Ospreys and Edinburgh book places in Challenge Cup last eight
Ospreys roared into the quarter-finals of the European Challenge Cup with a gritty 23-15 victory over Sale Sharks.
Tries from Morgan Morris, Keelan Giles and Reuben Morgan-Williams were enough to send the hosts through, with Owen Williams kicking a conversion and two penalties.
Sale responded with second-half tries by Tom O’Flaherty and Ben Curry as well as the boot of Robert du Preez, who landed a conversion and a penalty.
But Ospreys held on to book a last-eight showdown with Gloucester at Kingsholm on Friday.
Edinburgh joined them in the quarter-finals with a 33-15 win against Bayonne at Murrayfield.
The French side struck first through Tom Spring’s converted try before Edinburgh hit back when Hamish Watson crossed the whitewash to leave the hosts trailing by two at half-time.
Matt Currie edged Edinburgh ahead but Spring hit back with another to keep Bayonne in the tie.
But Ben Vellacott crossed twice and a further try from Duhan van der Merwe completed the scoring for the Scots, who will play Sharks or Zebre next.
ASM Clermont Auvergne held off a fightback from the Cheetahs to win 27-22.
Tries from Joris Jurand, Bautista Delguy, Etienne Fourcade and Baptiste Jauneau put the hosts 27-3 up but a Sibabalo Qoma brace and a solo effort from Tapiwa Mafura set up a tense finish.
Benetton are also through after beating the Lions 27-17 in Treviso.
Thomas Gallo, Onisi Ratave and Bautista Bernasconi scored the tries, all of which were converted by Jacob Umaga.
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He’s a dominant personality. That might be both a good and bad thing in team dynamics. Certainly it ruined Smith’s first crack at 10 with Owen at 12. BTW, Bristol flatter to deceive. When things really matter, they tend to deliver less rather than more. Farrell would have been good for them
Go to commentsGot a lot of over the top abuse from Crusader fans, in particular, who thought every 7 they had was miles better. Now we will see if anyone is better? Laid his body on the line every game so finishing early makes sense. A lot of life left after rugby.
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