Edwards back as Morgan leads Ospreys at Connacht
Dan Edwards signed a new Ospreys contract in January [Huw Evans Picture Agency] Wales fly-half Dan Edwards returns from Six Nations duty and Jac Morgan is back in Ospreys' starting side for their United Rugby Championship (URC) trip to Connacht on Saturday. Having been out with a shoulder injury since the autumn internationals, Morgan featured as a substitute in last weekend's 31-19 defeat by Benetton. The Wales captain leads Ospreys as one of 10 changes – plus one positional switch - to the side which started in Italy.
Morgan lines up in the back row alongside Morgan Morse and James Ratti, with Harri Deaves making may and Ross Moriarty suspended following his red card against Benetton. Hooker Lewis Lloyd, prop Rhys Henry and second-rows Rhys Davies and Huw Sutton also come into a much-changed pack. Edwards partners Luke Davies at half-back, with Jack Walsh switching to full-back, while Evardi Boshoff comes in at centre and Luke Morgan is handed a start on the wing.
Prop Garyn Phillips is set to make his 50th Ospreys appearance off the bench. Morgan is hoping to help his side reach the URC play-offs before departing for Gloucester next season. Ospreys are 10th in the table, six points adrift of the play-off positions, as they travel to face ninth-place Connacht in Galway.
"I think they are all must-wins when you get to the run-in of the last five or six games," said head coach Mark Jones. "If you are in and around the play-offs, every point is vital. But I think the process is the most important thing.
If we just get transfixed with the results and not how we get the results, I think we'll come up short. " Morgan encouraged by Wales' Six Nations showing Ospreys get go-ahead for St Helen's return Stuart Lancaster's Connacht come into the game in good form, having claimed a fourth successive victory by beating Ulster last weekend. "We have got to get our energy right and our appetite for the physical side of the game right," Jones added.