Ospreys deepen Cardiff’s blues

Ospreys 26 Cardiff Blues 0

The only element which was missing from the Ospreys’ dominant display was a bonus point.

The Welsh derby was expected to be a close encounter but the Blues were a shadow of the side that scored five second-half tries in a 42-13 hammering of Newport Gwent Dragons.

And the Ospreys, boosted by having Lions pair Adam Jones and Lee Byrne in the starting line-up, were too incisive in attack with first-half tries for Walker and a second-half effort from Ryan Jones.

Man-of-the-match Dan Biggar provided 11 points with the boot.

In defence the Ospreys provided a total shut-out as the Blues ran out of attacking options, to the dismay of Blues director of rugby Dai Young.

“I can take very little out of this game and we have to take it on the chin as we were beaten by a far better team on the day,” he said.

“They had us under a stranglehold for most of the game and once they got into our half they looked threatening.

“We failed to handle them and because we didn’t have any field position, we couldn’t find any momentum and create anything ourselves.”

The Blues did have the early pressure, but it was the Ospreys – without shoulder injury victims Alun Wyn Jones and James Hook – who opened the scoring after 11 minutes with a snap drop-goal from in front of the posts for Biggar.

The Blues had a chance to level with a penalty after a scrum offence but Ben Blair pushed his place-kick wide of the right upright.

And three minutes later Biggar was also off target with a long-range penalty effort after Robin Sowden-Taylor had failed to retreat after a tackle.

But on 19 minutes the Ospreys extended their lead to 8-0 with an unconverted try for Walker in the left corner.

Blair had done well to field an Ospreys chip ahead but at the breakdown the home side turned over possession on the 22 with Ricky Januarie and Jonathan Thomas linking before Walker crashed over.

Though it was a stop-start affair, no thanks to referee James Jones’s strict officiating of the scrum area, the Ospreys continued building on their lead with Walker going over for his second try on 31 minutes.

From a scrum Biggar scythed through a gap and from that moment the Blues defence was in disarray as the Ospreys backs put it through the hands before the wing went over in the left corner again.

The match continued to go the way of the Ospreys after the break. Biggar converted a penalty within the first two minutes, and two minutes later a Blair penalty attempt rebounded of the left post.

And another Blues penalty in easy kicking range was reversed when the away side were penalised for some over-vigorous rucking on Ryan Jones.

Matters got worse for the Blues when tight-head prop Gary Powell was yellow-carded after a collapsed scrum, and from the resulting offence Biggar kicked over his second penalty as the Ospreys led 19-0 after 50 minutes.

Ten minutes later the Ospreys were celebrating their third try after captain Jones squeezed in at the left corner.

After that it was just a question of whether the Ospreys could get the all-important fourth try.

But while they missed out the Blues also failed to trouble the scoreboard as they fell to their first defeat against a Welsh region this season.

OSPREYS: L Byrne; T Bowe, S Parker, A Bishop, N Walker; D Biggar, R Januarie; P james, R Hibbard, A Jones; I Gough, J Thomas; J Collins, M Holah, R Jones (capt).

Replacements: G Owen for Biggar (74), J Nutbrown for Januarie (62), H Bennett for Hibbard (53), C Griffiths for A Jones (58), I Evans for Gough (62), F Tiatia for Collins (69).

CARDIFF BLUES: B Blair; R Mustoe, C Laulala, T Shanklin, T James; S Norton-Knight, R Rees; G Jenkins (capt), R Thomas, G Powell; B Davies, S Morgan; S Warburton, R Sowden-Taylor, X Rush.

Replacements: C Sweeney for Blair (69), G Thomas for Shanklin (30), G Cooper for Rees (69), G Williams for T. Thomas (61), T Filise for G Powell (63), P Tito for Davies (53), B White for Sowden-Taylor (41).

Referee: James Jones (WRU).