Glasgow Warriors star could end 650-day absence as depleted Franco Smith gets creative with baclkine

Hastings has been out of action for three months with a facial injury and as a result was ruled out of Glasgow’s festive period and Scotland’s Six Nations squad. However, the 28-year-old is now fully fit and while normally used as a stand-off, he will fill in at 15 given that head coach Franco Smith is deprived of a number of players due to injury and international commitments.

Smith is unable to call upon Scotland internationalists Gregor Brown, Rory Darge, Jack Dempsey, Jamie Dobie, Matt Fagerson, Zander Fagerson, George Horne, Huw Jones, Tom Jordan, Stafford McDowall, Kyle Rowe and Rory Sutherland. They have all been kept in camp ahead of next weekend’s Six Nations clash at home to Wales.

Moreover, injuries mean that Scott Cummings (arm), Gregor Hiddleston (ankle), Josh McKay (ankle), Kyle Steyn (knee), Sione Tuipulotu (pectoral), Sione Vailanu (knee), Murphy Walker (neck) and Max Williamson (hand) are all unavailable.

Nevertheless, Smith will hope that he has enough in the tank to defeat the Welsh province on home soil. The Ospreys are currently 13th in the URC, while second-placed Glasgow will hope to stay on the coattails of leaders Leinster, who hold a ten-point advantage over the defending champions.

There is a place on the bench for South African lock JP du Preez, who could make his first appearance in 650 days after completing his rehabilitation on a long-term knee injury.

“We’re extremely pleased to welcome JP back to the matchday 23 after his long-term injury,” said Smith. “He was worked incredibly hard behind the scenes with our medical and S&C teams to get back to full fitness, and everyone is looking forward to seeing him pull on the jersey once more.”

Patrick Schickerling is the only change to the front-row that started the away victory over the Dragons last time out, as he comes into the line-up to start alongside Grant Stewart and Fin Richardson.

An unchanged second-row sees Alex Samuel paired with Jare Oguntibeju, with the latter having put pen to paper on a first professional contract with the club earlier this week. The back-row is also retained from the victory at Rodney Parade a fortnight ago, meaning Jack Mann is flanked by Euan Ferrie and Henco Venter.

Ben Afshar comes into the starting XV at scrum-half, whilst Duncan Weir retains the captaincy at fly-half. Duncan Munn and Ollie Smith form the centre partnership for the third successive match and Hastings slots in at full-back on his return from injury, as Argentinian flyers Facundo Cordero and Sebastian Cancelliere complete the starting lineup.

Alongside Du Preez on the bench, Sean Kennedy could make his first appearance of the season, the Alloa RFC product joined by Kerr Johnston – who made his debut last time out – as one of two backs selected on the bench.

Sam Talakai comes into the matchday 23 to join Nathan McBeth and Johnny Matthews as the front-row cover, whilst Ally Miller and Angus Fraser complete the cohort of replacements for Saturday night’s match, which kicks off at 7.35pm and is live on Premier Sports.

“The Ospreys compete hard across the field, and they have the quality across their squad to cause problems for any team in the competition,” added Smith on his team’s opponents.