have to put in a much better performance this week.

“We’ve had a great first half of the season in the PRO12, but we’ve said all along that there will be peaks and troughs, particularly with this squad being such a young group, and the key is that we don’t knee-jerk off the back of one defeat just as we didn’t get carried away and get ahead of ourselves on the back of a few wins. We take each game one at a time and it’s important that we keep focusing on the job in hand.

Evans commented: “I was gutted to miss last week’s 11-9 defeat to Cardiff Blues at Rodney Parade as a result of quite a few niggles.

“The Ospreys are top of the Guinness Pro12 for a reason so it was a surprise to see the Scarlets beat them so convincingly last weekend. Derby games are always won by a bit of ferocity up front and that was the case.

“The challenge for us is to meet the Ospreys’ power game head-on while we’ve also got to try and contain Rhys Webb and Dan Biggar, who have been in outstanding form.

“But we had four good wins in December and beat the Blues in Cardiff, so we head west with confidence.”

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