Magniers League/Ospreys 37 Connacht 7:Wales coach Warren Gatland could be forgiven for sometimes forgetting time and place on Saturday evening in Liberty Stadium.
The former Galwegian, Connacht, and Ireland coach was at this Magners League fixture to keep an eye on scrumhalf Mike Phillips, named on the bench for the Wales game with Italy. Yet he could not help himself privately urging on his former Irish proteges in the face of a mauling from the Ospreys.
"There were times I found myself cheering on Connacht. I will always have a soft spot for them," he said.
But the coach who took Connacht to their first European quarter-final, in 1998, struggled to find many positives in a display that had them 20 points in arrears by half-time.
"Gavin Duffy looked sharp and Johnny O'Connor worked hard, but the team struggled going forward," he added. "Connacht have to be disappointed playing against a team that was missing 12 of their internationals.
"The Ospreys do have some real quality players, particularly in the likes of New Zealanders Marty Holah and Tiatia, but I would have expected the game to be a lot closer."
Gatland contented himself with a fine effort from Phillips, more than a few congratulatory handshakes, and vindication for his bold Welsh selection that did not affect the Ospreys in their quest to leapfrog another Welsh outfit, Dragons, in the league table.
The physicality of Phillips and co proved the undoing of Connacht.
"We were blown off ball at the breakdown," said coach Michael Bradley, "and you will not win matches if you do not win the collisions, and you certainly won't win if you kick away ball and concede penalties. We did all three in this match.
"We knew we had to start fast and well. After 35 minutes we were still in the game, but we were progressively getting on the wrong side of the referee for whatever reason.
"The pressure mounted and the patience of the referee cracked. We conceded a soft try . . . and then we were down to 14 men for 20 minutes of the second half. Sometimes games can get away from you and it did tonight."
The penalty count started as early as the first minute and set a trend. Within six minutes the Ospreys outhalf Shaun Connor had kicked two close-range penalties, while Connacht's Andy Dunne missed two attempts from the 10-metre line.
Despite a solid lineout and scrum, and some excellent play from Johnny O'Connor, prop Robbie Morris, Mel Deane and Gavin Duffy, who all displayed an attacking threat, Connacht were unable to build real momentum.
Morris did well to stop Paul James touching down after 32 minutes, but there was only one side repeatedly breaking tackles, and eventually it was Phillips's sheer physicality and the pace of Nikki Walker, released by Scotland, that opened the Ospreys account after 41 minutes when Connacht lost possession in the tackle.
The Kiwi number eight Tiatia and flanker Holah were a constant threat at ruck time and when Tiatia broke from a scrum he had sufficient power to offload to Holah, who scored under the posts seven minutes into first-half injury time.
It was a critical period in which the hosts got the upper hand, and when Connor stretched the lead shortly after the interval, Connacht could never recover. When Connacht's number eight Colm Rigney was binned on 46 minutes and replacement scrumhalf Conor O'Loughlin followed on 62, it became a matter of damage limitation.
Connacht held out until the 72nd minute, when once again Phillips did the damage, catching Connacht napping when breaking through a lineout from 20 metres out. Replacement outhalf Gareth Owen bagged the fourth try and bonus point to finish off a highly satisfactory home effort.
Johnny O'Connor grabbed a consolation try to ensure Connacht did not finish scoreless, but this disappointing performance leaves Bradley's men chasing Ulster and with Leinster to come in a fortnight's time.
"It has been up and down all season," says Bradley. "However, this side has shown ample character in the past and we will be working hard . . . to prepare for Leinster."
They will need to.
OSPREYS: J Marshall; J Vaughton, M Taylor, J Spratt, N Walker; S Connor, M Phillips; P James, R Hibbard, C Griffiths; A Lloyd, L Bateman; B Lewis, M Holah, F Tiatia. Replacements: M Powell for Lloyd (65 mins), A Millward for Griffiths, T Smith for Lewis (both 66 mins), G Owen for Connor, E Shervington for Hubbard (71 mins), M Roberts for Phillips, A Brew for Walker (80 mins).
CONNACHT: G Duffy; D Riordan, M Mostyn, M Deane, A Wynne; A Dunne, C McPhillips; B Wilkinson, A Flavin, R Morris; M Swift, A Farley; M McCarthy, J O'Connor, J Muldoon. Replacements: C Rigney for McCarthy (39 mins), C O'Loughlin for McPhillips, R Loughney for Morris, R Ofisa for Muldoon (56 mins), D Gannon for Farley (60 mins), J Fogarty for Flavin, T Donnelly for Mostyn (65 mins).
Referee: A Macpherson (Scotland).
