Five-try Ospreys thump Treviso

Editor

The Ospreys had little trouble in dispatching Treviso on Saturday, claiming a 41-10 Pro12 victory at Liberty Stadium.

The Ospreys had little trouble in dispatching Treviso on Saturday, claiming a 41-10 Pro12 victory at Liberty Stadium.

Ashley Beck and Paul James both crossed the whitewash in the first half, with fly-half Dan Biggar kicking 10 points.

Further converted scores followed in the second period from Beck, Joe Bearman and Tom Isaacs as the hosts moved back into the top-four.

Treviso's response came through a converted Ludovico Nitoglia try and a Kris Burton three-pointer.

It was the hosts that took the lead through a Biggar penalty before Burton converted one of his own to level matters.

The Ospreys, though, were playing with far more intent and creativity and deservedly opened their try-scoring account when good work from Hanno Dirksen sent Beck clear.

Biggar kicked the conversion and then added another three-pointer as the hosts held a 13-3 advantage after 22 minutes.

Treviso very rarely threatened the Welsh region's 22 in the first period and their slackness was capitalised on by Adam Jones, who's rare break and off-load allowed James to score.

The hosts led 20-3 at the interval and any thought of a fightback from the visitors was effectively ended when Beck touched down, Biggar converting.

However, the Italian team suddenly sprung into life. The impressive Edoardo Gori made a searing break and the move was well finished off by Nitoglia. Alberto di Bernado added the extras, but their resurgence was halted when Tommaso Benvenuti was sin-binned and from the resulting scrum, Bearman went over.

Isaacs added a fifth try before di Bernardo was yellow carded late on for Treviso.

The scorers:

For Ospreys:
Tries: Beck 2, James, Bearman, Isaacs
Cons: Biggar 5
Pens: Biggar 2

For Treviso:
Try: Nitoglia
Con: Burton
Pen: Burton

Yellow cards: Benvenuti, Di Bernardo

Ospreys 15 Richard Fussell, 14 Hanno Dirksen, 13 Andrew Bishop, 12 Ashley Beck, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Joe Bearman, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Ryan Jones, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 3 Adam Jones, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Paul James.
Replacements: 16 Scott Baldwin, 17 Ryan Bevington, 18 Aaron Jarvis, 19 James King, 20 Tom Smith, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 Matthew Morgan, 23 Tom Isaacs.

Treviso: 15 Kristopher Burton, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Tommaso Iannone, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Ludovico Nitoglia, 10 Alberto Di Bernardo, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Manoa Vosawai, 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Corniel Van Zyl, 4 Antonio Pavanello (c), 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Enrico Ceccato, 1 Michele Rizzo.
Replacements: 16 Franco Sbaraglini, 17 Matteo Muccignat, 18 Ignacio Fernandez Rouyet, 19 Valerio Bernabò, 20 Gonzalo Padrò, 21 Marco Filippucci, 22 Fabio Semenzato, 23 Luke McLean.

Venue: Liberty Stadium, Swansea
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)