The Ospreys ran four unanswered tries Connacht on Saturday to cruise to a 26-9 Pro12 victory at Liberty Stadium on Saturday.
The Ospreys were made to fight for a bonus point but got one late on in a comfortable victory.
Two tries either side of half-time completely turned this hard-fought contest in the home side's favour after there was little to choose between the teams until just a few minutes before the break.
An early Eli Walker try, scored after a concerted period of pressure from the Welshmen, was cancelled out by two penalties from Dan Parks for the visitors as the half wore on.
But tries from back rowers Justin Tipuric right at the end of the first half and Jonathan Thomas, who sprinted clear after intercepting a pass from Parks, at the beginning of the second put the Ospreys in complete control.
The hosts were made to work hard and wait a while to get their fourth try and seal the bonus point though as the Connacht defence stemmed the flow and Parks chipped away at the deficit with another penalty.
But the Ospreys kept hammering away and got what they were looking for in the final ten minutes as Kahn Fotuali'i took a quick tap penalty and barged his way over from short range to seal the extra point and condemn the Irishmen to their fifth defeat of the season.
The scorers:
For Ospreys:
Tries: Walker, Tipuric, Thomas, Fotuali'i
Cons: Biggar 3
For Connacht:
Pens: Parks 3
Ospreys: 15 Richard Fussell, 14 Hanno Dirksen, 13 Andrew Bishop, 12 Ashley Beck, 11 Eli Walker, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Jonathan Thomas, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Joe Bearman, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Alun Wyn Jones (capt), 3 Aaron Jarvis, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Ryan Bevington.
Replacements: 16 Matthew Dwyer, 17 Duncan Jones, 18 Joe Rees, 19 James King, 20 George Stowers, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 Matthew Morgan, 23 Tom Isaacs.
Connacht: 15 Darragh Leader, 14 Tiernan O'Halloran, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Mata Fifita, 11 Fetu'u Vainikolo, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 Eoin McKeon, 7 Willie Faloon, 6 John Muldoon, 5 George Naoupu, 4 Michael Swift, 3 Nathan White (capt), 2 Jason Harris-Wright, 1 Brett Wilkinson.
Replacements: 16 Adrian Flavin, 17 Ronan Loughney, 18 Rodney Ah You, 19 Dave Gannon, 20 Johnny O'Connor, 21 Dave Moore, 22 Miah Nikora, 23 Danie Poolman.
Venue: Liberty Stadium
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Neil Hennessy (Wales), Simon Rees (Wales)
Television match official: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)
Comments
rugbybutten says...
Enjoyed the game..Ospreys were always a notch above.
But why..oh why is there such a fear of sending the ball wide.......each time it went past the inside centre there were chances for Ospreys.
PS listen to Kingsley's comments on the Dragons/Ulster game yesterday...WE MUST SUPPORT THE BREAK AWAY RUUNER . SH do it well, it is a massive negative up here............
Posted 20:08 27th October 2012