Eight-try victory for Ospreys

Editor

Ospreys started the new season in impressive style on Friday as they cruised to a 59-5 PRO12 victory over Zebre at the Liberty Stadium.

Sam Parry became the first ever Ospreys forward to score a hat-trick, Ben John came off the bench to add two, with Lloyd Ashley, Ashley Beck and Dafydd Howells completing the rout.

With the bonus point secured before the break, Zebre's only reply came through Tomasso D'Apice, but the Italians were prevented from creating any other chances.

With five minutes on the clock, Ospreys Sam Davies opened his account for the season with a penalty, before a well worked line out saw Parry score the hosts' first try of the season, which was converted by Davies.

Ashley was next to add to the scoresheet, after showing a great turn of pace to beat his man and find the corner. Davies' touchline conversion sailed through the uprights, taking the score to 17-0.

Ospreys continued to press before Beck found his way over the try line, as he spun his man and darted home from close range to the left of the posts, making the conversion a formality for Davies.

Zebre hit back just past the half hour mark, as D'Apice crashed over at the back of a driving maul, although Edoardo Padovani failed to find his range from the tee.

A second of the game for Parry saw Ospreys go in at the break having already secured a bonus point, as the hooker broke through the middle of a maul and reached for the line.

Parry repeated the feat shortly after the break, scoring an almost identical try to secure his hat-trick, before Davies added the extras with ease.

Shortly after entering the fray as a replacement, John made a clean break before crashing over the line for the Welsh side's sixth try of the night, as Davies converted with ease to extend their lead to 40 points.

Zebre replacement Tommaso Boni was sent to the sin-bin with 14 minutes remaining, as John came close to scoring his second try of the night, but couldn't quite collect the offload just a metre from the try line.

Ospreys finally made the most of their numerical advantage with a great break from Dan Evans, who was able to find Howells with an inventive cross-field kick to finish the move. Davies' kick soared through the posts.

Eventually John did score his second, and Ospreys' eighth of the night, after collecting Justin Tipuric's offload to finish the scoring in emphatic fashion. Davies slotted his eighth conversion of the night, as the Italians fell to a 59-5 defeat.

The scorers:

For Ospreys:
Tries: Parry 3, Ashley, Beck, John 2, Howells
Cons: Davies 8
Pen: Davies

For Zebre:
Try: D'Apice

Ospreys: 15 Dan Evans, 14 Jeff Hassler, 13 Ashley Beck, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Eli Walker, 10 Sam Davies, 9 Tom Habberfield (c), 8 Tyler Ardron, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Olly Cracknell, 5 Rory Thornton, 4 Lloyd Ashley, 3 Dmitri Arhip, 2 Sam Parry, 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements: 16 Hugh Gustafson, 17 Paul James, 18 Ma'afu Fia, 19 Bradley Davies, 20 Dan Baker, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 Ben John, 23 Dafydd Howells

Zebre: 15 Kurt Baker, 14 Lloyd Greeff, 13 Giulio Bisegni, 12 Tommaso Castello, 11 Gabriele Di Giulio, 10 Edoardo Padovani, 9 Guglielmo Palazzani, 8 Andries Van Schalkwyk, 7 Maxime Mbandà, 6 Jacopo Sarto, 5 George Biagi (c), 4 Federico Ruzza, 3 Pietro Ceccarelli, 2 Tommaso D'Apice, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements: 16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Andrea De Marchi, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Valerio Bernabò, 20 Giovanni Pettinelli, 21 Fabio Semenzato, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Tommaso Boni

Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Stuart Gaffikin (Ireland), Gareth Newman (Wales)
TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)