Dan Biggar: 14 points for Ospreys
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The Ospreys cruised to a comprehensive 32-3 Pro12 victory over Scarlets at the Liberty Stadium on Wednesday.
In a first half completely dominated by the hosts, they went into the break 19-3 ahead thanks to a penalty try and the excellent kicking of half-backs Dan Biggar and Kahn Fotuali'i.
Aled Thomas' penalty in the opening period was as good as it got for Simon Easterby's men as tries from James King and Fotuali'i completed the win.
Although the visitors played with ambition from the off, it was the home side that were the more incisive.
With Ryan Jones impressive at flanker and Biggar and Fotuali'i controlling proceedings behind the scrum, the Swansea-based outfit dominated the opening exchanges.
Their pivot opened the scoring before his half-back partner added a drop-goal to move them into a 6-0 lead after 11 minutes.
The Ospreys' ascendancy in the set-piece was also a decisive factor in the team's supremacy and a powerful drive from the pack saw referee Nigel Owens going under the posts to award a penalty try.
Already under severe pressure, George Earle further compounded the Scarlets' problems when he was sin-binned for not retreating 10 metres. Thomas reduced the arrears, but Biggar kicked successive three-pointers to extend their advantage to 16 points at the interval.
Despite the visitors having a brief spell of pressure at the start of the second period, Steve Tandy's men continued to dominate.
They added to the score when prop Ryan Bevington set up King with a superb pass before their fly-half converted another penalty opportunity.
Fotuali'i then touched down after the Scarlets' Tavis Knoyle had been yellow carded for another cynical infringement.
Remarkably, the last 10 minutes saw Rob McCusker and Gareth Owen sent off, and Thomas sin-binned for the away side, but the Ospreys couldn't find the bonus-point.
The scorers:
For Ospreys:
Tries Penalty try, King, Fotuali'i
Con: Biggar
Pens: Biggar 4
Drop: Fotuali'i
For Scarlets:
Pen: Thomas
Ospreys: 15 Richard Fussell, 14 Ross Jones, 13 Andrew Bishop, 12 Ashley Beck, 11 Eli Walker, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i (capt), 8 Joe Bearman, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Ryan Jones, 5 James King, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Ryan Bevington.
Replacements: 16 Scott Baldwin, 17 Duncan Jones, 18 Cai Griffiths, 19 Lloyd Peers, 20 Morgan Allen, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 Matthew Morgan, 23 Tom Isaacs.
Scarlets: 15 Liam Williams 14 George North, 13 Jonathan Davies (capt), 12 Scott Williams, 11 Kristian Phillips, 10 Aled Thomas, 9 Aled Davies, 8 Kieran Murphy, 7 Aaron Shingler, 6 Josh Turnbull, 5 George Earle, 4 Jake Ball, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Phil John.
Replacements: 16 Emyr Phillips, 17 Shaun Hopkins, 18 Jacobie Adriaanse, 19 Sione Timani, 20 Rob McCusker, 21 Tavis Knoyle, 22 Gareth Owen, 23 Gareth Maule.
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Comments
jontheref says...
melkdave
Did you watch the game?
Scarlets were not down to 12 for the last 10 to 15 minutes as you claim.
They were down to 12 for maybe 90 seconds.
As I wrote earlier, I was also concerened as to why with time running out, they did not go for the scrum, and then unlease the backs for the final attempt.
Please don't try to bring your usual agenda to every post about your personal beliefs of doom and gloom in Welsh Rugby.
We'll still beat England on the 16th March!
Posted 14:31 27th December 2012
ollieosprey says...
Brilliant result! Must say though i thought Owens had a bit of a shocker... those two red cards at the end were warnings at most.. maybe he just had enough. Ospreys completely deserving of the win though. Adam Jones, Ryan Jones, Hibbard, Justin Tipuric, Biggar etc... Are brilliantly committed to the Ospreys and make it the stand out welsh region
Posted 11:21 27th December 2012
makemehappy says...
A shambles of a game, dominated by the Ospreys and the ref's new red card. Two yellow's and sensible management of the game were the order of the day in my opinion.
Posted 08:40 27th December 2012
jontheref says...
Missed getting the bonus point, which would have put them 4th in the table.
Inconceivable why owens did not allow the Ryna Jones "try", and give a PK instead in the first half.
TV showed no reason to come back to the PK.
Scarlets imploded to end up with only 12 on the field, which begs why Ospreys did not go for the scrum on the last PK, to give themselves the chance of tying in the Scarlets to run in a try.
Oh of mice and men.....
Posted 00:02 27th December 2012
melkdave says...
Lots of endevour from the Scarlets ,but no cutting edge at all,and compounded by the Ospreys dominace in the set piece ,the Scarlets where always looking like the likely losers ..One worryig thing for the Ospreys mamnagement must be their failure to get the bonus point,espically as Scarlets where down to 12 men in the final 10-15 mins.The match in some ways just sums welsh rugby at the moment .Lots of endevour and workrate ,no craft ,and very little cheer .Even Ospreys supporters must be a little disapointed ,given their sides total dominance,in the failure not to rachket up a cricket score of 50+
Posted 21:39 26th December 2012