Home comforts for Ospreys

Dan Biggar: Kicked 15 points

Related links

Teams

• Munster
• Ospreys

Ospreys sealed their first home win of the RaboDirect PRO12 season with a 30-15 victory over Munster at the Liberty Stadium.

The Ospreys were clear and deserved 30-15 winners as they outplayed Munster from start to finish.

The home side had by far the better of the first half and Dan Biggar kicked them into an early lead with a couple of penalties before their possession and territory was rewarded with a try in the 20th minute.

Substitute scrum-half Peter Stringer's kick was charged down by Justin Tipuric and a powerful run from Andrew Bishop laid the platform for the ball to be spun wide and full-back Richard Fussell got on the end of it to score in the left-hand corner.

Munster did work their way back into the match to some extent but were unable to take advantage of a good spell of pressure towards the end of the half and had to settle for two Ronan O'Gara penalties, which made the score 13-6 at the break.

And, despite the fact that the visitors had been distinctly second best, another three points from O'Gara early in the second half reduced the deficit to just four points and made the home fans sit far less comfortably in their seats.

Ill-discipline cost the Irishmen dear soon afterwards though as Tommy O'Donnell was sent to the sin bin, leaving his side a man light in the forwards and allowing Biggar to kick another three points.

And more punishment was to come as the dominance of the Ospreys' pack came to the fore and the referee was forced to award a penalty try when Munster were driven backwards in the scrum.

Munster's response was to make as many as five replacements in the pack all at once but, although O'Gara and Ian Keatley kicked penalties to reduce the arrears, they didn't threaten the opposition try-line enough to make the comeback a realistic proposition.

Hooker Richard Hibbard was standing out wide and gleefully gathered in a loose pass that missed out Adam Jones and went to ground before crossing to seal the win and cap his 100th league appearance with a try.

The visitors' discipline got even worse in the final stages as replacement Damien Varley was given a straight red card after being on the field for less than 20 minutes.

And, although the Ospreys were unable to get a fourth try and snatch the bonus point that their dominance possibly deserved, the defending champions are now on the up after putting a poor start to the season behind them and racking up their second successive win.

The scorers:

For Ospreys:
Tries: Fussell, Hibbard, Penalty
Cons: Biggar 3
Pens: Biggar 3

For Munster:
Pens: Keatley, O'Gara 4

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

Munster: tbc

Referee: Dudley Phillips (Italy)