Ospreys 23 – 15 Glasgow Warriors

A sodden Liberty Stadium hosted Danny Wilson’s return to Pro14 action in Wales with the Warriors, and he left an unhappy man as Glasgow squandered a bright start to leave empty handed.

Jamie Dobie’s sky-scraping box kick was knocked back by Warriors, and although Ospreys cleared to touch, Glasgow pulled off an incisive set-piece move which led to Huw Jones waltzing in on the left.

The Ospreys’ restart was treated like a live grenade, but once Ospreys did brave collection of the ball, winger Matt Protheroe stepped inside of his wing and past Huw Jones but was hauled down just short of the line. Ryan Wilson was eventually caught offside and Myler converted a straightforward penalty to reduce the arrears.

A couple of Pete Horne kicks kept Ospreys pinned back in their own 22, and when Aki Seiuli won a turnover penalty just a few metres from the Ospreys’ try-line, George Turner copied what teammate Fraser Brown had done for Scotland the previous night, when he dived over from a line-out maul.

The home side’s woes continued. As soon as they got possession, Turner won a penalty at the breakdown. He very nearly got over for a second try, twice, but on that second occasion, Ospreys’ Adam Beard did well to disrupt the maul.

The Warriors, in their white change strip, were still in command though. Another accurate Horne kick to the corner gave Ospreys a pressure line-out close to their own line. Bain interrupted, and then Richie Gray got fingers to Morgan-Williams’ box-kick, but Ospreys got away with it.

The Ospreys then nearly scored against the run of play when Bain spilled the pill with the try-line beckoning and they countered. Tagive fielded the hack-clear under pressure from Protheroe, but ref George Clancy penalised Tommy Seymour at the subsequent breakdown. Ospreys huffed and puffed towards the Glasgow line, but conceded the penalty when clearing out after a number of phases.

Adam Beard’s long levers then blocked a Jamie Dobie box-kick and linked up with Kieran Williams but somehow the ball squirmed out of a ruck and Dobie could properly clear this time.

Ospreys now had a foothold after an opening 20mins of misery, and Williams did get over the line after another break from the lively Reuben Morgan-Williams, but Huw Jones and Sam Johnson did enough to hold him up.

It counted for little however, as Morgan-Williams sniped over from the base of the scrum whilst playing with penalty advantage.

Ospreys even then finished the half within about an osprey’s wingspan, but Turner managed to get hands on the ball after Bradley Davies was tackled. Horne booted to the sidelines to draw a game-of-two-halves half to a close.

Half-time: Ospreys 10 – 12 Glasgow Warriors

Just as they had at the start of the first, Glasgow found themselves behind at the start of the second when Stephen Myler scored a long-range penalty given against Seiuli for offside.

Had the Ospreys fans been in attendance they may have given George Clancy the old Glasgow treatment around 5mins later. He penalised Dewi Lake for not releasing after a tackle on Turner, and Horne knocked over to put Warriors into a two-point lead.

The game began to open up due to Glasgow’s profligacy in possession, and Ospreys regained the lead when Kieran Williams did get the try he had been threatening. He finished down the blindside after Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler’s kick had been taken into touch by Tommy Seymour 10m short of the Glasgow line. Myler’s conversion made it 20-15 to Ospreys.

Glasgow then had reason to begrudge a Clancy call when Chris Fusaro was penalised for not rolling away despite having James King lying on top of him, giving him a cuddle. Myler’s successful kick stretched the lead to eight.

Warriors needed a spark, and Huw Jones tried to provide it when he scythed through the midfield and poked a grubber towards the corner. Replacement Nico Matawalu raced with Luke Morgan towards the ball, and Morgan got there first to knock the ball out with his knee.

It awarded Glasgow a 5m scrum, but ponderous play from Sean Kennedy saw Chris Fusaro snaffled and a penalty awarded to Ospreys.

From the resultant line-out, however, the Ospreys overthrew and Grant Stewart showed that now legendary burst of pace to blast into the 22. Ospreys conceded penalty after penalty as Glasgow pounded at the line, and the last offender, Adam Beard, was sent to the bin for the last 8mins of the match.

Glasgow attempted a quick tap and made a dog’s dinner and dessert of it. Stewart was stopped, and Tom Gordon’s pass attempt was disrupted. The ball fell loose and Ospreys knocked the ball about 60m up field.

Glasgow had another couple of goes at the Ospreys’ defence, but their inability to retain possession and create options saw a drastic turnaround from the opening twenty minutes. With Kebble and Zander away on Scotland duty too, the scrum was constantly under pressure, and once changes were made, it crumbled.

SRBlog Player of the Match:  Pete Horne started the match well, kicking accurately to corners and finding grass, but as Glasgow ended up giving possession away and dropping deeper, his involvement waned. Grigg had a couple of usual surging charges, but I’m going to have to give it to Huw Jones again. Looked the most threatening player going forwards, and did decently in defence on a couple of occasions.

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