Welsh contingent may be missing for Ospreys
The Ospreys have not succeeded in moving their Magners League match with Glasgow to Saturday 23 October.
The Welsh side had hoped that they would be allowed to reschedule Sunday’s game and play the fixture one day early.
This would have allowed a number of the Ospreys Welsh international players to have featured in the Magners League match.
Wales start their autumn international series with a Test against Australia on Saturday 6 November and coach Warren Gatland is allowed to call up his panel of players 13 days prior to the game.
This means that the Ospreys will lose Shane Williams, Alun Wyn Jones, Lee Byrne, Jonathan Thomas and Andrew Bishop.
The Ospreys have 10 other players in the Welsh squad, but the Welsh Rugby Union are believed to have reached an agreement and it is expected that only five players will not be included in the Magners League match.
Gatland admitted that he would want to see Wales captain Ryan Jones, centre James Hook and scrum-half Mike Philips in action in any case.
The three influential players have only just returned from injuries and the Wales coach is eager to give the trio more game time to boost their fitness levels.
However, discussions are set to continue over the remaining seven players. Out-half Dan Biggar, lock Ian Gough and winger Tom Prydie have all played regularly for the Ospreys this season and Gatland may want to see them rested ahead of a gruelling autumn
series.
Likewise, the Ospreys front row players, which include Paul James, Huw Bennett, Richard Hibbard and Adam Jones have all had tough starts to the season and Gatland will not want to risk any injuries ahead of the Test games.
The Ospreys will have to field a number of fringe and youth players to compensate for the absence of some of their key personnel.
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