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Weak Dragons discipline sees Ospreys stay in the URC play-off race
By PA
Ospreys kept alive their United Rugby Championship play-off hopes by beating the Dragons 26-13 in bonus-point fashion. They will need another five-pointer in their final regular season game against Cardiff on June 1 to have any chance of a top-eight finish.
But Ospreys ensured they remained in the mix after capitalising on weak Dragons discipline which saw Aaron Wainwright and Dane Blacker both yellow-carded.
Hooker Dewi Lake led the way with two of Ospreys’ four tries at Swansea.com Stadium while scrum-half Reuben Morgan-Williams and centre Keiran Williams also crossed.
Fly-half Dan Edwards kicked three conversions, with Will Reed scoring all the Dragons’ points through a try, conversion, and two penalties.
Reed kicked the Dragons into a fifth-minute lead and doubled his team’s advantage 12 minutes later through a second penalty after Ospreys infringed at a scrum.
It was a solid opening quarter from the visitors against opponents 24 points and four places above them before kick-off but they then saw Wales number eight Wainwright yellow-carded for a technical offence.
Ospreys initially struggled to make their temporary one-man advantage count despite pitching camp deep inside the Dragons’ 22.
The Dragons defended impressively but they could not stop Lake crashing over from close range for a try that Edwards converted and then a second yellow card cost them dear.
Blacker was banished after attempting to knock the ball out of Ospreys captain Justin Tipuric’s hands from an offside position and Morgan-Williams made them pay.
Tipuric won quality lineout possession, then number eight Morgan Morris surged clear before his superb inside pass sent Morgan-Williams over and Edwards’ conversion opened up a 14-6 interval lead.
Wainwright returned for the start of the second half but Ospreys were on a roll and Lake claimed their third try with Blacker still off as the Dragons were ruthlessly punished for their poor discipline.
Eventually restored to a full complement of players, the Dragons gave themselves a lifeline when Reed pounced for a try that he also converted.
But Ospreys were soon back in charge through Williams’ try with 20 minutes left that secured a bonus-point and maintained their play-off ambitions.
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Latest Comments
Yes probably the females. When I was looking at that data I wondered about Darwin. Do you know much of Darwins development? In a typical 'f^ck it' moment I was like if a rugby product can look great in Suva why can't it be a winner in Darwin! Haha I have no idea about the place (just followed the NT link on wiki), it's just the vibe that you really only need a small committed group of people to be up their in rugby. Every single rugby club is small by comparison in the world.
Go to commentsI would have liked to have seen another Rassie meltdown which is certainly more entertaining than another rolling maul, but it was not to be and SA deserved their win.
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