Glasgow will look for a win against the depleted Ospreys
The Ospreys play the Glasgow Warriors in their Magners League match on Sunday 24 October at Firhill in Scotland.
The Ospreys will be hampered after a number of their Welsh players will be rested by the Welsh Rugby Union ahead of the autumn internationals.
As a result, Glasgow will go into the game with renewed optimism against the Magners League Champions.
The Scottish side made three changes to the side that was defeated by Wasps 38-26 in the Heineken Cup last weekend.
Dougie Hall and Aly Muldowney replace Fergus Thomson and Tom Ryder who are named as substitutes.
Rob Dewey will come in for Federico Aramburu at centre as Glasgow coach Sean Lineen reorganises his team for the Magners League match.
Lineen believes that his side will be a different team to the one that faced the Ospreys in the play-offs of the competition last season.
“It was a challenging game [the Magners League play-off] down there in May, but we've got a fairly new squad now,” said the Glasgow coach.
“The Ospreys defence is the strongest in the league and that is when they score their tries from turnovers. Their set-piece play is very aggressive and they boast so many wily campaigners who can turn a game," he added.
Glasgow has had a poor start to the season and have only picked up six points leaving them only two places off the bottom of the league.
They have won against the Newport Gwent Dragons in their first Heineken Cup game and still have a realistic chance of qualifying, despite having the champions Toulouse in their pool.
Lineen’s side put in a good display against Wasps in their last match and will believe they can win against the Ospreys.
The Swansea based club will be missing five of their first team players as Welsh coach Warren Gatland has chosen to rest Alun Wyn Jones, Shane Williams, Jonathan Thomas, Richard Hibbert and Andrew Bishop under the 13 day rule.
The Ospreys had originally tried to move the fixture to Saturday so that they could play all their Welsh stars.
Nikki Walker, Richard Fussell, Ian Evans and Justin Tipuric will now come into the side.
The Ospreys will still have a world class back-line with the likes of Tommy Bowe, James Hook and Lee Byrne all starting. Byrne was expected to be rested ahead of the internationals, but now plays.
Gatland was eager to see James Hook, Ryan Jones and Mike Phillips play who are all short of match fitness.
New Zealander Jerry Collins will captain the side in the absence of Wyn Jones who will be a huge loss in the line-out.
The Ospreys have yet to discover last season’s form, but there are signs they are improving. The Welsh side is fifth in the Magners League and beat London Irish 27-16 in their last match in the Heineken Cup.
Glasgow will go into the match with a belief that they should just beat the depleted Welsh side at home and Lineen will be looking for his team’s second win of the season.
Prediction: Glasgow Warriors 23 Ospreys 19
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