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Giles gives Pivac a selection nudge in Ospreys' win over Glasgow
By PA
Keelan Giles scored a pair of tries as the Ospreys registered a 32-17 bonus-point victory over Glasgow in Swansea - their first win of the season. The speedy winger had another ruled out by the TMO for a knock-on but still took his try tally this season to four to give Wales head coach Wayne Pivac a nudge ahead of the Autumn Nations Series.
Both sides were forced into making changes to their back rows in the opening twelve minutes as the Ospreys lost Ethan Roots to a head knock and the Warriors saw their own number eight, Jack Dempsey, leave with a rib problem.
The Ospreys conceded a penalty at their own scrum five metres out from the Glasgow line to squander a scoring opportunity and then had a try by Giles ruled out for a knock-on earlier in the move. The TMO next gave the seal of approval to a great finish from Giles in the left corner after Glasgow had been guilty of conceding back-to-back penalties that forced them to defend two lineouts.
The Ospreys were held up from the first, but when the ball went wide to Giles he skipped outside one defender and dived under two others to score a try that Gareth Anscombe converted off the touchline, bringing the first points of the game in the 29th minute.
Glasgow thought they had scored seven minutes later after a brilliant burst out of defence by full-back Cole Forbes paved the way for Sam Johnson to cross at the posts. This time a knock-on by Scott Cummings earlier in the move forced the TMO to rule it out.
Glasgow then conceded a penalty which Anscombe kicked to make it 10-0. On the stroke of half-time, Tom Jordan opened the visitors’ account with his own three-pointer to reduce the arrears at the interval. After the break, Giles chased a Webb kick into the 22 from his own ten-metre line and snatched the ball out of the last defender’s hands to score at the posts.
Jack Walsh, who moments earlier had replaced the injured Anscombe, added the extras. George North and Reuben Morgan-Williams then added two more tries before the end, one of which Walsh improved, to make it a bonus-point triumph.
Glasgow scored consolation tries in the final two minutes through Oli Kebble and Tom Gordon, both of which were converted by Domingo Miotti.
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Latest Comments
Very naughty boy!
Go to comments"Interestingly its you who now seem to be renouncing the UEFA style points system, because you don't like the outcome of reducing URC representation."
No, as I have clearly written and no need to be a "mind reader" this time, I don't like the outcome that half of the teams will be from Top14...
"What about 4 each + 4 to the best performing teams in last years competition not to have otherwise qualified?"
Because I don't think that having the possibility of a team finishing outside the quarter finals to qualify automatically will be a good idea. I'd rather have a team finishing 5th in their domestic league.
"Or what about a UEFA style system where places are allocated to leagues on the basis of their performance in previous years' competitions?"
You mean like the option I suggested like 3 times now? 😜 That will lead to have half of team from top14 and the end of the tournament.
"There's no point including Black Lion if they're just going to get whitewashed every year"
I genuinely disagree with that. I do think it's a decent team and are not doing too badly in the challenge cup.
"Maybe the best placed non-Israeli team and the Russian winners could play off every year for the spot?"
Based on the current geopolitics I won't bet on this happening anytime soon 😉
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