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Jack Walsh misses late penalty as Lions hold on to claim shock win over Ospreys
By PA
Ospreys fly-half Jack Walsh missed a straightforward penalty three minutes from time as the Lions held on to claim a shock 28-27 victory in Swansea.
The home side seemed in control for most of the United Rugby Championship clash and outscored their opponents by four tries to three but the resilient Lions hung in to claim the decisive score eight minutes from the end through Edwill Van Der Merwe’s converted try.
Francke Horn and Sanele Nohamba also crossed for the South African side with Gianni Lombard kicking three penalties and two conversions.
Keelan Giles scored two tries for Ospreys while Dewi Lake and Rhys Webb were also on the scoresheet, with Walsh adding a penalty and two conversions
The visitors had the chance to take second-minute lead when Alun Wyn Jones was penalised for a dangerous challenge, but Lombard was off-target with the resulting penalty.
Lombard had another opportunity four minutes later as Ospreys conceded a scrum penalty and this time he made no mistake.
Ospreys responded with the first try of the game when a flowing move ended with Luke Morgan sending Giles over in the corner.
Giles soon had a second after some creative play from Walsh had given the wing his opportunity to race away.
However, Lions remained in contention when number eight Horn finished off a driving line-out, with a conversion from Lombard leaving his side trailing 14-10 at the end of a competitive first quarter.
The home side became increasingly dominant, though, and it came as no surprise when they scored their third try with Michael Collins and Giles combining effectively to create the score for Webb.
Lions immediately replied with a second penalty from Lombard to go in 19-13 down at the interval, but they suffered a setback five minutes after the restart when flanker Sibusiso Sangweni was sin-binned for a tip-tackle on Collins.
The South Africans looked in trouble but they were gifted a second try. A misunderstanding between Webb and number eight Morgan Morris at a scrum saw the ball run loose for Nohamba to pounce.
It was now a one-point game but Ospreys took advantage of Sangweni’s absence to score their bonus-point try with replacement Lake crashing over from close range.
Sangweni returned from the sin-bin in time to see Lombard knock over a penalty from the halfway line with effortless ease.
Walsh nullified that score with a straightforward kick but Lions would not lie down and produced a bout of excellent handling to send Van Der Merwe flying over, with Lombard’s conversion ultimately proving decisive as Walsh was unable to make the most of his late opportunity.
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Latest Comments
I clearly wasn’t referring to White.
There was more than one failing here, and they extend across process, procedure and likely policy too.
Having supposedly elite level officials if not ignore, then at the very least heavily downplay self evidently violent conduct, was a poor look for the sport. It reflects very poorly on both the standards of those officials, as well as the game’s governance more generally.
By rights, all concerned should be reprimanded & removed from test match duties pending remedial training. However, we all know that will not happen. World Rugby are essentially immune to criticism and if not yet at FIFA levels, are increasingly behaving in a similar, cabal like manner.
The move to increase punishment for head contact was in response to an impending legal challenge by former players. One that is likely to threaten the entire sport as we know it. Hence the evolution & application of the ‘tackle framework’, a key aspect of which now involves the ability of officials to link processes and share the on-field administrative burden.
Having a referee refer this incident to the bunker for review after clearly stating ‘head contact’, and in relation to a post-whistle and therefore off the ball incident, was either professionally incompetent, or if taken in order to distance himself from a decision that may have affected the tournament chances of the union to which he is affiliated, wilfully negligent.
The second of those two options is clearly far more serious - and indeed, potentially even legally cuplable. However, even the former is not a good look for a professional sport in an era of heightened CTE awareness.
Extremely poor all round, I’m afraid.
Go to comments“I don't know of any young players who left to go to university and then were awarded professional rugby contacts to an English/Scottish team.” No, I don’t know of any. Gareth Steenson would be the closest. He was at Queen’s, and then went over to England, ending up having such a stellar career with Exeter Chiefs. Any others would have started with Ulster first. Ian Whitten at Exeter, and currently Niall Annett at Bath, Niall Armstrong at Exeter.
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