Ospreys put their RaboDirectPRO12 play-off disappointment aside as they produced a solid performance to claim a bonus point 45-20 win over Connacht. The Welsh side were eliminated from play-off contention last week after losing 30-27 to Zebre but ended their season with a convincing win. Six tries for the home side and a man-of-the-match performance from Sam Lewis was enough to seal a comprehensive win. Miah Nikora had opened the scoring when his penalty gave Connacht an early lead. However on 12 minutes Lewis showed incredible cover defence to force a turnover and Jeff Hassler charged down the line and bulldozed his way through a late challenge to set Ospreys on their way. Hassler was involved again five minutes later but this time for all the wrong reasons. Connacht sprayed the ball out wide and Hassler was caught out of position as Darragh Leader ran in to restore Connacht’s lead. Ashley Beck, who is set for hip surgery that will keep him out for at least five months, responded on 27 minutes thanks to a quick offload from Sam Davies and Dan Biggar’s conversion made it 14-8. That signalled the beginning of the end for the Irish side as Biggar added a penalty five minutes later. Alun Wyn Jones than ran under the posts to add another for Ospreys and Biggar duly converted the simple kick. However, Ospreys had no answer to Connacht’s line-out drive and Denis Buckley forced his way over on the stroke of half-time to give the away side hope. But hope turned to despair after the restart as Beck collected Biggar’s pass and showed great footwork to open a gap in the Connacht defence and a quick turn of pace made it 29-15. Biggar’s conversion put Ospreys 16 points ahead and he added another to his tally following Nicky Smith’s try on 60 minutes. Connacht responded instantly as Conor Gilsenan ran over but it would prove to be the last points that the Irish side would score this season after Nikora missed the conversion. Dan Baker added Ospreys’ final try on 68 minutes and Biggar made sure his final match of the season was a perfect one as he added another conversion – his sixth of the match. While the result could do nothing to ease the pain of missing out on the playoffs Ospreys can take solace in the fact that they have qualified for next season’s European Rugby Champions Cup after finishing fifth for the second consecutive year. Follow us on Facebook, join the conversation on Twitter, sign up to ourYouTubechannel for extensive match highlights and sign up for ournewsletter for regular updates on the RaboDirect PRO12.
