Munster’s uphill struggle in defence of crown

Neath Swansea Ospreys 33 Munster26

A second successive defeat albeit with two bonus points in the bag left Munster staring up at the rest of the competition from the wrong end of the table and still searching for an answer to life without Ronan O'Gara and Co.

At St Helen's, Alan Gaffney's second-string side left themselves with too big a hill to climb after an off-key first-half allowed the Ospreys to take a significant head-start.

"We allowed them to get off to a really good start and they took advantage of every opportunity, you can't let that happen in this competition, especially away from home," said captain Jim Williams.

Gaffney handed debuts to outside-half Conrad O'Sullivan and Irish-qualified Australian lock Dave Pusey, who only recently arrived in Ireland and Pusey certainly felt the pace. "It was difficult at first as I felt off the pace and wasn't familiar with all the moves, but that was always going to be the case in my first game."

Pusey, however, gave an early glimpse of what he has to offer getting involved in Munster's opening try after only four minutes.

The 23-year-old and then David Wallace both drove on before full-back Jeremy Staunton side-stepped and swerved his way over for a well-worked try that he converted.

The Ospreys twice caught Munster short out wide as they struck back.

Samoan wing Elvis Seveali'l attacked down the left before Shaun Connor sent over an angled high ball into the corner for other wing Dave Tiueti to chase. Tiueti out-jumped Mossie Lawlor to tap the ball into the grateful hands of James Storey.

Minutes later and Tiueti had looked certain to score when one-on-one with Eoin Reddan but the scrum-half, giving away almost three-stone to the Tongan international, held the Ospreys wing up over the line.

It was a missed opportunity for Tiueti but just two minutes later he made amends when he charged through for the team's second try.

Henson added the conversion from out wide and later added six more points with two penalties as the Ospreys raced into a 20-7 lead.

Munster steadied the ship but ironically their second try came from a fortuitous break as the Ospreys pressed to put their visitors to the sword.

Seveali'l, yet again, burst out of defence in midfield but his pass took a deflection off tackler Staunton and into the hands of Lawlor who turned defence into attack and was just hauled down short, as was Pusey and then Mike Mullins, before Munster's quick recycling eventually saw Wallace flop over in the corner.

But, when Henson added his third penalty on the stroke of half-time, the Ospreys were well worth their 11-point lead.

If Munster had failed to spark in the first half, they backfired completely at the start of the second when a hashed scrum on the edge of their own 22-yard line gifted the Ospreys their third try.

A mix up between Reddan and hooker Jerry Flannery saw the ball squirt out the wrong side of the scrum and Wales 'A' half-back Andy Williams was first to react to give himself a clear run to the line.

Indeed it was only when trailing 30-12, ten minutes into the second half, that Munster came to life and moments after Reddan had almost found a way through with an angled run, Mullins made the breakthrough.

Coming into the line at pace, the former Ireland centre stepped inside the defenders to score.

Munster's dragged themselves to within touching distance seven minutes from time when Staunton linked cleverly with Mullins to create his second.

Williams, Jason Jones-Hughes and Staunton all went close in the closing stages but the Ospreys rode out the siege.

OSPREYS: G Henson; D Tiueti, J Storey, S Gibbs (capt), E Seveali'l; S Connor (A Durston, 64), A Williams; P James, B Williams, A Millward, A Newman, L Tait (L Bateman, 45), G Thomas, N Bonner-Evans, J Bater (S Tandy, 64).

MUNSTER: J Staunton; S Payne (M McPhail, 85), M Mullins, J Jones-Hughes, M Lawlor; C O'Sullivan (D Crotty, 71), E Reddan; S Kerr, J Flannery, M Cahill (J Danaher, 61), E Halvey (C McMahon, 80), D Pusey, D Leamy (T Hogan, 46), J Williams, D Wallace.

Referee: Rob Dickson (Scotland)

Attendance: 5,200