Ospreys: Changing roles for Jac Morgan and Justin Tipuric

There was some major Ospreys news last week, but you might just have missed it.

Buried in an announcement that head coach Toby Booth will leave at the end of the 2024-25 campaign, to be replaced Mark Jones, was the news that flanker Justin Tipuric will retire at the end of the season.

On top of that, he will hand over the Ospreys captaincy to Jac Morgan with immediate effect.

The shock Booth departure overshadowed major developments in the careers of two Wales flankers who are in different chapters of their careers.

Tipuric will hang up his playing boots and become the Ospreys defence coach for the 2025-26 season, with Jones promoted to replace Booth at the same time.

Tipuric, 35, retired from international rugby in 2023 having won 93 caps for Wales and been part of four Six Nations title wins. He was also selected for three successive British and Irish Lions tours.

Booth described Tipuric an “Ospreys institution”.

“The way we describe ‘the man in the blue hat’ is, if we were designing our man of the future, he would look a lot like Justin Tipuric,” said Booth.

“He is the blueprint for Ospreys players we are producing.

“Apart from being an exceptionally gifted player who has played at the top level for a very long time, the thing that is so inspiring is he puts everybody in front of himself.

“He has the best interests of the team at heart and wants the Ospreys to be successful.

“He wants to have an influence on the team, not necessarily himself. I have never seen him self-promote once since I have been here.

“He has his opinions and wants to contribute in a positive way.”