OSPREYS STAY IN PLAY-OFF HUNT
THE Ospreys kept their United Rugby Championship play-off hopes alive with a hard-fought 26-13 bonus point victory over the Dragons in Swansea.
Toby Booth’s side were good value for the victory as their set-piece squeezed the life out of their visitors, while No 8 Morgan Morris was named player of the match after another outstanding performance.
The Dragons showed glimpses of what they could be capable of moving forward but their scrum let them down, while discipline was also a big issue.
This victory moves the Ospreys up to ninth place on the table, just five points away from Benetton who occupy the final play-off position, meaning the Welsh club must beat Cardiff in their final league fixture to stand any chance of reaching the last eight.
If the Ospreys thought the Dragons, who fell out of contention for a play-off spot months ago, would just roll over they were mistaken.
The visitors’ physicality, line speed in defence and their defensive resilience meant the Ospreys had to work very hard for any points and it was the Dragons who built up a 6-0 lead through the boot of Will Reed.
But the Ospreys pack slowly gained the upper hand with Wales star Jac Morgan and the dynamic Morris very prominent.
Initially the Dragons stopped the Ospreys’ driving line-out but after conceding a few penalties Wales No 8 Aaron Wainwright got sent to the sin bin.
Ospreys lay siege to the Dragons line with their short carrying game getting them on the front foot.
Nicky Smith came close when he was held up over the try line but the Ospreys eventually broke the Dragons’ resistance when Dewi Lake powered over from short range for a try which Dan Edwards converted.
The momentum had now swung in the Ospreys’ favour and things got even worse for the Dragons as they got temporarily reduced to 13 men when Dane Blacker got shown a yellow card for cynically killing the ball.
And the Ospreys made the most of their numerical advantage with a lovely switch pass from Morgan releasing Morris who offloaded to Reuben Morgan-Williams for their second try.
Edwards slammed over the conversion from the touchline to give the hosts a 14-6 lead at the interval.
The Ospreys started the second half in the same manner they had finished the first as Wales hooker Lake claimed his second try off the back of another well-worked driving lineout.
But the Dragons refused to throw in the towel and a break by new signing Chris Hollis got them going forward. Hollis transferred the ball to Sio Tomkinson who offloaded to Reed for a try which the outside-half himself converted.
The Ospreys finally claimed the all important try bonus point when an overthrown line-out got salvaged be Keiran Williams who bumped off two defenders to score with Edwards adding the extras.
Wales U20s centre Joe Westwood made a big impression off the bench for the Dragons as he cut the Ospreys defence open on a few occasions with a try from Tomkinson disallowed for a forward pass by Ewan Rosser.
The Dragons tried desperately to claim a losing bonus point but the Ospreys’ defence remained intact to keep their play-off hopes alive.