Ospreys climbed to second in the Guinness PRO12 table as Justin Tipuric’s first-half try was the difference in an attritional 10-0 victory over Newport Gwent Dragons at Rodney Parade.

With conditions not conducive to running rugby, a Welsh derby that contained more than 100 kicks from hand – with varying levels of success – was essentially decided by Tipuric’s 12^th-minute score.

Great combination play from Tom Habberfield and Olly Cracknell enabled the flanker to cross the whitewash, while it took another 60 minutes for the scorers to be troubled again, when Dan Biggar added a late penalty for the visitors.

Angus O’Brien missed two three-pointers for the Dragons as Ospreys did enough to get the victory on the board – seeing them leapfrog Leinster into second, just two points behind league leaders Munster.

A cagey opening saw both teams struggle to get used to the boggy conditions at Rodney Parade with Pat Howard’s interception of Josh Matavesi’s loose pass a rare moment of excitement, only for Matavesi to recover in defence and win the ball back.

And the sole score of the opening period came from the half’s one moment of true quality, on 12 minutes.

Ospreys scrum-half Habberfield made the initial break, squirming out of one tackle and releasing the impressive Cracknell before the former Wales Under-20 international drew the last defender and offloaded to back-row partner Tipuric to canter over.

The try saw the 27-year-old bring up 100 points for Ospreys while his Wales team-mate Biggar – who recently became the first man to score 2000 points in the regional rugby era – slotted the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

Habberfield was sin-binned on 17 minutes but the Dragons failed to take advantage of the extra man, while O’Brien also spurned an opportunity to get the hosts on the board by putting a penalty wide of the left-hand upright just after the half-hour mark.

With the conditions causing both sides to consistently opt to put boot on ball, rather than keeping it in hand, the game became a territorial kicking battle.

The second half began with Ospreys twice turning down the chance for points by booting penalties to the corner but the Dragons defence held firm in the face of pressure.

O’Brien had another opportunity to narrow the deficit but his 66^th-minute penalty from near halfway drifted agonisingly wide of the right upright.

And on 72 minutes, Biggar gave the visitors an unassailable 10-0 lead by slotting a three-pointer of his own, as, despite late pressure, the Dragons were unable to get anything on the board.

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