TOMMY BOWE, one of the players coach Matt Williams would have desperately wanted to keep at Ulster this season, will make his Magners League debut for Ospreys against Connacht at the Sportsground tomorrow night.
In an interesting selection, Irish winger Bowe, who defected from Ulster towards the end of last season, has been named on the Ospreys left wing ahead of the mercurial Welsh international star Shane Williams, who remains on the bench.
Connacht go into their opener against the star-studded Welsh side hoping to retain their record of never having lost on the opening day of the competition.
The province has announced a 22-man squad ahead of the match (kick off: 6.30pm). Adrian Flavin, Troy Nathan and Andrew Browne have all been brought into the squad following the side's final friendly match against the Queensland Reds.
Ospreys have named quite a cast with outhalf, James Hook, Welsh captain Ryan Jones, Marty Holah and Sonny Parker all starting. However, a couple of other luminaries still in rehab.
Centre, Gavin Henson is on target for an early October return to action following keyhole surgery on damaged ankle ligaments, while Welsh scrumhalf Mike Phillips is on target for an early October return after undergoing surgery to repair damage to his anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments.
Simon Easterby is named on the Llanelli side to face Ulster at Ravenhill. Easterby leads a side that physically matched and beat Wasps last weekend in their final warm-up match.
Edinburgh tackle European champions Munster in tomorrow's opener at Murrayfield and yesterday coach Andy Robinson insisted his squad is equipped to deal with the demands of the league — and likened Munster's current status to the Edinburgh set-up at the start of last season.
He explained: "Back then, we had a new coach — and that is where they are now. Our foundations are in place and we then found momentum. When that happened, we took off. But it did take a few games." Robinson, however, stopped short of suggesting it is the ideal time to be facing Munster. He said: "They have brought in some backs of tremendous quality and there will be more to them as a team. I think they might surprise a few people."
Elsewhere, the WRU want the current qualification system from the Magners League for the Heineken Cup to be scrapped in favour of the top eight finishers going into the European showpiece with the bottom two entering the second-string Challenge Cup.
Team Selections
CONNACHT(squad): L Bibo, A Browne, K Campbell, F Carr, S Cronin, G Duffy, A Farley, A Flavin, J Hearty, I Keatley, R Loughney, K Matthews, M McCarthy, R Morris, J Muldoon, F Murphy, T Nathan, R Ofisa, C Rigney, M Swift, B Wilkinson, A Wynne.
OSPREYS: L Byrne; N Walker, S Parker, A Bishop, T Bowe; J Hook, R Webb; P James, H Bennett, C Griffiths, I Gough, I Evans, A Lloyd, M Hola, R Jones (capt).
Replacements: E Shervington, D Jones, A Jones, F Tiatia, R Wells, G Owen, S Williams.
LLANELLI: M Stoddard; D Daniel, R Higgitt, G Evans, M Jones; S Jones, S Martens; I Thomas, M Rees, K Meeuws, L Reed, S Maling, S Easterby (capt), G Thomas, D Lyons.
Replacements: D Manu, M Schwalger, V Cooper, D Jones, M Roberts, C Thomas, N Brew, D Evans, S MacLeod.
