Connacht too strong for Ospreys in Guinness PRO14
Connacht took advantage of a weakened and out-of-form Ospreys with a 20-10 Guinness PRO14 victory at a rain-lashed Liberty Stadium.
The Irish side were indebted to tries from wing Niyi Adeolokun and centre Peter Robb, with Conor Fitzgerald kicking 10 points.
Ospreys, who have won only one of their five games in Conference A, grabbed a second-half try through hooker Sam Parry with Luke Price kicking a penalty.
South Africa lock Marvin Orie made his Ospreys debut after the three-times capped Springbok was signed on loan from Johannesburg-based side the Lions until 26 December.
Orie’s arrival allowed captain Dan Lydiate to revert to his preferred back-row role.
Number eight Dan Baker returned in place of Gareth Evans from the side beaten 28-12 in Munster last weekend.
Connacht centre Tom Farrell made his first start of the campaign following his two-try display off the bench during last weekend’s win over the Cheetahs.
Connacht dominated a dreadfully organised Ospreys side and the Irish province deserved their 17-3 interval lead.
Ospreys did open the scoring on four minutes with a Price penalty, but they offered very little after that in the Swansea rain.
A minute later Ospreys conceded a very soft try when wing Adeolokun ran free up the right touchline, kicked ahead and regathered possession over the line. Fitzgerald converted.
With the Ospreys penalty count mounting Fitzgerald found the target with a penalty goal on 17 minutes.
And from 10-3 down it got worse for Ospreys when captain Lydiate was sin-binned for a professional foul on his own try line.
Down to 14 men, Ospreys conceded a second try when centre Robb was put over under the posts after number eight Paul Boyle fed him off the base of a scrum.
Ospreys made a significant change at half-time, bringing on former Wales fly-half James Hook for Price.
The home performance improved, and they scored a try on 56 minutes when hooker Parry squeezed in at the right corner from a line-out drive. Hook converted to reduce the deficit to seven points.
But a Fitzgerald penalty five minutes later as Ospreys edged offside gave Connacht a 10-point cushion they were not to relinquish as the home side failed to score again.
With the last kick of the match Ospreys full-back Cai Evans missed a long-range penalty shot which would have given them a losing bonus point.
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The first half penalties against NZ were for speculative tackling because England were attacking so flat. If NZ didn't do this then it may have been tries and not penalties conceded earlier. I believe Felix Jones is still helping with the transition online. It was quite clear he wasn't helping in person with Earls in particular shooting up and leaving huge holes. NZ had a few that nearly stuck but the two tries by Telea were defensive errors. Furbank biting on Sititi leaving Genge to mark. Genge wont show Telea the outside again. Poor tacking on Telea for the second. That said he is a hard man to grab hold of.
Isolating Genge was clever for Jordans try. NZ spotted he defended wide too often and they could leave a gap with that switch play. 6 day turnaround for Ireland now.
I imagine NZ will be better, but they will need to be a lot better.
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