Ospreys v Zebre: Guinness PRO12 preview
Last Updated: 06/11/15 4:11pm
Steve Tandy has demanded a much-improved performance from his Ospreys side when Zebre visit the Liberty Stadium on Saturday.
The Welsh region have lost five of their opening six Guinness PRO12 games with their sole victory coming at Treviso in round four.
Zebre, meanwhile, travel to Swansea in confident mood after registering back-to-back wins and claiming their first ever bonus-point victory against Cardiff last weekend.
"There's no two ways about it, this weekend has to be where we start performing like an Ospreys team," said head coach Tandy.
"We haven't been at the level expected so far this season and the PRO12 table tells its own story.
"It's disappointing but we won't dwell on the last few weeks, we are looking forward and looking at how we can start climbing the table.
"In order to do that, we need to go up several levels from where we have been so far this season, particularly with this game starting off a busy period of big games."
Ospreys: 15 Dan Evans, 14 Dafydd Howells, 13 Jonathan Spratt, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Eli Walker, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Brendon Leonard; 1 Paul James, 2 Scott Baldwin, 3 Aaron Jarvis, 4 Lloyd Ashley, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 6 James King, 7 Justin Tipuric, 8 Dan Baker.
Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Ryan Bevington, 18 Cai Griffiths, 19 Olly Cracknell, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Tom Habberfield, 22 Sam Davies, 23 Ben John.
Zebre: 15 Guglielmo Palazzani, 14 Kayle Van Zyl, 13 Giulio Bisegni, 12 Matteo Pratichetti, 11 Leonardo Sarto, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Luke Burgess; 1 Andrea Lovotti, 2 Andrea Manici, 3 Dario Chistolini, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 5 George Biagi (c), 6 Jacopo Sarto, 7 Johan Meyer, 8 Andries Van Schalkwyk.
Replacements: 16 Oliviero Fabiani, 17 Andrea De Marchi, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Federico Ruzza, 20 Emiliano Caffini, 21 Marcello Violi, 22 Michele Visentin, 23 Edoardo Padovani.
