Shaun Venter is plunged straight into the Ospreys starting line-up for Friday evening’s Guinness PRO14 clash against Leinster at the RDS (7.35), with fellow new boy Ben Glynn figuring on the bench.
The Irish province started the campaign with a 32-27 away win over Benetton and put 52 points on the Ospreys in Dublin last season .
Another strength-in-depth challenge awaits for Allen Clarke’s team, who are without 18 players, 10 of whom are at the World Cup with the rest injured.
It promises to be a testing debut, then, for Venter .
The 32-year-old will look to him to contribute craft and experience, while Scott Williams and Dan Lydiate will also be expected to point the way.
But it won’t be easy.
A bleak result in Ulster last time out saw a 38-14 defeat made worse for the Ospreys by worrying injuries that have seen Cory Allen (knee), James King and Dan Evans (both shoulders) require scans, with Allen a particular concern.
Youngster Rhys Henry also requires a scan on a shoulder problem.
The Ospreys say all four players are consulting specialists.
Lydiate skippers the side in the Irish capital, while there is also a first start of the campaign for Dan Baker, who impressed off the bench against Ulster, making 17 carries and nine tackles in just 47 minutes on the field after replacing King.
But the Ospreys are expecting to be tested to the full.
Leinster may be missing significant numbers themselves, but in the likes of Joe Tomane, James Lowe, Scott Fardy and Devin Toner they still have a core of quality players.
Ospreys coach Allen Clarke said: “Leinster have quality throughout their squad even with the boys away at the World Cup.
“They have a programme that has been the heartbeat of Irish rugby for a number of years and is the envy of most European teams. Their record shows how good a side they are and I’m sure everybody outside our group doesn’t give us a chance against them on Friday night.
“Again, if you step back from the game against Ulster, taking into account the number of boys we were missing and compounding that with the number of injuries we picked up, I thought the resolve of our group was excellent.
“You can build on that. If you don’t have that character within the group, you don’t have a chance.
“We’ve got fight, we’ve got character and we trust that we’ll be in a good position on Friday night to be the best version of ourselves.”
Former Harlequins lock Glynn figures among the replacements just days after signing for the Ospreys.
Leinster: Hugo Keenan; Fergus McFadden, Rory O'Loughlin, Joe Tomane, James Lowe; Ross Byrne, James Gibson-Park; Peter Dooley, Ronan Kelleher, Michael Bent, Devin Toner, Scott Fardy (capt), Josh Murphy, Will Connors, Caelan Doris.
Reps : James Tracy, Michael Milne, Vakh Abdaladze, Ross Molony, Max Deegan, Rowan Osborne, Harry Byrne, Conor O'Brien.
Ospreys : Cai Evans; Luke Morgan, Scott Williams, Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler, Keelan Giles; Luke Price, Shaun Venter; Rhodri Jones, Sam Parry, Tom Botha, Dan Lydiate (capt), Lloyd Ashley, Olly Cracknell, Sam Cross, Dan Baker.
Reps: Scott Otten, Gareth Thomas, Gheorghe Gajion, Ben Glynn, Gareth Evans, Matthew Aubrey, Tom Williams, Hanno Dirksen.
