Ospreys 17 Munster 27
Champions Munster made it three wins on the spin in the URC as they showed some clinical finishing in Swansea to carve out a valuable victory.
They did enough to secure all five points to step up the defence of their crown as they head into the business end of the season against an Ospreys side who were on a five-match winning run at home.
Munster led 19-5 at the break in front of a crowd of just 3,897 in the Swansea.com Stadium after making the most of anything they created in the opening quarter, with a strong defensive display maintaining their early lead despite constant trouble in the scrum on their own and opposition ball.
The statistics of the opening quarter were remarkable. After 17 minutes, Ospreys had 70 per cent of the possession, 85 per cent territory ... and trailed 19-0.
The champions showed the Swansea side how to pick off opportunities and notched three tries from as many visits to the 22, two of them from intercept passes.
Mike Haley, celebrating his 100th appearance, set up Shane Daly for the opening score in the left corner, with the winger scoring for the second game in a row. Joey Carbery added the conversion from the left for the perfect start.
Ospreys, beaten at home just once this season, were rocked again three minutes later when Sean O’Brien picked off a pass from outhalf Owen Williams to centre Keiran Williams and after speeding down the right, he fended off Keelan Giles to score for the third match in a row. Carbery pulled the conversion across goal.
Ospreys didn’t panic and it took some excellent defending from Munster to keep them at bay. Scrumhalf Craig Casey was alert to beat Giles to the touchdown after a grubber after nine minutes, while three penalties to the corner were superbly defended despite Munster’s woes in the scrum.
O’Brien got his second after 17 minutes when he picked off a poor pass from fullback Iestyn Hopkins. His grubber down the right somehow kept bouncing on the correct side of the touchline before he hacked as Ospreys skipper Justin Tipuric came in to tackle and after outhalf Williams inexplicably tried to fly-kick the ball over his line, the Munster winger calmly stretched back and scored. Carbery got his radar bang on for the conversion from the right.
A neat lay-off from South African Evardi Boshoff to his centre partner Keiran Williams finally cracked the Munster cover and Giles supplied a good finish down the left six minutes from the break.
Munster pushed for the bonus point before the break but Ospreys, despite losing Tipuric to the bin after multiple penalties, held firm to trail 19-5 at the interval and then not concede while down to 14 men.
A good penalty from Williams to the left corner set up another opportunity for Ospreys after 54 minutes and this time they got the maul right and hooker Sam Parry scored, with his outhalf landing a superb conversion in the rain to cut the gap to 19-12.
The Munster response was excellent. A crosskick from Carbery to O’Brien set in train a 17-phase move which involved RG Snyman a couple of times with basketball passes but the giant South African stretched for the line to score.
Carbery hit the left post with the conversion just to the left but added a penalty from 30 metres to extend their lead after 64 minutes.
Alex Cuthbert gave Ospreys hope of salvaging a couple of bonus points when he scored in the right corner six minutes from time after good work by Jack Walsh but he pulled a hamstring with a clear run to the line in the final minute of another frustrating night for Welsh rugby as the champions march on.
“It’s a massive win for us,” said man of the match Sean O’Brien. “It was great to get back after a couple of weeks off. We weren’t getting much of a look-in with the ball in hand and we kind of got our tries off scraps. It was a bit frustrating after that because we couldn’t keep hold of the ball and play in the right areas so our backs were against the wall. We let them in a few times but we got the win in the end.”
Scoring sequence: 3 mins: Daly try, Carbery con 0-7; 6: O’Brien try 0-12; 17: O’Brien try, Carbery con 0-19; 34: Giles try 5-19; Half-time: 5-19; 54: Parry try, O Williams con 12-19; 58: RG Snyman try 12-24; 64: Carbery pen 12-27. Full-time: 17-27.
SCORERS – Ospreys: Tries: K Giles, S Parry, A Cuthbert. Con: O Williams.
Munster: Tries: S O’Brien (2), S Daly, RG Snyman. Cons: J Carbery (2). Pen: Carbery.
Ospreys: I Hopkins; A Cuthbert, E Boshoff, K Williams, K Giles; O Williams, R Morgan-Williams; N Smith, S Parry, T Botha; J Ratti, R Davies; J Rudolph, J Tipuric (c), M Morris. Replacements: R Henry for Smith (33 mins), J Walsh for Hopkins (half-time), H Deaves for Rudolph (52), G Phillips for Botha (60), O Watkin for Boshoff (68), H Sutton for Davies (75), L Lloyd for Paerry *77), C Jones for Morgan-Williams (77).
Munster: M Haley; S O’Brien, A Frisch, R Scannell, S Daly; J Carbery, C Casey; J Wycherley, N Scannell, J Ryan; T Ahern, RG Snyman; J Hodnett, A Kendellen (c), G Coombes. Replacements: J Loughman for Wycherley (45), J O’Donoghue for Snyman (60), S Archer for Ryan (60), R Quinn for Hodnett (64), E Coughlan for Casey (72), T Butler for Carbery (72), E Clarke for N Scannell (75), S McCarthy for R Scannell (77).
Referee: Hollie Davidson (Scotland).
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