United Rugby Championship: Justin Tipuric and Gareth Anscombe ruled out for Ospreys in Ulster
- Published
Ospreys captain Justin Tipuric has played 85 internationals for Wales
United Rugby Championship: Ulster v Ospreys |
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Venue: Kingspan Stadium, Belfast Date: Saturday, 8 October Kick-off: 19:35 BST |
Coverage: Live on S4C and the BBC Sport website; Highlights and report on the BBC Sport website and app. Highlights on Scrum V, Sunday, BBC Two Wales and online, 9 October from 18:00 BST and later on demand |
Ospreys will be without captain Justin Tipuric and fly-half Gareth Anscombe for the United Rugby Championship trip to Ulster.
The Wales pair both miss out due to rib injuries.
Prop Gareth Thomas is set to make his first appearance of the season after recovering from a hamstring injury.
However Wales wing Alex Cuthbert is still not back in full training and is battling to be fit for the start of the autumn internationals.
Anscombe was forced off the field in the second half of Saturday's victory over Glasgow after being cleared out by hooker George Turner.
Head coach Toby Booth raised the matter following the match saying he would look at the incident for foul play.
"The citing commissioner issued a yellow card post game, so that's final," said Booth.
"My motivation wasn't to single out a player. It was just to protect our own.
"Gareth's very sore and won't be available this week. It's about pain. He's not been on the training pitch this week.
"It's about getting him back and up to speed as soon as we can [but] I don't think he's going to be too long."
Tipuric, who has just returned from 15 months out with a serious shoulder problem, picked up his injury during the 28-27 defeat against Lions and missed the 32-17 win over Glasgow.
"He's not far [from returning]," added Booth.
"Again, it's a pain thing. It's not like a new injury. Those things can be uncomfortable because when you breathe in and breathe out, your rib cage moves."
Prop Thomas is set to make his 100th regional appearance this weekend.
"He's trained fully for the last couple of weeks and he's at the stage where he's not at risk," said Booth.
"He's fully fit, healthy and we're looking forward to him getting his 100th (Ospreys) cap, which would be awesome."
Booth will be mindful when selecting his side of including Wales stars like Alun Wyn Jones, Adam Beard and George North who have played all three games so far this season.
The regions are duty bound to give international players some rest ahead of the autumn campaign.