Lucky win for Perpignan against Ospreys

Perpignan 17 Ospreys 15

The Ospreys produced a spirited fightback to gain a bonus point from their narrow defeat in Perpignan and keep alive their hopes of reaching the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.

The visitors lost the game by two points to their French hosts, but with 23 minutes remaining the then dispirited Ospreys looked destined for absolutely nothing at 17-0 down.

Their joy at attaining that bonus point will, however, be tarnished by the loss of Wales full-back Lee Byrne with a leg injury midway through the first half.

Following the earlier fixture in Swansea, Perpignan hooker Marius Tincu was banned for 18 weeks for gouging. The ban still riles the Perpignan supporters, who ensured the Ospreys took to the field to a cacophony of boos and catcalls and a chant of ’Tincu’ from the crowd of 13,356.

However, it was the Ospreys who started much the stronger, dominating territory and possession for the opening quarter of an hour. But a number of careless forward passes prevented them from taking a deserved lead.

Following a very ambitious and miserable attempt at a drop goal from Byrne, Marty Holah gave away a penalty and against the run of play Steve Meyer hit a 45-metre goal to give Perpignan the lead. Five minutes later he added another.

Despite these reverses the Ospreys continued to look the better side but they still failed to take advantage, too often trying to force impossible passes instead of retaining possession and building up pressure.

Worse followed for the Ospreys when they went nine points behind with Meyer kicking another penalty after 34 minutes after James Hook was penalised for an off-the-ball incident. They lost the highly-influential Byrne with that leg injury two minutes later.

Two minutes after that and another major blow for the Ospreys when Alun-Wyn Jones lost a lineout in the Perpignan half. A strong counter-attack from the French side ended with Mike Phillips sent to the sin bin and Meyer kicking yet another goal to give Perpignan a 12-0 interval lead.

Henry Tuilagi, the Perpignan number eight, made two barnstorming runs at the beginning of the second half to create a sustained period of French pressure and, down to 14 men, the Ospreys hung on by the skin of their teeth until Phillips returned.

The scrum-half’s comeback did not initially restore Osprey fortunes as Tuilagi drove over from close range after 52 minutes for the opening try of the game.

The Ospreys then began to find a route back into the game, however, and made inroads on the scoreboard.

A weak kick from Perpignan wing Julien Candelion gifted possession to the visitors. Adam Jones caught the ball and fed Phillips, who played the defence with some powerful running before the ball was moved wide for Shane Williams to beat a defender and score. Hook was unsuccessful with the conversion.

That try inspired the Ospreys and in particular Phillips who appeared to be everywhere as the Welsh outfit gathered momentum.

With 13 minutes to go Tommy Bowe made a break to send Jonny Vaughton over. Hook converted and five minutes from time the outside-half kicked a penalty to ensure that vital bonus point.