Ospreys cruise past Edinburgh

Ospreys 33 Edinburgh 16

Outside-half Dan Biggar kicked 23 points as the Ospreys eased to victory over Edinburgh at the Liberty Stadium, a win which takes them up to fourth place in the Magners League table.

Early ill-discipline allowed Biggar to give the Ospreys a handy cushion before the Welsh region scored a try in each half through Justin Tipuric and Richard Fussell.

The Ospreys welcomed back skipper Alun Wyn Jones, Ryan Jones, Andrew Bishop and Nikki Walker from the autumn internationals to their starting line-up, while the region had a replacements bench packed full of internationals likes Adam Jones, Mike Phillips, James Hook and Tommy Bowe.

The severe weather meant home referees officiated this weekend’s Magners League games but how Edinburgh would have preferred a neutral arbiter because James Jones awarded the Ospreys seven of the first eight penalties.

Five of those were converted by Dan Biggar, one from close to the halfway line, as the Ospreys opened up a 15-3 lead in the first quarter.

Mr Jones eventually had to warn Edinburgh for committing a string of offences at the breakdown.

Edinburgh did have their own penalty goal kicked by Chris Paterson, who had to go off before the end of the first half with a dead leg.

The Ospreys early lead was then boosted by a try for blindside flanker Tipuric who was put away down the right flank by prop Duncan Jones.

The 21-year-old loose forward chipped ahead and beat the cover defence to touch down. Biggar converted to extend the Ospreys lead to 22-3 on 24 minutes.

Edinburgh reduced the deficit to 13 points by half-time with two David Blair penalties and the Ospreys suffered a blow early in the second half when Ryan Jones was yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle on Mike Blair.

But despite being down a man the Ospreys grabbed the first points of the half when Biggar converted his sixth penalty.

And after the Ospreys introduced their big guns – Phillips, Hook and Adam Jones - they enjoyed a territorial advantage.

Though they initially failed to get a second try Biggar increased his points tally to 23 points with a drop goal on the hour mark.

And with Edinburgh themselves reduced to 14 players with Alex Grove’s 68th minute sin-binning the Ospreys crossed the line but replacement number eight Jonathan Thomas was held up.

But the try soon came with a quickly taken penalty which saw wing Fussell go over in the left corner.

With the game over as a contest Edinburgh’s Tim Visser went over for a consolation converted try in the final minute after Ian Gough became the third player to be shown a yellow card.