Jones' unbeaten Ospreys record faces Leinster test

United Rugby Championship: Ospreys v Leinster

Venue: Swansea.com Stadium, Swansea Date: Friday, 14 February Kick off: 19:35 GMT

Coverage: Watch with Scrum V on BBC Two Wales, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.

Ospreys make two changes and a positional switch to face United Rugby Championship leaders Leinster in Swansea on Friday.

Hooker Sam Parry has been released from Wales' Six Nations squad and replaces Lewis Lloyd in the front row.

Harri Deaves comes in at blind-side flanker, with James Ratti moving to the second row and lock Will Spencer dropping to the bench.

Head coach Mark Jones keeps the same back division as January's 43-0 win against Benetton.

Justin Tipuric again captains the side with Jac Morgan one of five Ospreys players still in the Wales camp preparing to face Ireland on Saturday, 22 February.

Leinster supplied 18 players to the Irish Six Nations squad who travel to Cardiff next week.

They make nine personnel changes from their 36-12 win over Stormers, including the return of number 10 Ciaran Frawley to partner scrum-half Luke McGrath who takes over the captain's armband.

Head coach Leo Cullen includes several academy players including centres Charlie Tector and Hugh Cooney.

Leinster top the table with 10 wins from 10, while Ospreys are 12th in URC with four victories.

The Welsh region are, however, unbeaten since Mark Jones took over as head coach from Toby Booth in late December, with four wins and a draw from five games.

Ospreys have won only two of their last 14 matches against Irish provinces, while Leinster have not lost to a Welsh region since their trip to Cardiff in January 2022.

They have lost just one of their past eight encounters with Ospreys, going down 24-19 behind closed doors at the RDS Arena in March 2021.

Ospreys head coach Jones said: "The quality of the Leinster team never changes, that's the challenge when you play the best teams. They have great depth, a competitive culture and the drop-off is less noticeable when they're missing players.

"We're proud of how we have played over the last six weeks and our challenge is to keep repeating and improving. We've given Leinster the respect they deserve but we're focusing on ourselves and what we do on Friday night."

Ospreys: Jack Walsh; Daniel Kasende, Evardi Boshoff, Keiran Williams, Keelan Giles; Owen Williams; Reuben Morgan-Williams; Garyn Phillips, Sam Parry, Tom Botha, James Ratti, James Fender, Harri Deaves, Justin Tipuric (capt), Morgan Morris.

Replacements: Ethan Lewis, Cam Jones, Ben Warren, Will Spencer, Morgan Morse, Kieran Hardy, Tom Florence, Iestyn Hopkins

Leinster: Jamie Osborne; Tommy O'Brien, Hugh Cooney, Charlie Tector, Jimmy O'Brien; Ciarán Frawley, Luke McGrath (capt); Jack Boyle, Gus McCarthy, Rabah Slimani, Diarmuid Mangany, Brian Deeny, Max Deegan, Scott Penny, James Culhane.

Replacements: John McKee, Paddy McCarthy, Rory McGuire, RG Snyman, Alex Soroka, Fintan Gunne, Ross Byrne, Andrew Osborne.

Referee: Filipo Russo (FIR)

Assistant referees: Ben Whitehouse & Adam Jones (WRU)

TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)