Ospreys are humbled in Italy to stay out of top two

The Italians picked up only their third win of the season in the PRO12 as they kept the Ospreys out of the top two with a performance that deserved a win by a bigger margin.

To make matters worse for the lacklustre Welsh region they didn’t even pick up a bonus-point and so now trail leaders Leinster by six points and second placed Munster by four. Ulster are fourth, three points back.

Italy director of rugby Conor O’Shea was an interested on-looker at Stadio Comunale di Monigo and he would have liked what he saw from the home side in the opening half as they dominated the gain-line and the scoreboard.

The Ospreys found themselves on the back foot and increasingly starved of possession.

Welsh referee Nigel Owens became more and more impatient with the

Ospreys at scrum time.

It was no surprise when Treviso took the lead midway through the firsthalf when centre Alberto Sgarbi powered over from close range after the forwards had done all the hard working in stressing the Ospreys defence to breaking point.

Scrum-half Tito Tebali, playing against one of his former clubs, added the conversion to make up for an earlier penalty miss and Treviso were good value for their lead.

For the Ospreys, who came into the game with only one defeat in their previous nine PRO12 outings, it was a big wake up call.

Backs coach Gruff Rees complained about a lack of urgency and desire from his side, but they came to life in the last move of the half when Sam Davies ran up to the line in the home 22, off-loaded to Dan Evans and there was Keelan Giles to pick up his 13th try of the season.

Davies couldn’t add the conversion, but at least the Ospreys were back in the fight.

The arm-wrestle continued in the second half and the only scores were a penalty from Tebaldi and another from his halfback partner Ian McInley