Ospreys 19 Connacht 17

Rob Murphy at Knockon.ie

They went down 19-17 but had chances to win in a frantic finale and certainly earned their bonus point. The first point away from home for nearly two years.

The performance came against an Ospreys side short of numerous front line players but whereas in the past that hasn't stopped sides cutting lose on Connacht this time the overall effort was encouraging and it fits in with a trend of better away displays this season.

In games away to Cardiff and the Dragons, Connacht have been in the hunt for victory for the majority of the contest and the Challenge Cup wins at Worcester and Montpellier merely adds weight to the feeling that the concerted effort to put their strongest team out for away games has boosted morale and allowed momentum to build.

All that being said, the Connacht squad will take little solace from the bonus point gained here because there was more than enough reason to suggest they should have garnered more from this contest. They were outscored two tries to one and trailed by as much as 13 at one stage but for a large part of this contest, the visitors were the better side.

The opening 15 minutes were evenly balanced, Dan Biggar scored on eight minutes for the Ospreys with a penalty but Ian Keatley responded in kind four minutes later for Connacht. It could have been more had Sean Cronin not being snagged inches from the line by Jamie Nutbrown.

Biggar's kicking was letting the home side down, he missed two penalties as Connacht's early discipline problems went unchecked but the game swung in favour of the Ospreys on 17 minutes when the brilliant Gareth Owen ran onto a pass from full back and beat Niva Ta'auso, on his outside shoulder, to canter home from 30 metres.

The Connacht centre had been treated for an injury minutes earlier and was clearly struggling by the time Owen beat him. It certainly appeared as though the hesitation in replacing him proved costly. The missed conversion was a reprieve but the Osprey's led 8-3.

Connacht had the better the second quarter of the contest but couldn't get that all important try. George Naoupu put in a standout display all night and he could have had a try after he blocked Nutbrown's clearance kick from a lineout five metres from the Ospreys line. The big Connacht number eight was held up over the line.

Minutes later Conor O'Loughlin made a superb break but he failed to find the supporting Keith Matthews on the inside and instead went to Naoupu on his right who was brought down short of the line. Keatley did manage a penalty but Biggar has one for the Ospreys within minutes and they led 11-6 at the break.

The Ospreys won the contest in the first ten minutes of the second half. The good teams always kick on in that period and Connacht have yet to master the art of dealing with such early onslaughts. Biggar's penalty after Fionn Carr was badly caught out stretched the lead to eight but it was to get worse minutes later.

A break out wide sawOwen execute and audacious behind the back pass as he seemed to be drifting into touch. The Connacht covering defence briefly switched off which allowed Biggar to collect and made it over in the corner for a 19-6 lead.

Last season Connacht would have invariably collapsed and shipped another three or four tries but this current crop is made of sterner stuff and thanks to a brilliant try from Sean Cronin after he ran onto an inside pass from Keatley, they got back into the contest while Ian Evans was in the sin bin.

Keatley's 63rd minute penalty brought them within six, his 77th minute penalty brought them within touching distance despite the sin binning of Gavin Duffy. Alas, a late chance after a Troy Nathan break came to nothing as he failed to find the free Frank Murphy on his shoulder on half way.

A try seemed certain if the pass had come but a bonus point proved the limit of their capabilities on this occasion. Still though, this was encouraging.

Ospreys: G Owen; J Vaughton, S Parker, A Beck, N Walker; D Biggar, J Nutbrown(M Phillips, h-t); R Bevington (C Mitchell, 78), R Hibbard, C Mitchell (C Griffiths, 66); I Gough (A Lloyd, 75), I Evans; T Smith (J Collins, 18), M Holah, F Tiatia.

Connacht: G Duffy; T Nathan, N Ta'auso (A Wynne, 25), K Matthews, F Carr; I Keatley, C O'Loughlin (F Murphy, 60); B Wilkinson, S Cronin, R Morris (J Hagan, h-t); M Swift, B Upton (M McCarthy, h-t); J Muldoon, R Ofisa, G Naoupu.

Ref - N Paterson (Scotland).

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