Connacht had their moments during Sunday’s Magners League encounter at the Liberty Stadium but they failed to turn pressure into points as the Ospreys collected three tries on their way to a 22-10 victory.
The top three teams in the Magners League – the Ospreys, Leinster and Munster – have pulled away from the chasing pack this weekend to give themselves a little breathing space as the title race heads towards the final straight.
The Ospreys moved back into second place, splitting the top-ranked Irish provinces, after an assured win over a wasteful Connacht side.
Sean Holley’s men always looked capable of scoring but Connacht dominated possession for long stretches of this tie and they will be annoyed not to have at least garnered a losing bonus point.
A late converted try from replacement Troy Nathan gave the visitors little satisfaction after they had leaked tries to Jonathan Spratt, Steve Tandy and Jonny Vaughton.
Connacht made just one change to the side that hammered Dax last time out in the European Challenge Cup, with Colm Rigney coming into the back row in place of foot injury victim Mike McCarthy.
Owing to Wales’ Six Nations commitments, the Ospreys currently have 11 players away with Warren Gatland’s squad and Ireland’s Tommy Bowe was also unavailable to them.
Although weakened by the loss of those international-tied players and injuries to some frontliners, the Welsh region made much the better start.
Jamie Nutbrown pinned Connacht back with a clever kick to the left touchline and after a snappy run from the rear from Gareth Owen, a third-minute burst and offload out-of-the-tackle from Vaughton sent Spratt scurrying over for the opening try.
The centre showed a good turn of pace to finish off the attack, diving over to the left of the posts ahead of Frank Murphy.
Dan Biggar converted but Connacht, whose away form has been very poor in recent seasons, soon showed they were up for the right.
A sparkling run from full-back Gavin Duffy set up a penalty chance for Ian Keatley who had the distance but not the accuracy.
On 9 minutes, winger Fionn Carr launched a lengthy counter attack for Connacht which ended with Biggar having to scramble back over his try-line and boot the ball over the end-line.
But frustratingly from the resulting Connacht scrum, Robbie Morris infringed and the visitors also erred a a subsequent lineout when Sean Cronin failing to find his man after Keith Matthews had done well to gather Keatley’s chip and gallop down the left touchline.
For all of Connacht’s spirited attacking and counter attacking, the Ospreys showed much more control and precision when on the ball as the game wore on.
The hosts suffered a setback midway through the opening half when hooker Richard Hibbard had to limp off and on the half hour, Keatley converted a penalty after the Connacht pack had gained good territory and Duffy and centre Niva Ta’auso were making yardage with ball in hand.
John Muldoon was then penalised for use of the boot at a ruck and Biggar mopped up with a successful penalty from far out.
And matters improved further for the Ospreys just before half-time when their patient build-up play was rewarded.
They muscled their way forward up the middle and then Biggar flung a pinpoint skipp pass out to the left where the unmarked Tandy had an easy run-in to the line.
Biggar missed the conversion and Keatley also watched a penalty attempt fade away from the posts, early in the second half, as it stayed at 15-3 in the Ospreys’ favour.
Connacht were enjoying the lion’s share of possession but were too lateral at times with the Ospreys content to soak up the pressure, Holley made some timely substitutions by introducing David Bishop, Filo Tiatia and Marty Holah for a final quarter push.
And the clinching try duly came for the former league champions. Jonathan Thomas was released from the Wales squad to try and prove his fitness after an injury lay-off and he helped the Ospreys get back on the front foot.
The home side kicked a close range penalty to touch and minutes later another long pass from Biggar, which was almost picked off by Carr, put Vaughton over in the left corner.
Biggar’s successful conversion pushed the Ospreys into a 19-point lead but their drive for a bonus point try nearly really materialised as Connacht, with their captain Muldoon in man-of-the-match form, did not let their heads drop and they secured a 75th-minute consolation try.
Lock Andrew Browne powered forward and offloaded for Nathan to ghost in behind the posts and Andy Dunne’s drop-kicked conversion was the last scoring act.
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