Connacht foiled as Ospreys’ Dan Evans seals deal
A cold autumn night in Bridgend didn’t seem to agree with Connacht as the men from the West were made to pay for a poor start and first-half wastefulness in a last-gasp 22-17 defeat to the Ospreys.
It was a poor result for the Irish raiders with the depth of talent available to them as they lost further ground on the leaders of Conference A in the Guinness PRO14.
Hosts Ospreys were without all but one of their Wales autumn squad members, but they proved too good for a Connacht side who were caught cold by two Keelan Giles tries in the first nine minutes.
Harri Randall added a third home try after the break despite the hosts being a man light.
Connacht got on the comeback trail through Bundee Aki and Jarrad Butler and Jack Carty’s kicks tied the game, but Dan Evans won the game for the Ospreys in the game’s final play.
It sent Connacht home with only a losing bonus point.
Connacht looked much the stronger side on paper, but a team with Ireland international experience fell behind with just two minutes on the clock as Giles opened the scoring.
The Ospreys worked the short side and when the ball fell to Giles, the electric wing did the rest by kicking ahead and collecting his own grubber to score. Sam Davies couldn’t convert.
Still, the signs were worrying for Connacht and Giles was soon at it again.
After the Connacht scrum conceded a penalty, the Ospreys banged away and Davies chipped to the corner where Giles was afforded a facile finish.
On their first visit to the home 22, Carty slotted a drop goal to put Connacht on the board but when a powerful Irish drive to the line followed, strong Ospreys defence won the hosts the turnover.
Andy Friend’s men had finally woken up. Again they turned down the option of points to kick to the corner, but for the second time a shove was held up over the line by the team in black and white.
Then, from the reset scrum, Connacht were penalised for crossing, much to Friend’s frustration.
Ospreys No 8 Rob McCusker had left the field for a head injury assessment at the end of the first half but appeared for the start of the second period.
His first real action though was to wipe out Cian Kelleher with a high tackle and be yellow carded. It gave Connacht a man advantage, but again silly individual errors held them back.
Tom McCartney’s line-out throw went astray and the Ospreys made them pay. The lively Giles was again involved, but this time it was centre Cory Allen with the incisive break.
Allen scythed through some poor Connacht tackling and found 18-year-old scrum-half Morgan – on his first PRO14 start – inside him. The youngster did the rest and this time, Davies converted.
Connacht now had to chase the game. They finally got their first try of the night from Aki following another forward surge and Carty kicked the goal.
The comeback was then complete as with Connacht in the ascendancy, their captain Butler dived over from close to a ruck. Carty’s conversion tied the game.
There was still time for late drama though as Carty put a drop goal effort wide and Allen ran for the line. He was stopped short, but the ball was spilled backwards and Evans pounced for the winning score which was confirmed by TMO Neil Paterson.
Giles 2, 9, Randall 52, Evans 80 Conv: Davies 53
Aki 65, Butler 70 Convs: Carty 66, 71 Drop goal: Carty 13
Evans; Dirksen, Allen, Thomas-Wheeler, Giles (Williams 69); Davies, Morgan; Jones (Thomas 71), Otten (Baldwin 62), Botha (Jeffries 71), Ashley (Ratti 69), King, Lydiate, Cracknell, McCusker (Ratti 37-40)
Volpi, Aubrey, Hook
O’Halloran; Adeolukin (Godwin 55), Farrell, Aki, Kelleher; Carty, Marmion (Blade 50); Buckley (O’Donnell 79), McCartney (Delahunt 57), Bealham (Carey 67), Dillane, Roux (Cannon 69), O’Brien, Boyle (Faingaa 11)
Fitzgerald
Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Southern Kings 34 Scarlets 41.
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