Injured Tipuric to miss Ospreys home farewell

Justin Tipuric is third on the Ospreys all-time appearance list behind Alun Wyn Jones and Paul James.

United Rugby Championship: Ospreys v Dragons

Venue: Swansea.com Stadium, Swansea Date: Saturday, 26 April Kick off: 15:00 BST

Coverage: Listen live on the BBC Sport website and app. Highlights on the BBC Sport website and app.

Ospreys flanker Justin Tipuric will be denied a home farewell appearance after being ruled out of the United Rugby Championship (URC) derby against Dragons on Saturday.

Tipuric, 35, is retiring at the end of the season to become the Ospreys defence coach and might have played his final professional game.

He was due to have a farewell home match at the Swansea.com Stadium this weekend but picked up a pectoral injury during the Challenge Cup defeat against Lyon earlier this month.

Ospreys have two regular away league matches remaining when they travel to South Africa to play Sharks and Lions in May with no chance of a home match should they reach the play-offs.

Ospreys are currently 13th in the URC table and have a slim chance of play-off qualification if they win their final three games.

The play-offs are held in June with Tipuric not yet ruled out of a return by those dates.

Tipuric, who won 93 Wales caps and made a Lions Test appearance before his international retirement in 2023, made his Ospreys debut in November 2009 and has so far played 229 games for his home region. Only Alun Wyn Jones (268) and Paul James (232) have played more games.

Wales lock Adam Beard, who Ospreys announced this week will leave at the end of the season, was hoping to play against Dragons after missing the defeat against Cardiff. Ospreys name their team on Friday.

"We're hoping that we can get some rugby into Beardy by the end of the season," said Ospreys head coach Mark Jones.

"We'll see how he's looking for this week, we're not 100% sure as it stands, but we're hoping to get him back as soon as we can.

"Same with Tips (Justin Tipuric). We want him to keep rehabbing like he is. He wants to remain a player for the end of the year which is awesome.

"We're trying to go through that process of getting him back out on the field and if we can extend our season longer and longer, we give those boys a better chance of of playing more games for us.

"There's definitely potential to see Justin on the rugby field.

"Physios and conditioners are working hard with what that looks like and most importantly Tips, his mindset is he wants to play another few games for the Ospreys."