Adeolokun stars as Connacht see off Ospreys
CONNACHT took advantage of a weakened and out-ofform Ospreys with a 20-10 victory at a rain-lashed Liberty Stadium yesterday.
Andy Friend’s side were indebted to tries from inform wing Niyi Adeolokun and centre Peter Robb, with Conor Fitzgerald kicking 10 points.
Ospreys, who have won only one of their five games in Conference A, grabbed a second-half try through hooker Sam Parry with Luke Price kicking a penalty.
Connacht dominated a dreadfully-organised Ospreys side and the Irish province deserved their 17-3 interval lead.
Ospreys did open the scoring on four minutes with a Price penalty, but they offered very little after that in the Swansea rain.
A minute later Ospreys conceded a soft try when Adeolokun ran free up the right touchline, kicked ahead and regathered possession over the line. Fitzgerald followed up with the points.
With the Ospreys penalty count mounting Fitzgerald found the target with a penalty on 17 minutes.
And from 10-3 down it got worse for Ospreys when captain Dan Lydiate was sin-binned for a professional foul on his own try line.
Down to 14 men, Ospreys conceded a second try when centre Robb was put over under the posts after number eight Paul Boyle fed him off the base of a scrum.
Ospreys made a significant change at half-time, bringing on former Wales fly-half James Hook for Price.
The home performance improved, and they scored a try on 56 minutes when hooker Parry squeezed in at the right corner from a lineout drive. Hook converted to reduce the deficit to seven points.
But a Fitzgerald penalty five minutes later as
Ospreys edged offside gave Connacht a 10-point cushion they would not subsequently relinquish.
With the last kick of the match, Ospreys full-back Cai Evans missed a long-range penalty shot which would have given them a losing bonus point.
Meanwhile Alby Mathewson scored two tries as Munster beat Cardiff Blues 33-23 at Arms Park to move top of Conference B.
It was 13-all at the interval with Chris Cloete and Calvin Nash also going over as JJ Hanrahan converted three times and registered from two penalties
Elsewhere, Edinburgh fell to a battling 18-16 losing bonus-point defeat as Treviso claimed back-to-back home victories at Stadio Comunale di Monigo.