Ospreys overcome Cardiff Blues

Editor

Ospreys stayed in the hunt for a home semi-final in the PRO12 after beating Cardiff Blues 31-23 with a bonus-point at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

Three Gareth Anscombe penalties helped the Blues to a nine point lead inside the first half-hour.

Dan Evans replied with a try for the Ospreys and the deficit at half time was cut to just two points thanks to a brilliant touchline conversion from Dan Biggar.

Further tries from Biggar and Tom Grabham put the Ospreys into a commanding 21-9 lead before a fantastic solo try from Josh Navidi brought the Blues back into the game.

Any Cardiff hopes of getting a result were short lived due to Ben John crossing for the bonus point try that the Ospreys wanted.

Cardiff did gain a consolation try thanks to a Dan Fish try with the last play of the game.

A positive first half display from a Blues side with nine changes from last week ensured they took control early on.

Evans scored just before the break and Biggar converted and it was 9-7 at the interval.

The Ospreys went through the gears in the second half and Biggar scored to put them in front. Alun Wyn Jones made the break before a lovely offload sent Biggar over.

A well-worked back line move resulted in Tom Grabham diving over in the corner to stretch the lead to 12 points.

Josh Navidi then produced a brilliant individual effort to get the Blues back in the game. Navidi broke the line before diving under the posts for his fifth try of the season.

John scored to make sure that the Ospreys got the bonus point that keeps the pressure on Ulster, Glasgow and Munster.

With the last touch of the game, Fish ran the length of the field after intercepting a pass to make the scoreline closer.

The scorers:

For Cardiff Blues:
Tries: Navidi, Fish
Con: Davies, Anscombe
Pen: Anscombe 3

For Ospreys:
Tries: Evans, Biggar, Grabham, John
Con: Biggar 4
Pen: Biggar

Cardiff Blues: 15 Rhys Patchell, 14 Lucas Amorosino, 13 Tom Isaacs, 12 Garyn Smith, 11 Joaquin Tuculet, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Lloyd Williams, 8 Josh Navidi, 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Josh Turnbull, 5 Filo Paulo, 4 Chris Dicomidis, 3 Craig Mitchell, 2 Kristian Dacey, 1 Gethin Jenkins (c).
Replacements: 16 Matthew Rees, 17 Sam Hobbs, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 Jarrad Hoeata, 20 Macauley Cook, 21 Lewis Jones, 22 Gareth Davies, 23 Dan Fish

Ospreys: 15 Dan Evans, 14 Tom Grabham, 13 Ben John, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Eli Walker, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Dan Baker, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 4 Lloyd Peers, 3 Aaron Jarvis, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Nicky Smith.
Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Marc Thomas, 18 Dmitri Arhip, 19 Tyler Ardron, 20 James King, 21 Tom Habberfield, 22 Sam Davies, 23 Jonathan Spratt. Referee: Nigel Owens
Assistant Referees: Rhys Thomas, Gwyn Morris
TMO: Gareth Simmonds