Ospreys grab bonus against Treviso

Magners League champions the Ospreys sealed their first win of the season with a 32-16 victory over Treviso at Liberty Stadium on Friday.

Magners League champions the Ospreys sealed their first win of the season with a convincing 32-16 victory over Treviso at rain-drenched Liberty Stadium on Friday.

The five-tries-to-one win helped the Ospreys make a remarkable leap from bottom place in the standings up towards the top in only a matter of hours.

After starting the day on -3 points, the Welsh region finished it on +6.

First they had their four-point deduction for this season overturned after an independent Celtic Rugby disciplinary appeal. That penalty was imposed after the Welsh region failed to fulfil their Magners fixture in Ulster in March.
And the appeal victory was followed by a comfortable bonus win with tries for Lee Byrne, Nikki Walker, Andrew Bishop, Jonathan Thomas and Shane Williams.
Benetton scored a late converted try from full-back Brendan Williams with scrum-half Tobie Botes providing 11 points with the boot.
After scoring two tries in the opening 13 minutes, the Ospreys looked well on course for a comfortable victory but frustratingly for the home side they only led 15-9 at the interval.
The Ospreys were set on their way with a fifth-minute try for Byrne after a break by busy scrum-half Jamie Nutbrown.
After Botes put the Italian champions on the scoreboard with a penalty goal, the Ospreys should have had a second try but Gareth Own dropped the ball in the process of scoring.
But three minutes later the Ospreys found themselves halfway to a try bonus point when wing
Walker cruised in down the right after a neat passing move involving Dan Biggar, Bishop and Byrne.
After that, however, the Ospreys – who were without 16 injured and rested players – rather lost their way as Botes converted two out of three penalty attempts during the second quarter.
They soon made up for it at the start of the second period as they took less than nine minutes to seal the bonus point.
The home side came out after half-time with a steely purpose to their game. They put the ball through the hands before Bishop raced through a gap to score his team's third try.
And seven minutes later a forward drive saw man of the match Jonathan Thomas emerge after scoring his side's fourth effort.
Benetton did not help their cause when wing Tommaso Benvenuti was sin-binned for a professional foul and with the extra man Williams went in for the Ospreys' fifth try on 73 minutes.

The scorers

For Ospreys:
Tries: Byrne, Walker, Bishop, Thomas, Williams
Cons: Biggar 2
Pen: Biggar

For Treviso:
Try: Williams
Con: Burton
Pens: Botes 3

Yellow cards: Collins (Ospreys -74th min)

Ospreys: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Nikki Walker, 13 Andrew Bishop, 12 Gareth Owen, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Jamie Nutbrown, 8 Jonathan Thomas, 7 Marty Holah, 6 Jerry Collins (capt), 5 Ian Evans, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Cai Griffiths, 2 Mefin Davies, 1 Ryan Bevington.
Replacements: 16 Huw Bennett, 17 Duncan Jones, 18 Paul James, 19 James Goode, 20 Ben Lewis, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 Tommy Bowe, 23 Richard Fussell.

Treviso: 15 Brendan Williams, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Ezio Galon, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Luke McLean, 10 Khristopher Burton, 9 Tobias Botes, 8 Paul Derbyshire, 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Robert Barbieri, 5 Corniel Van Zyl, 4 Enrico Pavanello, 3 Pedro Di Santo, 2 Diego Vidal, 1 Augusto Allori.
Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Lorenzo Cittadini, 18 Ignacio Fernandez Rouyet, 19 Valerio Bernabò, 20 Manoa Vosawai, 21 Benjamin De Jager, 22 Fabio Semenzato, 23 Simon Picone.

Venue: Liberty Stadium
Referee: Dudley Phillips (Ireland)
Assistant referees: James Jones (Wales), Jon Mason (Wales)
Television match official: Hugh Watkins (Wales)