The Ospreys will be looking for their third successive win when they travel to the Stadio XXV Aprile but they will be without Tipuric who has failed to recover from the injury sustained in the 30-15 win over Munster last weekend.
After starting the season with three defeats, Steve Tandy’s men got back on track with a win over the Scarlets followed by the emphatic win over Munster at the Liberty Stadium.
And although Zebre lie bottom without a win, the Ospreys will be wary of another trip to Italy after coming unstuck there in their first game of the season. Tandy’s men surprisingly fell to a 12-6 defeat to Treviso earlier in the campaign and the Ospreys’ head coach is keen to avoid a repeat.
“It’s the first time for us to play Zebre but as a group we are all well aware of the threat they’ll pose,” he said.
“We’ve struggled in Italy before, not least the defeat to Treviso at the start of this season so we know that we will have to approach the game just like we did the Scarlets and Munster matches and be at our very best.”
Tipuric aside, the Ospreys flew to Italy early this morning with a strong side. Alun Wyn Jones captains the side from lock with fellow Welsh internationals Adam Jones and Ryan Jones joining him in the pack.
Hooker Richard Hibbard will make his 150th Ospreys appearance if he comes off the bench.
“This is a big game for us and it’s important that we keep the momentum that we’ve built up over the last couple of weeks going. The whole squad has worked hard and last Saturday you could see clear signs that we are heading in the right direction,” Tandy added.
“The win over Munster was about attitude, desire and commitment, typified by the way the team defended in their 22 in the closing minutes, they weren’t content to just sit back with the game won.
“We can’t get carried away though, we realise that we aren’t perfect and we’ve still got a lot of work to do, there’s plenty to put right.”
