Ospreys ………….22pts
Tries: Lake 4, Thomas 52, Parry 75
Conversions: O Williams 4, 75
Penalty: O Williams 60
Edinburgh………. 13pts
Tries: Vellacott 21
Conversion: Thompson 21
Penalties: Thompson 16, 65
BRIDGEND continues to be a happy hunting ground for Ospreys as they moved off the bottom of the league table.
Prior to the game, Ospreys had only one victory to their name this season and that an impressive 37-24 win over Stormers in Bridgend.
On an afternoon made for running rugby, there was a poor crowd to witness a dour arm-wrestle of a contest with all three Ospreys’ tries coming from front row forwards.
Hampered by over-fussy refereeing and poor performances by both fly-halves, the game never flowed but thanks to a dominant pack in the final half-hour they were deserved winners over a disappointing Edinburgh.
Ospreys head coach Toby Booth said: “It was a typical Ospreys performance as we went back to basics and I’m relieved to sign off this first block of fixtures with a win as it’s been tough and challenging and we’ve not been at our previous standards.
“The game turned into an arm-wrestle in Bridgend and that’s always good for us as we like the proximity to the pitch here.”
Matt Scott led out Edinburgh on his 100th appearance for the region but they were soon behind when Dewi Lake finished off a driving lineout.
Edinburgh responded with a penalty from Ross Thompson before Owen Williams missed the chance to nullify the score by missing a long-range penalty.
The game badly need a spark and it came when an alert Ben Vellacott quickly took a tap-penalty to dart over the line for Thompson to convert but that finished the scoring for a featureless second quarter.
Ospreys suffered a blow when their scrum-half, Reuben Morgan-Williams, was sin-binned for a no-arms tackle but remarkably this was the signal for them to take control of the match.
TEAMS
OSPREYS: Walsh 5 (Hopkins 66, 6), Kasende 5, Watkin 6, K. Williams 7 (Florence 69, 6), Giles 7, O.Williams 5, Morgan-Williams 6 (Hardy 76, 6), Thomas 7 (Phillips 60, 6), Lake 8 (Parry 60, 6), Warren 6(Botha 54, 6), Greatbanks 6 (Jones 66, 6), Beard 7, Morgan (c ) 8, Tipuric 6, Morris 6
Not used: Lloyd
EDINBURGH: Paterson 5, Goosen 6, Currie 5, Scott 6 (Tuipulotu 59, 6), van der Merwe 6, Thompson 5 (Healey 76, 6), Vellacott (c) 7 (Shiel 76, 6), Venter 6, Ashman 6 (Cherry 55, 6), Rae 6 (Hill 50, 6), Sykes 7, Hodgson 6 (Young 59, 6), Ritchie 7, Watson 6 (Crosbie 59, 6), Muncaster 7
Not used: Williams
REFEREE: Griffin Colby (SA)
ATTENDANCE: 3,294
Star player Dewi Lake -Ospreys
An elusive run down the left flank from Keelan Giles resulted in a sustained period of pressure from them with Jamie Ritchie sin-binned for persistent team infringements.
The onslaught intensified and eventually Gareth Thomas finished off a succession of forward drives.
Both players returned from the sin-bin and in time to see Williams and Thompson exchange penalties.
Williams missed for the third time in the match but still Sam Parry was able to seal A morale-boosting victory with a close-range try.
Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt, said: “We showed good promise in the first half and were in the ascendancy but then ill-discipline cost us as we gave away 16 penalties and you won’t win games with that number.”
