Ospreys move off bottom in URC
MATCH REPORT: Ospreys moved off the bottom of the United Rugby Championship table with a hard-fought 22-13 victory over Edinburgh in Bridgend.
A strong second-half performance from their pack proved decisive as they picked up three tries, all from front-rowers, Dewi Lake, Gareth Thomas and Sam Parry. Owen Williams converted two and added a penalty.
Ben Vellacott replied with a try for Edinburgh with Ross Thompson kicking two penalties and a conversion.
Matt Scott led out Edinburgh on his 100th appearance for the region but they were soon behind when Lake finished off a driving line-out.
The visitors responded with a lively burst from Duhan van der Merwe before Thompson put them on the scoreboard with a penalty.
Owen Williams had the chance to nullify this with a long-range penalty but it was off-target and the score remained at 7-3 to the hosts at the end of a cagey and uninspiring first quarter.
However the Scots soon enlivened proceedings when an alert Vellacott quickly took a tap-penalty to dart over the line.
There remained little between the teams in the opening period but Ospreys were not helped by a couple of loose kicks from Williams, which prevented them from gaining momentum so the second quarter finished scoreless.
Two minutes after the restart, Ospreys suffered a blow when scrumhalf Reuben Morgan-Williams was sin-binned for a no-arms tackle but this was the precursor for the Welsh Region to have their best spell of the match.
An elusive run down the left flank from Keelan Giles resulted in a sustained period of pressure from them with Edinburgh’s Jamie Ritchie sin-binned for persistent team infringements as the visitors sought to keep their line intact.
This intensified the onslaught on the Scots’ line and eventually the defence cracked when Thomas finished off a succession of forward drives.
Both players returned from the sin-bin and in time to see Williams and Thompson exchange penalties.
Williams missed for the third time in the match but it mattered little as replacement hooker Sam Parry sealed victory with a close-range try five minutes from the end.
The scorers:
For Ospreys:
Tries: Lake, Thomas, Parry
Cons: Williams 2
Pen: Williams
For Edinburgh:
Try: Vellacott
Con: Thompson
Pens: Thompson 2
Teams:
Ospreys: 15 Jack Walsh, 14 Dan Kasende, 13 Owen Watkin, 12 Keiran Williams, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Owen Williams, 9 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 8 Morgan Morris, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Jac Morgan (captain), 5 Adam Beard, 4 Will Greatbanks, 3 Ben Warren, 2 Dewi Lake, 1 Gareth Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Garyn Phillips, 18 Tom Botha, 19 Lewis Jones, 20 Lewis Lloyd, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Tom Florence, 23 Iestyn Hopkins.
Edinburgh: 15 Harry Paterson, 14 Wes Goosen, 13 Matt Currie, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ben Vellacott (captain), 8 Ben Muncaster, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Jamie Hodgson, 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 D’arcy Rae, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Boan Venter.
Replacements: 16 Dave Cherry, 17 Angus Williams, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Glen Young, 20 Luke Crosbie, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Mosese Tuipulotu.
Referee: Griffin Colby (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Adam Jones (Wales), Ben Breakspear (Wales)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)