Toulouse v Ospreys - Heineken Cup match preview

Maxime Medard: Toulouse winger set to face Ospreys

Campbell Johnstone: Makes his Ospreys debut

Injury-hit Ospreys face the daunting task of travelling to four-time Heineken Cup winners Toulouse on Saturday.

The reigning Pro12 champions will want to bounce back from their disappointing defeat to Leicester Tigers at Welford Road but have lost both their previous games to Toulouse, who top Pool Two with two wins out of two.

The Welsh side have won only one of their 11 games in France in the Heineken Cup, against Bourgoin back in 2008, while Toulouse have lost just one of 15 home games against Welsh opposition in the competition, losing to Llanelli Scarlets back in 2006.

The Ospreys' assignment task looks even more difficult with a host of Welsh internationals, like skipper Alun Wyn Jones, props Adam Jones and Aaron Jarvis, all ruled out with injury.

Campbell Johnstone makes his Ospreys debut, while Ross Jones, Scott Baldwin and James King make their Heineken Cup debuts, as will Matthew Dwyer, Dmitri Arhip and Lloyd Peers if they come off the bench.

Toulouse: 15 Yoann Huget, 14 Maxime Medard, 13 Yann David, 12 Florian Fritz, 11 Vincent Clerc, 10 Luke McAlister, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Yannick Nyanga, 6 Jean Bouilhou, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Romain Millo-Chluski, 3 Census Johnston, 2 Gary Botha, 1 Gurthro Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Jean-Marc Doussain, 17 Gael Fickou, 18 Gregory Lamboley, 19 Yoann Maestri, 20 Edwin Maka, 21 Yohan Montes, 22 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 23 Christopher Tolofua.

Ospreys: 15 Richard Fussell, 14 Ross Jones, 13 Andrew Bishop, 12 Ashley Beck, 11 Eli Walker, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i (c), 8 Joe Bearman, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Ryan Jones, 5 James King, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Campbell Johnstone, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Duncan Jones.
Replacements: 16 Matthew Dwyer, 17 Ryan Bevington, 18 Dmitri Arhip, 19 Lloyd Peers, 20 Sam Lewis, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 Matthew Morgan, 23 Tom Isaacs.

What they said...

Ospreys forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys said

"To go and take on someone like Toulouse at their ground is one of the toughest asks in European rugby, particularly when we have such a long injury list. We are up against one of the strongest squads in the competition with a budget that you can't compare to ours, and we know that we are going to have to be at our very best if we hope to get anything out of the game whatsoever."

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