Nicky Smith starts for the Ospreys when they face English champions Leicester in Friday’s Heineken Champions Cup pool encounter at Welford Road (8pm kick-off).
The loosehead was one of the shock omissions earlier this week when Wales named their squad for the Six Nations.
Smith has been in form, a point underlined by Ospreys head coach Toby Booth at the region’s midweek press call when he commented that the prop had been “unbelievably good” for the region this season.
