Ospreys put 62 on Edinburgh

Editor

The Ospreys picked up their third straight win of the Guinness PRO12 season on Sunday as they saw off Edinburgh 62-13 in Swansea.

The Ospreys picked up their third straight win of the Guinness PRO12 season on Sunday as they saw off Edinburgh 62-13 with a bonus-point.

Edinburgh managed to stay in touch during the first half but they unable to cope with Ospreys as they produced a flawless second half performance.

Defensive pressure proved to be the key for Steve Tandy's side and a brutal final 20 minutes compounded a bad day at the office for Alan Solomons' troops.

Ospreys scored the first points of the game after Rhys Webb went over in the first minute and Dan Biggar duly converting for a 7-0 lead.

Edinburgh got on the board with a penalty shortly after and it would have been ten for Ospreys had the TMO not ruled out a second try moments later. Though they didn't have to wait long as Webb got his second try of the game after ten minutes, with Bigar converting again.

Then, after some scrappy play, Ospreys added to their lead when Dan Baker powered over the line with six minutes left in the half and Biggar

once again kicked the conversion. Edinburgh were down but not out and Hamish Watson went over after covering the length of the pitch to pick up Sep Visser's pass when the Dutch player broke away but was tackled just before the line by Dan Evans.

Biggar's penalty just before the break gave Ospreys extra breathing room but Edinburgh responded with a penalty of their own immediately after the interval through Sam Hidalgo-Clyne.

But Ospreys were putting Edinburgh under continued pressure and Jeff Hassler took full advantage to burst through. And after Hassler was tackled by Hidalgo-Clyne, Ospreys worked the ball to Biggar who dotted down before adding another conversion.

Despite being denied a try of his own, Hassler showed incredible stamina to capitalise on a loose Edinburgh pass moments later and sprint down the right to make it 36-12 with Biggar's conversion.

Justin Tipuric was put in the sin-bin after 55 minutes as Edinburgh looked to make some ground, but the visitors failed to capitalise on having an extra man. They were eventually awarded a penalty and took a quick tap but Ospreys stayed strong and forced a turnover.

Jonathan Spratt compounded Edinburgh's misery in the 60th minute when the TMO was unable to ascertain whether a definite forward pass had been made in the build-up to his score.

Edinburgh's defence was rocked and two missed tackles on 69 minutes allowed Hanno Dirksen to ease his way through and cross over to make it 48-13 to the home side.

It got continually worse for Edinburgh who simply couldn't handle the pressure exerted by the Ospreys defence and the Welsh side stole the ball, allowing Tom Grabham to send them beyond the 50-point mark before Sam Davies converted.

It was all too easy for Ospreys and a hand-off from big man Tyler Ardron secured their ninth try of the evening with just three minutes remaining and made sure Tandy's side finished the day top of the league.

The scorers:

For Ospreys:
Try: Webb 2, Baker, Biggar, Hassler, Spratt, Dirksen, Grabham, Ardron
Con: Biggar 4, Davies 3
Pen: Biggar

For Edinburgh:
Try: Watson
Con: Heathcote
>Pen: Heathcote 2

Ospreys: 15 Dan Evans, 14 Jeff Hassler, 13 Jonathan Spratt, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Hanno Dirksen, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Dan Baker, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 James King, 5 Rynier Bernardo, 4 Alun-Wyn Jones (capt), 3 Aaron Jarvis, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Nicky Smith.
Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Duncan Jones, 18 Dmitri Arhip, 19 Tyler Ardron, 20 Morgan Allen, 21 Martin Roberts, 22 Sam Davies, 23 Tom Grabham.

Edinburgh: 15 Jack Cuthbert, 14 Nick McLennan, 13 Phil Burleigh, 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Tom Heathcote, 9 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 8 Cornell du Preez, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Mike Coman (capt), 5 Anton Bresler, 4 Fraser McKenzie, 3 WP Nel, 2 James Hilterbrand, 1 Alasdair Dickinson.
Replacements: 16 Neil Cochrane, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 John Andress, 19 Ollie Atkins, 20 Tomas Leonardi, 21 Grayson Hart, 22 Sam Beard, 23 Greig Tonks.

Referee: Dudley Phillips (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Simon Rees (Wales), Chris Williams (Wales)
TMO: Derek Bevan (Wales)