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Gareth Anscombe's comeback continues as Ospreys triumph in Welsh derby
By PA
The Ospreys beat Cardiff 18-14 in Swansea to make it two wins from two in this season’s United Rugby Championship.
Wales outside-half Gareth Anscombe kicked all of the home side’s points in only his second competitive game back from a two-year injury lay-off.
Josh Adams and Owen Lane scored tries for Cardiff, while Rhys Priestland kicked four points.
Anscombe gave the hosts an early lead with a tremendous penalty from the halfway line.
The Ospreys pack held the upper hand, but they would have been wary of a dangerous Cardiff back line.
Anscombe doubled the home side’s lead with another three points after Seb Davies was penalised for an early tackle.
Cardiff finally got in the Ospreys’ half, winning a penalty in the process. Priestland lined up to take the shot at goal, with the kick hitting one of the posts.
What should have been dealt with comfortably by the hosts turned into a disaster as Owen Watkin hesitated and Wales wing Josh Adams pounced to score on his first appearance since the British and Irish Lions tour.
The Ospreys responded by turning the screw up front, with their maul and scrum putting their visitors under pressure.
Scrum-half Tomos Williams then tackled Luke Morgan without wrapping his arms and was punished with 10 minutes in the sin-bin.
The Ospreys were also temporarily reduced to 14 men, with Michael Collins sent to the bin for a deliberate slap down just when Hallam Amos had worked an overlap. Anscombe kicked yet another penalty after Cardiff crumbled at the scrum.
The last 90 seconds of the first half were extremely hectic as Anscombe intercepted just outside his 22 and chipped ahead. Owen Lane covered, but instead of taking the safe option and kicking the ball dead, Amos decided to run it as he galloped up the touchline.
But a promising move came to an end with tight-head prop Tomas Francis winning a penalty at the breakdown, meaning the hosts turned around with a 12-7 lead.
Cardiff came out of the blocks firing in the second half with some strong carries deep in the Ospreys’ 22.
After a period of sustained pressure, some lovely handling from Williams and Rhys Carre allowed Lane to touch down at the far right-hand corner, with Priestland converting from the touchline.
However, the Ospreys retook the lead almost immediately through Anscombe’s boot. The former Cardiff man then extended the hosts’ lead soon after, and Cardiff failed to find a way back into the game.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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