O’Connor kick a Connacht bonus

CONNACHT grabbed a losing bonus point on their second away RaboDirect Pro 12 fixture this season with the last kick of the match against the Ospreys in Wales last night.

Connacht out-half Niall O’Connor nailed a pressure kick in injury-time to ensure Connacht grabbed something from their visit to Liberty Stadium.

The visitors had conceded soft tries at the start and end of the first half to go in at the break 10 points adrift, but in between had kept pace with their hosts and scored their own try through Gavin Duffy.

Ospreys’ impressive out-half Dan Biggar kicked an early second-half penalty before Duffy grabbed his second try after O’Connor’s well judged kick.

That brought Connacht to within five points but strong defensive work from the hosts kept them out from then.

Scorers for Ospreys: Tries: B Davies, Dirkson. Cons: Biggar 2. Pens: Biggar 4.

Scorers for Connacht: Tries: Duffy 2. Con: N O’Connor. Pens: N O’Connor 2. Drop Goal: N O’Connor.

OSPREYS: B Davies, Fussell, Isaacs, Bishop, Dirkson, Biggar, Webb, D Jones, Hibbard, Jarvis, Gough, Evans, Smith, Tipuric, Thomas. Replacements: Parker for B Davies (65), Phillips for Dirkson (48), M Davies for Hibbard (65), Rees for Jarvis (59), King for Gough (68), Bearman for Smith (48).

CONNACHT: Duffy, Tuohy, Griffin, Fa’afili, O’Halloran, N. O’Connor, F. Murphy, Wilkinson, Reynecke, Rogers, Swift, McCarthy, Anderson, J. O’Connor, Muldoon, Loxton. Replacements: Loxton for Griffin (41), O’Donohoe for F Murphy (72), Loughney for Wilkinson (62), Flavin for Reynecke (41), Maguire for Rogers (62), Ofisa for Anderson (62), Jarvis for Loxton (60).

Referee: S Penne (FIR).