Ospreys v Leicester: Teams

Lee Byrne has given the Ospreys a timely boost ahead of their crunch Heineken Cup clash with Leicester on Saturday.

The Wales full-back was thought to have picked up a serious ankle injury when he was forced out of his side's loss to Perpignan last weekend.

However, he only suffered a twist and has managed to recover in time to be picked to play at the Liberty Stadium this weekend.

The news is not so good for Jonathan Thomas though, the back-row forward failing to shake off a groin injury in time to be considered by coach Sean Holley.

The Ospreys have sold around 17,000 tickets for the Pool Five fixture that is being labelled as the biggest in the club's history.

"We are in a great position as we prepare for the final pool match - we have a home match that we need to win to get a quarter-final place in the European Cup, it doesn't get any more straightforward than that," Holley said.

Wounded Tigers

With Aaron Mauger missing through injury, Leicester's stand-in coach Richard Cockerill has reshuffled his backline.

Derick Hougaard starts for Leicester at fly-half, meaning Toby Flood moves into the centres to partner Seru Rabeni.

As as Mauger, who is ruled out with a hamstring problem, the Tigers are also without Lewis Moody - the England international set for another spell on the sidelines after fracturing his ankle.

Marcos Ayerza, Dan Hipkiss and Richard Blaze are also unavailable, though Martin Corry does return to the starting line-up.

The second-rower will lead his side into battle with Marco Wentzel alongside him. Boris Stankovich and Benjamin Kayser start in the front row alongside the in-form Julian White, who this week was handed an international recall by former team-mate Martin Johnson.

The Tigers make the trip to Wales on top of the group knowing they could still reach the knockout stages of the competition even if they suffer defeat. However,they have not won on their travels since thumping Treviso 60-16 back in October.

"There are good players all over the pitch on both sides," said Cockerill on the club's website.

"Both clubs have quality squads, and the match points are vital for both sides. It will be a big occasion and has the makings of a great contest."

Ospreys: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Andrew Bishop, 12 Gavin Henson, 11 Shane Williams, 10 James Hook, 9 Mike Phillips; 1 Paul James, 2 Richard Hibbard, 3 Adam Jones, 4 Ian Gough, 5 Alun-wyn Jones, 6 Ryan Jones (capt), 7 Marty Holah, 8 Filo Tiatia
Replacements: 16 Huw Bennett, 17 Cai Griffiths, 18 Lyndon Bateman, 19 Tom Smith, 20 Jamie Nutbrown, 21 Dan Biggar, 22 Jonny Vaughton

Leicester: 15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Scott Hamilton, 13 Seru Rabeni, 12 Toby Flood, 11 Matt Smith, 10 Derick Hougaard, 9 Julien Dupuy; 1 Boris Stankovich, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 3 Julian White, 4 Martin Corry (capt), 5 Marco Wentzel, 6 Tom Croft, 7 Ben Woods, 8 Jordan Crane
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Martin Castrogiovanni, 18 Ben Kay, 19 Brett Deacon, 20 Ben Youngs, 21 Sam Vesty, 22 Johne Murphy