Myler boot bags Ospreys win

A LATE Stephen Myler penalty snatched victory for the Ospreys in a pulsating match against Benetton in Italy.

A hectic 20-minute spell either side of half-time sent the Ospreys on their way to victory, with Max Nagy and Ethan Roots crossing before the break and then Rhys Webb bagging a brace afterwards, only for Benetton to force a nervous finish with a stirring comeback.

However, Myler’s late penalty sealed victory despite the Ospreys being second best for long periods in Treviso.

For the vast majority of the first half you’d have been forgiven for thinking the Ospreys were still in Llandarcy.

A booming kick from Benetton full-back Andries Coetzee set the tone, earning the home side a coveted 50:22 within a minute or so of kick-off.

From there the Ospreys were on the back foot and remained there for large parts of the match.

The home side got their reward after six minutes when hooker Gianmarco Lucchesi spun through some tackles to dive over for the opening try.

Luke Morgan’s yellow card for a deliberate knock-on threatened to open the floodgates, but a try-saving tackle from Wales wing Alex Cuthbert on Monty Ioane was as close as the home side got to a second score in the first 40 minutes.

And they were made to pay as the Ospreys somehow forged ahead with two quickfire tries before the break.

First, Nagy forced his way over with two tacklers on his back after good carries from Owen Watkin and Luke Morgan.

A lovely show-and-go from Webb saw the scrum-half break through the defence. And Webb drew the last line of defence before slipping Roots away to score with a pass behind the back.

Benetton brought on a raft of replacements, including fly-half Rhyno Smith. However, his first contribution was to put the kickoff out on the full.

That set the tone for the next few minutes, with the first 10 minutes of the second half a similar story to the last 10 of the first.

Straight from that error, Smith fell off a simple tackle on Watkin, with the centre breaking through to feed Webb to score the Ospreys’ third.

The fourth score came shortly after, with the scrum-half finishing off from close range after a flowing move started with a searing break from Morgan in his own half.

Benetton weren’t done, though, and Smith redeemed himself somewhat with a chip-and-chase try on 52 minutes.

Smith then turned provider, flicking a sumptuous offload to Ioane for the wing to race away to close the gap further.

Cuthbert’s debut took a sour turn as he was shown a yellow card for a high tackle, again reducing the Ospreys to 14 men.

The home side drew level when Tommaso Menoncello crossed in the corner after 66 minutes.

But it was the Ospreys who finished strongly. Myler missed one kick at goal on 73 minutes, but stroked over the match-winning points with three minutes left.