Yahoo Sports Tipuric back to lead Ospreys against Benetton
United Rugby Championship: Ospreys v Benetton
Venue: Swansea.com Stadium, Swansea Date: Friday, 24 January Kick off: 19:35 GMT
Coverage: Watch Scrum V Live on BBC Two Wales, iPlayer, the BBC Sport website and app.
Justin Tipuric returns to captain Ospreys for Friday's United Rugby Championship (URC) game against Benetton in Swansea.
Ex-Wales flanker Tipuric, 35, missed last weekend's impressive European victory in Pau but will lead the side with Jac Morgan away with Wales.
Ospreys make six changes from the Challenge Cup win in France, with number eight Morgan Morris, wing Keelan Giles, full-back Jack Walsh, centre Keiran Williams and scrum-half Reuben Morgan-Williams starting.
Owen Williams switches from centre to fly-half with Dan Edwards unavailable after linking up with Wales' Six Nations training squad alongside fellow Ospreys players Owen Watkin, Gareth Thomas, Sam Parry and captain Morgan.
Benetton are also missing their Italian internationals before the Six Nations begins on 31 January.
Age is no barrier
Tipuric captained the Ospreys for six seasons before relinquishing the role to Morgan at the beginning of the 2024-25 season.
Ospreys head coach Mark Jones is still able to call on Tipuric's experience when Morgan is away.
"He's [Tipuric] probably one of the best players in the competition whatever age he is," said Jones.
"He is always willing to help the young players who are after his shirt, the little bits of detail he gives, the intellect he's showing them, the shortcuts he's teaching them before they work them out themselves.
"The one thing I'd say about Tips is he'll help anybody as much as he can, but he won't give his shirt to them.
"They'll have to take the shirt, that's quite a powerful thing, where you're prepared to tell everyone what they need to know, but they have still got to outwork him."
Jones is in his second season coaching at the Ospreys and is in awe of Tipuric.
"I've always admired him from afar but to have the privilege to work with him and watch how he operates," said Jones.
"His humility is incredible considering how good he is and how good he has been.
"He just wants to keep getting better, if you think of what he's achieved in the game, the trophies he's won and the kudos he's got, where he sits with his peers in terms of how they rate him.
"He is still asking to be coached, still wants feedback, positive and negative, because he still thinks he can get better, which tells you you're a humble person."
Tipuric will retire at the end of the season and become the Ospreys defence coach
"He has a massive influence around the group which is one of the many reasons why we want him to come into the coaching team," said Jones.
"We feel he's got those same skills to transfer to the coaching world.
"It will take him years to build his coaching CV up, but we're convinced that he's got the materials to be as good a coach as he is a player."
Form guide
Jones is unbeaten since he took over from Toby Booth as head coach in December 2024 with three wins and a draw in four fixtures.
Ospreys drew their last league fixture at Cardiff on New Year's Day despite a red card for lock James Fender.
Since that game at the Arms Park they have beaten Newcastle and Pau in the Challenge Cup to secure a home game against Scarlets in the last 16 of the second-tier European competition.
Benetton are seventh in URC, having won four and lost four of nine games this season.
They have six more points than Ospreys who are 14th in the 16-team table with three wins and five defeats.
Benetton have an April trip to Castres in the knockout stages of the top-tier Champions Cup after securing third place in Pool 2 with a surprise 32-25 victory over two-time champions La Rochelle last weekend.
Their last URC fixtures saw the Treviso-based side enjoy home and away victories against Italian rivals Zebre either side of Christmas.
Ospreys: Jack Walsh; Dan Kasende, Evardi Boshoff, Keiran Williams, Keelan Giles; Owen Williams, Reuben Morgan-Williams; Garyn Phillips, Lewis Lloyd, Tom Botha, Will Spencer, James Fender, James Ratti, Justin Tipuric (capt), Morgan Morris.
Replacements: Ethan Lewis, Cam Jones, Ben Warren, Harri Deaves, Morgan Morse, Kieran Hardy, Tom Florence, Iestyn Hopkins.
Benetton: Rhyno Smith; Ignacio Mendy, Malakai Fekitoa, Marco Zanon, Matt Gallagher; Tomas Albornoz, Andy Uren; Thomas Gallo, Agustin Creevy, Enzo Avaca, Giulio Marini, Eli Snyman (capt), Alessandro Izekor, Siua Maile, Toa Halafihi.
Replacements: Bautista Bernasconi, Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, Giosué Zilocchi, Riccardo Favretto, Simon Koroiyadi, Lautaro Bazan Velez, Giuliano Avaca, Federico Zananadrea.
Referee: Ian Kenny (SRU)
Assistant referees: Ben Whitehouse & Craig Evans (WRU)
TMO: Colin Brett (SRU)
