Toulon v Ospreys: Teams
Toulon have wheeled out the majority of their big guns for their Heineken Cup debut against the Ospreys.
Last Updated: 08/10/10 1:15pm
Toulon have wheeled out the majority of their big guns for their Heineken Cup debut against the Ospreys.
Rory Lamont, Juan Fernandez Lobbe, Paul Sackey, George Smith and Jonny Wilkinson are all included in the starting XV for the Top 14 outfit, who have played in the Challenge Cup for the past six seasons.
Irish international Tommy Bowe and Richard Hibbard will make their respective 50th and 100th appearances for the Ospreys when they travel to the Stade Felix-Mayol.
And Bowe, who has scored 26 tries since joining from Ulster in 2008, is expecting a tough game in France.
"Toulon away is going to be very difficult," he told the club's official site.
"They've got a first-rate squad with some very senior players at 8, 9, 10, some world-class players. It's on their patch and they are a very proud French team that won't want to give anything away at home, but we are very ambitious and believe in our own ability, so we will go over there looking to bring something back with us.
"It's a very, very difficult group we find ourselves in. As well as Toulon who have spent huge amounts of money to build a squad that will be the envy of any club in Europe, we've got Munster who've not failed to make the quarter finals in something like 10 years I think and London Irish who have started the season well and are top of the Premiership.
"We want to qualify for a fourth consecutive quarter-final but we are well aware of the size of the challenge ahead of us."
Toulon: 15 Rory Lamont, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Mafi Kefu, 12 Geoffroy Messina, 11 Benjamin Lapeyre, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Matt Henjak, 8 Juan Fernandez Lobbe, 7 George Smith, 6 Olivier Missoup, 5 Christophe Samson, 4 Dean Schofield, 3 Davit Kubriashvili, 2 Jean-Charles Orioli,1 Saimone Taumoepeau
Replacements: 16 Mickael Ivaldi, 17 Benjamin Basteres, 18 Mehdi Merabet, 19 Thomas Sourice, 20 Tom May, 21 Clement Marienval, 22 Laurent Magnaval, 23 Jocelino Suta,
Ospreys: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Andrew Bishop, 12 James Hook, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Jonathan Thomas, 7 Marty Holah, 6 Jerry Collins, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (capt), 4 Ian Gough, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Paul James
Replacements:16 Huw Bennett, 17 Ryan Bevington, 18 Craig Mitchell, 19 Ryan Jones, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Jamie Nutbrown, 22 Gareth Owen, 23 Nikki Walker