Ospreys celebrate Collins arrival with win

Ospreys 34 Glasgow 23

The Ospreys celebrated the signing of former New Zealand international Jerry Collins today with a victory in their final home Magners League match of the season.

Collins will join the Ospreys from French club Toulon next season on a two-year deal as the region look to make up for a barren 2008-09 season.

With the Celtic title having gone to Munster, this match was all but meaningless although the three-try win meant the Ospreys moved level on points with second-placed Leinster.

The Ospreys were forced into a late change after wing Jonny Vaughton was ruled out after injuring his groin in the pre-match warm-ups, forcing the coaches to rejig the back line.

The change clearly did not help the Ospreys' defensive organisation as they leaked a soft converted try after only five minutes, scored by full-back Bernardo Stortoni who made the most of a three-man overlap on the left.

That 7-0 lead was cancelled out on 14 minutes with a well-worked converted try for Filo Tiatia after breaks by Shane Williams and Marty Holah.

Glasgow reclaimed the lead with a Ruaridh Jackson penalty after Williams was caught in possession and failed to release on his own line.

But the Scots' advantage was short-lived as indiscipline at the ruck cost them three penalties all of which James Hook kicked on 25, 28 and 30 minutes to give Ospreys a 16-10 lead.

A fourth penalty from Hook in the 34th minute gave the Ospreys a nine-point cushion, which was undone by another soft try as Max Evans scythed his way through midfield and put wing Lome Fa'atau in down the right.

However, a good team try involving Richard Hibbard, Holah and Hook, and scored by Gareth Owen in the first minute of injury time, restored the home side's lead at 24-15.

After half-time Jackson kicked his second penalty but Glasgow suffered a setback when Max Evans was carried off on a stretcher.

Hook missed a long-range penalty but converted a fifth kick in the 56th minute as the Ospreys led 27-18.

Glasgow were reduced to 14 men on 64 minutes when replacement prop Justin Va'a was yellow-carded for ball killing on his own line that began a spate of players being sent to the sin bin.

The Ospreys opted for a scrum instead of the penalty against a seven-man pack and scrum-half Jamie Nutbrown skipped in for the region's third try, converted by Hook.

There were also yellow cards for prop duo Paul James and Jon Welsh for persistent scrummaging infringements meaning that there were uncontested scrums for the following 10 minutes.

Holah became the fourth player to see yellow after tripping up Glasgow scrum-half Mark McMillan, and in injury time Moray Low was the fifth to be sin-binned for some foul play spotted by the touch judge.

The last say of the match came from Glasgow's Fa'atau who sprinted away for his second try in the 15th minute of injury time.