O’Brien tries push Munster on to victory
MUNSTER wing Seán O’Brien scored two tries to boost the defending champions’ hopes of an end-of-season play-off spot last night.
Errors from the hosts gifted Munster a healthy early lead and the home side never looked like clawing back that deficit.
Shane Daly and RG Snyman were also on the try-scoring sheet with Joey Carbery converting two and adding a penalty.
Keelan Giles, Sam Parry and Alex Cuthbert scored tries for Ospreys, one of which Owen Williams converted.
It took only three minutes for the reigning champions to take the lead when fullback Mike Haley burst into the line allowing Daly to out-flank the cover defence and score.
Worse was soon to follow for Ospreys when a pass from Owen Williams was intercepted by O’Brien who handed off Giles on a 55-metre run to the line.
O’Brien repeated the dose, this time it was a pass from Keiran Williams which went astray, with the wing performing heroics to keep his kick ahead in play to secure the touchdown. Carbery converted from the touchline to give Munster a 19-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Ospreys centres Keiran Williams and Evardi Boshoff combined effectively to create a try for Giles.
Munster immediately responded with a sustained period of pressure, with Justin Tipuric sin-binned for persistent team infringements but Ospreys held out to trail 19-5 at half-time.
After the restart, Tipuric returned with no damage done to the scoreboard and in time to see Parry force his way over from a line-out drive. Ospreys were back in contention but their opponents soon extended their advantage when the giant Snyman used his power to force his way over for the bonus-point try.
Carbery missed the conversion but was on target with a penalty.
Cuthbert had the final say with Ospreys’ third try and may have had another had he not pulled up with a hamstring problem but it still left his side with no points from the game. OSPREYS: Hopkins, Cuthbert, Boshoff, K Williams, Giles, O Williams, Morgan-Williams, Smith, Parry, Botha, Ratti, R Davies, Rudolph, Tipuric, M Morris. Replacements: Walsh for Hopkins (40), Watkin for Boshoff (67), D Jones for Morgan-Williams (76), Henry for Smith (31), Lloyd for Parry (76), G. Phillips for Botha (58), Sutton for R Davies (74), Deaves for Rudolph (51). Sin Bin: Tipuric (39). SCORERS – Tries: Giles, Parry, Cuthbert. Cons: O Williams. MUNSTER: Haley, O’Brien, Frisch, R Scannell, S Daly, Carbery,Casey, J Wycherley, N Scannell, J Ryan, Ahern, Snyman, Hodnett, Kendellen, G Coombes. Replacements: Clarke for R. Scannell (74), Butler for Carbery (71), E. Coughlan for Casey (71), Loughman for J. Wycherley (43), Archer for J. Ryan (58),O’Donoghue for Snyman (58), Quinn for Hodnett (63). SCORERS – Tries: S. Daly, O’Brien 2, Snyman. Cons: Carbery 2. Pens: Carbery. Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU).